Today was both terrifying and exhilarating -- terrifying because we have to get up at 5 a.m. tomorrow to catch our flight back to Beijing and exhilarating because we just saw a fabulous acrobatic show that had me on the edge of my seat!
This morning was fun. We went to The Bund, which is Shanghai's waterfront park. On one side of the river is the old part of Shanghai -- the old British section with beautiful old world buildings on one side of the river and all the new, modern buildings on the new Chinese side. Everywhere we went, we saw buildings either being demolished or built. It seems like the taller the building, the more prestige for the Chinese government. Skyscrapers that almost scrape the sky dotted the landscape, each one attempting to outdo the next one. It is as if the country is experiencing another Cultural Revolution by destroying the old way of life and building a new one, ushering in a new wave of moderniation and progress. There were some things that were so new that our tour guide didn't know they were there.
The Bund was beautiful. Ships of almost every size were entering or leaving the harbor and the boardwalk was filled with people. We met a young lady from Tsing Tao, where they make the beer. Her English was very good and she told us her teacher was from Philadelphia. When we told her we were from Oregon, she exclaimed, "America!" She was excited to meet us and asked how we liked Shanghai. We said we liked it and she said, "It is cosmopolitan." She was very sweet and she took our photo next to sculptures of colorful cows. The cows were a new art display on The Bund and similar to the cows in the Portland area.
We also saw a huge bull which had been designed by the same person who designed the bull on Wall Street. We stopped to take photos of a beautiful bride and her handsome groom as they posed for wedding photos. Such a lovely couple and so full of promise for the future.
Our next stop was a silk rug factory. For only a few thousand dollars, we, too, could be the proud owner of a gorgeous Persian-style Oriental silk rug. The silk rugs are all woven by hand and it can take up to two years to make one rug. One angle of a rug can have a totally different color to it due to the nap of the rug. They showed us a rug that from one angle, it looked white and from another angle, green. I was quite taken with the soft feel of the rugs but when I stuck my bare foot on one, it didn't seem as soft as it did to my hand. A bit disappointing.
Our lunch was one of the best because it was Mongolian barbecue. Yum! Lots of veggies, some chicken or pork and a splash of garlic, chili sauce and soy sauce and voila! Perfect lunch!
However, it was after lunch when our adventure began. We spent the afternoon at the old Shanghai market, where we haggled for a good price on jade, silk, chopsticks, Chinese vases and all kinds of other things. If you couldn't find it in that market, you weren't really looking very hard. Everyone got something a littledifferent, which made it fun to see the treasures people purchased. It was fun to bargain but I have to say, thank goodness someone else went with me because I am a terrible haggler!
The highlight of the evening had to be the acrobatic show we attended. We had seats right in the center and the show was amazing! I didn't know people's bodies could bend and stretch like that -- at least I couldn't have done one-tenth of one percent of what these athletes could do. It was truly an edge of your seat experience. The finale was fabulous. At first, one motorcyclist rode his bike inside a huge metel mesh ball. Then slowly, more and more motorcycles were added until there were EIGHT cyclists inside the ball, spinning upside down and around -- I couldn't believe they could do what they did with one motorcycle, let alone eight of them. Astounding control. The music was fantastic, too! What a great way to end our trip to China!
Now it is off to bed for some much needed shuteye before we head back to Seattle and home. I have learned a lot about China, the Chinese people and about myself. It has been a worthwhile experience and one I hope to do again in the future. I know I am not spelling this correctly but I am spelling the Chinese words for thank you phonetically -- shia shia, China!
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