Ni hao from Shanghai!
 

We finally made it after a 14 hour non stop from Newark (not my favorite airport!) But before we could get off of the plane we had to be checked for anyone who might be fevorish. They said it was an infrared thermometer but I think it may have been a mind probe!

Then we took the Maglev train from the airport to the city at a top speed of 431 KM.

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Must still be adjusting to the time change, meant to use this image instead of the scene from our room on the 35th floor of the Hilton.

We got an upgrade to the 35th Executive floor at the Hilton thanks to my wife's Hilton Diamond club status. Our room is free for 6 nights, just have to pay for the internet and any room charges.

Shanghai is at once a pretty and nasty city.
Visit the Bund!
and have fun.

Great, thanks Chris. At 266 mph I should think everything out the train window would be blurred.

Old and new.

The Jin Ang temple somehow got skipped over during the distruction phase of temples in the Cultural Revolution. It is a microcosim of the old Shangha set within the new Shanghai.

A piano bar for dentists???

Very civilized indeed!

Today we were up at 5am just after sunrise and went to People's Park as I knew it would soon be busy with many people up early doing all forms of excercise. Can you imagine our parks in America like this in the morning? Yes we have our joggers and those in some kind of boot camp excercise but so many elderly out and about getting some form of excercise?

Such balance, poise and concentration!

Signs are everywhere and just lilke the website www.Engrish.com points out, the translations are funny!

Do you think they are out and about early primarily for the exercise or the socialization?

I think it is a little of both. We saw many people greeting each other as well as ones just sitting on the benches in conversation. But we also so a good share of people engaging in quiet private excercise and others in large groups doing Tai Chi. Almost all of the groups have a CD or tape machine with someone barking out instructions for the next move. We also saw one group of older people who were doing ball room dancing (picture above) as a warm up to regular callastenics.

Scenes of old and new Shanghai:

This is from the balcony of the place we ate last night on the Bund. It is the view of Pudong which is on the east side of the river. 20 years ago this was all a big swamp area and now hosts some of the most modern skyscrapers in the world. The tall one on the right is the tallest building in the world as far as an floor you can reach.