China Day 14, Tower & Temple

Sunday July 10^th

Got up by 8:00 and headed across the road for a egg and bacon pancake/wrap type thing that Allen recommended, for breakfast. Cost a dollar. Then Paul and I headed out by subway to the World Financial Centre. This used to be the tallest building in the world, but is now third, but is still the tallest in China. We paid to go up to the 100^th floor. From the outside it looks like a large bottle opener. The building is very modern, and the organization of the tour to the top and the elevators are very efficient. The view from the top was stunning. Shanghai stretches out in every direction with high rises and sky scrapers as far as the eye can see. This city is immense and houses twenty million people. Down below the Haungpu River wound through the city.

After that we headed back to hotel and then we went out for lunch. We went to a fancy restaurant that Paul had read about in the Lonely Planet. We ordered a beef, onion and chillies hot pot and I wanted a plate of eggplant, but somehow he screwed up the order and we got a vegetable that was like celery stalks. However it was good. After lunch Paul decided to hang around the hotel area because he was still feeling a bit weak from his bout of tummy upset and I headed off to find the French Concession This is supposed to be a very picturesque area with winding streets and interesting shops. I took the subway again and wandered around a nice area but was not really sure if I was in the right area or not. However I did find an interesting antique street market that sold lots of interesting things including some old communist uniforms and books of saying by Chairman Mao. It was a local community and I could see some of the daily life/activities of the people.

Then I took the subway to The Jing'an Temple. This is a 1000 year old temple that has been moved, damaged during the Cultural Revolution and remodelled in time for the 2011 World's Fair. It is beautiful and houses three large Buddha statues.

I headed back to the hotel by 6:00 to meet our new guide, Rally, and the new group. Turns out that there were six people from a previous group who are to join us, but they decided to skip the meeting and go out for dinner by themselves. So, we met our new guide, a young Chinese woman, and an American, Adam, who has been living in Stockholm for twenty years and his two sons, Oliver and Alexander. Then we went across the street for dinner at a local restaurant. Like Allen, Rally ordered a variety of dishes for us and we had a good time getting to know each other over a beer. After dinner Rally left us and we all walked down to the Bund, which is by the river, to see the skyline light up at night. Very impressive. Then back to the hotel for bed.