April 4th - Shanghai, China

Today we headed out of Shanghai to Zhujiajiao, one of East China's
traditional waterside towns, exhibiting many of the customs and culture of
old-world China.

Boarded one of the wooden boats that weave through the canals and under some
of the 36 bridges to get a view of the city from the water.

Made a quick visit to the Daqing Youju Post Office and the Tongtianhe
Chinese Pharmacy, both dating from the Qing dynasty. The Chinese ethics and
medical culture believes in preventative medicine and keeping the body
healthy, not just healing the sick.

Today was the last of a big Chinese holiday/festival for cleaning the family
graves/tombs. Based on the crowds and traffic everywhere we went, I think
the cemeteries were empty and probably still need to be tidied up!

Ended the day back in Shanghai watching the transformation of the skyline as
the day slowly faded into night - what a show!

Visiting this city really makes one feel like a small town girl - the number
of people and its' buildings cannot be imagined.

April 3rd - Shanghai, China

Arrived to Shanghai and was welcomed with cloudy skies and drizzling rain.

After immigration I headed to the train station to board the high-speed
train to Hangzhou - described by Marco Polo as the most beautiful and
elegant city in the world. Drove through the very busy holiday traffic and
finally reached West Lake for a boat ride - rain and fog made for poor
visibility - so different from my last visit in October 2014.

Enjoyed a traditional family style Chinese lunch, recognizing only a few of
the things that were served - probably for the best.

Visited Lingyin Temple, originally built by an Indian monk. It now stands as
one of the largest and most visited Buddhist temples in China - the crowds
to day certainly attested to that fact.

Not quite as exciting as my last visit, since we made it back to the station
in time to board the high-speed train back to Shanghai; but definitely a lot
quicker ride back to the ship.