Stay Tuned...

I just wanted to make a post to clarify how the blog is going to operate from here on out.

I will keep updating the blog on a somewhat regular basis (once a week, or so, depending on how things go). But please don't expect daily updates, since they would probably get somewhat monotonous after a while. However, I will be updating cool and exciting things that happen to me so be sure to stay tuned every once in a while to see how things are going.

Remember - I will be in China (almost exclusively) until December 2007, so until mid December '07 I will keep updating the blog with some frequency.

Thanks to everyone for reading my blog and giving me feedback!

P.S. If you're wondering what the picture is, I visited a local fletcher (bow maker) this morning. He is one of the last masters of this ancient craft in all of China, and he is trained in a style of bow-making that dates back 10 generations. Check out this NPR story about him.

Day Fifteen

I'll begin my post today with a fact I forgot to mention yesterday. Following what I suppose is becoming a tradition on this trip of being housed with world leaders, we found out (and saw them both first hand in the lobby) that the King and Queen of Spain are staying in our hotel. Luckily for us their "security apparatus" wasn't nearly as obtrusive as the Iraqi President's, but they royal family did manage to freeze downtown traffic for nearly an our upon our return to the hotel. It looks like our hotel is truly fit for kings!

Our day was primarily focused around our visit to one of the modern wonders of the world (I can check another one off my list) - the Great Wall of China. A structure so vast and impressive that it is one of the few human creations that can be seen from outer space.

We took a cable car up to our portion of the wall because it was one of the highest and hardest to reach sections. Before arriving at the top, however, I managed get an awesome picture with a local who was dressed to kill (I know... there are too many puns in this entry).
Once at the top, we were able to explore for a leisurely amount of time. My mom and I walked a fairly lengthy expanse of the wall, but some of our pictures were slightly tarnished by a thick mist that permeated the forest all around the wall. I'm sure if you look hard enough, however, you can still see how far off it goes into the distance.

Witnessing the height and expanse of the Great Wall first hand was incredible. While it may not look as if the wall is particularity high - consider the fact that the plants reaching up the sides of the wall are not bushes or shrubs but rather the tops of trees. I would have loved to spend even more time walking among the towers and guard posts of the wall but sadly we eventually had to depart.

We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting the Temple of Heaven, a beautiful local temple in Beijing where many locals spend their free time, and the Hong Qiao market - a massive bazaar of cheaper-than-you-could-imagine Chinese knockoffs offering everything from Polo Shirts to Rolex watches.

Sadly, tonight was the last night of our group trip and we had a delicious farewell diner at the world renowned and exclusive China Club. Everyone else leaves in the morning and I have only two more days until my summer study at the University of Beijing starts. I had any awesome trip with everyone and I hope y'all enjoy reading my blog from back in the states. Now the true adventure begins! Zai jian!

Day Fourteen

Our morning began with a trip to Tiananmen Square - the largest public square in the world and an internationally renowned location. The square itself was truly massive - spanning farther than the eye (or camera for that matter) could see. In fact, even buildings that should have been in plain sight were obscured by a mist (possibly pollution related) that shrouded nearly the entire city. Nonetheless, we were able to capture a pretty solid picture of ourselves in front of Mao's portrait, possibly the most famous location in Tiananmen Square.

While the square houses Mao's tomb, which displays his actual body, it was unfortunately closed for renovation during our visit due to China's preparation for the 2008 Olympics. I was somewhat disappointed by this fact because I wanted to check Mao off the list of long dead communist leaders whose tombs I have visited (I've seen both Ho Chi Min and Vladamir Lenin in the flesh).

Following our trek around Tiananmen we ventured into the ominous Forbidden City. Completely closed to the public until 1949, the Forbidden City is one of China's other hallmark tourist attractions. No photographs or descriptions could possibly convey the size and scope of the Forbidden city. We spent nearly two hours in an almost linear journey through the complex, traversing dozens of passage ways, massive courtyards, and, yes, even stopping at a Starbucks (they have on near the inner courtyard... it was a bitter-sweet experience for me to see one of my favorite shops inside such an ancient historical landmark).

We spent almost the entire morning in the Forbidden City and I can safely say that we all felt as if we had barely seen any of it! One of the most interesting sights that we witnessed within the Forbidden City was the changing of the guard at one of the early outer courtyards.
Following a tasty lunch at a local Beijing restaurant near the rear of the Forbidden City, we ventured to the Summer Palace, where the imperial family spent the hotter months of each year. The palace itself is even larger than the Forbidden City - boasting over 1,000 individual buildings and two lakes (one complete with a giant marble boat built inside of it). The lakes are so large that our guide told us the Emperor once had his entire navy engage in training exercises on the lake for his entertainment. Unfortunately, my camera died soon after arriving and I was only able to snap a few shots of the Summer Palace. Check out the one of my mom walking along a massive corridor that spanned the edge of one of the lakes.

In the evening we watched a dazzling and well choreographed Kung Fu performance at one of Beijing's local theaters. While I had managed to charge my camera by that time, they were very strict about enforcing their "intellectual property rights" that prevented me from taking any pictures (ironic?). Some of the highlights included epic battles, a man laying on top of a bed of swords, and people breaking blades on top of each other's heads. We then headed off to sleep, tomorrow we have even more exciting adventures planned!

Day Thirteen

We began our day in Xian with a trip to see the world renowned terracotta warriors - the army of over 1200 life sized clay soldiers that was built to guard the tomb of one of the Qin emperors. The tomb dates back to over 2,200 years ago! (While we were able to see over 1000 of the soldiers ourselves, scientists predict that there are over 8000 soldiers overall in all of the emperor's tombs and the majority of them have still yet to be discovered or unearthed).

Viewing the soldiers was truly awe-inspiring, it was mind boggling to see such a vast array of literally life sized soldiers (not to mention the fact that each soldier has different facial features). In addition, before the sands of time were able to tarnish these relics, each soldiers was painted, from head to toe, with various colors to further their realism. Each soldier is so realistically crafted that our guide literally said you could "read the palm" of any given soldier, and we could even see their finger nails!
After touring the tombs (and viewing a cheesy but informative historical remake/documentary about the creation of the warriors and the ultimate desecration of the the tomb) my mom and I decided to pose with a few of the soldiers for a nice picture (see above) and my mom actually bought a larger-than-life terracotta remake for our house! You can catch a glimpse of her pointing to the (now named) General Wang Jian (our guide thought it up) below!

For those of you that frequent my house, I'm sure you will soon have a first hand encounter with the man himself. After an extensive day of visiting the warriors, we managed to grab a bite to eat at a fantastic (and apparently famous) dumpling restaurant in Xian. Before departing the city for Beijing later that night we were able to make one last stop at the city wall, which is one of the largest in-tact city walls in the world - spanning over 13 kilometers (9ish miles). The picture I snapped stretches, pretty much, as far as the eye can see. Following a quick stop at a local pagaoda we finally headed off to the airport, flying towards my home for the next six weeks - Beijing.

Day Twelve

Today, once again, was primarily a travel day - but we still managed to have some fun. We began our morning in Guilin with a a tour of the "Reed Flute Caves" - a gorgeous series of underground caves in the hills of the city. The caves featured several fantastic sights - and the lighting was both eerie and incredible. The caves themselves, while now only a tourist attraction, had been used by the residents of Guilin during World War II to escape Japanese bombing raids on the city.

After touring the caves we were able to make a quick stop in a local Guilin market before getting lunch and heading out of town. The market was bustling and vibrant - unlike any farmers market you could imagine in America. Stacks of fresh vegetables lined the tables, various Chinese herbs piled high, freshly cut meat hung off of hooks, dozens of varieties of eggs were available, we saw cages of chickens and ducks waiting to be purchased, and we found dozens of containers of seafood that was also still alive. Check out this vat of eels that we spotted. The market redefined fresh food as we know it!
Having left Guilin we arrived later that day in Xian - a small Chinese city of only seven million - and I'm sure you've never heard of it either. Xian is home to the world renowned Terracotta Warriors (more on that tomorrow), but our adventures in Xian took a surprisingly different turn today. Upon arriving in Xian we found out that the Iraqi President (hes like the U.S. Vice President, aka second in command) Jalal Talabani was staying at our hotel (The Shangrila Golden Flower), as part of his visit to China. Unfortunately for us, that meant a ridiculous amount of security at the hotel. Not only were we forced to go through metal detectors and have all our baggage get X-rayed, but the entire hotel was crawling with police and security officials - they even hassled us on our way to our room. Check out the picture I took of the "security apparatus" from our hotel window. One last tidbit before I sign out for the evening - we got our very own security clearance badges once we were okayed by the various police and security officials at the hotel - you can see me sporting my badge in secret agent fashion below.

Day Eleven

We spent almost our entire day in Guilin on a cruise of the Li river. The Li river is one of the most famous sights in all of China. If you have ever seen a picture of China that featured tall misty rock formations, then you've likely seen a picture of the Li river. In fact, the Li river is so famous that it's picture is featured on the Chinese 20 Yuan bill!

We cruised down the river for nearly five hours, traveling almost 60 kilometers. While there isn't too much to write about, this entry will be rather picture heavy - so I can share the beauty of the river with you. It was truly incredible to see such an amazing sight. Thousands of giant spiraling rock formations surrounded the river for miles, creating beautiful and astounding sights at every turn.

Just look at the size of the boats in the picture below to get a glimpse of how truly massive these rock formations are. Can't see the boats? You probably have to click the image to get a decent look at them.The views are truly so spectacular that our guide, who told us that he has traveled the river countless times, said the he never gets tired of touring the river and he himself was still taking pictures. The massive rock formation to the right was one of his personal favorite's to take pictures of. Not only was the cruise itself incredible, but the food on the boat was quite interesting. I, for example, had some rather interesting deep fried crabs for lunch. I learned that, if cooked properly, you can eat entire crabs whole without even removing their shells. Don't believe me? Check out this picture!

After our boat finally landed, in a small nondescript town on the Li river, we were greeted by an old man who, for a small price, let us take pictures with his cormorants! Once we had let the boat we also browsed a local market, but at a temperature of nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit we couldn't spend much time outside before we had to depart. Our last stop for the afternoon was the Guilin College of Art, where we saw many beautiful paintings by local artisans and art students (most paintings were of scenes from the Li river). After a tiring day on the river, we decided to grab dinner and get some rest - tomorrow we travel to Xian - home of the Terracotta warriors!

Day Ten

Today was primarily a travel day as we ventured out of the mountains - from Li Jiang to the tropical Guilin. However, we did manage to have quite a few interesting encounters along the way.

For starters, seeing as how we thought the day would hold little to no adventure, we decided to take one last trip to Li Jiang's Old Town in the morning. Not everyone was up for the excursion, so it ended up just being me, my mom, and Dotty. As soon we we arrived we stumbled upon a town square that featured a lively group of locals doing Ti Che. At one end of the square was a group of older folks who were practicing a slower and more fluid dance. At the other end we saw a much younger group, led by a bandanna-clad guru who was taking the morning practice to new heights.

After browsing through the various bazaars and market stalls, we each purchased a few local handicrafts. I got myself some fine yak-leather belts (apparently it's fire resistant?) for only a few yuan (Chinese currency).

Our flight to Guilin wasn't direct, however, and we had to stop in Kunming, the capital of the Yunnan province. We had a pretty long layover and our guide Fred actually managed to snag us a tour bus earlier in the day so that we could take a short tour of the city. Kunming is a small city by Chinese standards, and I'm sure you've never heard of it. Oh, did I mention that it has a population of 6 million people. That's right - three times larger than the population of Nashville, nearly six times larger than the population of Richmond, and even bigger than the city of Atlanta. Kunming is only one of the numerous massive Chinese cities that most of the world is nearly oblivious too.

After driving around Kunming and seeing many of the important historical sites, we stopped at Dr. Tea - a famous Chinese tea house (Yunnan province is also apparently famous for its tea). We watched a fascinating demonstration about how to prepare and drink various types of tea. Yes, there are different ways to drink tea. In fact, we learned three separate ways to drink tea in only a short amount of time. Of course the way you drink the tea depends on the tea itself, you should "chew" Puerh tea, "kiss" leeche nut tea, and "slurp" ginseng tea. I also learned that, in the Yunnan province, a tea's age can drastically increase it's price. After 10 years of age, a tea's price goes up 9% a year! While we were at Dr. Tea, we heard a story of someone who bought a barrel of tea aged 99 years for over a million yuan in an auction. In case you were confused we are talking about dried tea leaves and not the drink itself.
The remainder of the day wasn't much to write home about, but I do have one anecdotal story about the Kunming airport. I have to warn you - this story is not for the weak of heart. Before launching into the story itself, it's important to tell you that in China kid's don't wear diapers (where is this going?!). Instead they merely have a slit cut in the back of their pants, and they simply plop down and let loose if they need to use the bathroom. Anyway, when I was walking into the men's bathroom at the Kunming airport, there was a father with his young daughter. You might have thought that he would take her into a stall and help her out, but instead he was holding his daughter over the drain on the bathroom floor, right in front of the sink, while she happily made use of the bathroom. Nothing reminds you that you're in a foreign country more than strange cultural differences like that!

Day Nine

Our day began with a 30 mile bus ride through the mountainous Yunnan province, as we traveled to the (in)famous Tiger Leaping Gorge. Unfortunately for us, a 30 mile bus ride on winding, narrow, and often crumbling Chinese back roads takes about 2 and a half hours.

The journey was well worth it however, and we spent our entire day exploring the gorge. Tiger Leaping Gorge, according to the various signs around the area, is the largest and deepest gorge on earth. I don't know if that is actually true, but the claim seemed pretty legitimate at the time. We spent most of the day on a five to six mile walk around the narrow stone pathway that winds along the side of the gorge. The views from the walkway were breathtaking and, at times, a bit scary.

Danger permeated the air even as we arrived at the gorge, being bombarded with various warning signs. It was pretty hard to take the warning signs seriously, however, as they suffered from hilarious misspellings and ridiculous grammatical errors. I don't want to ruin the surprise, so I'll let you click the image below and read some of the signs for yourself.

In all seriousness though - the gorge is apparently notorious for dangerous rock slides and, while we didn't experience any from our side of the canyon, we did see several rocks cascading down the opposite side of the gorge on a few different occasions. To further frighten us, there were Chinese soldiers and policemen wielding megaphones stationed all over the pathway, constantly warning us to stay away from the edge.

Even more interesting than the policeman and soldiers, while walking along the trail we walked past numerous construction workers drilling and blasting holes in the side of the gorge. It was fascinating to see how we could walk right past these open construction areas, something that would be strictly forbidden in the U.S. In fact, I even managed to snap a shot of an empty box of TNT!

Our guide Fred informed us that the Chinese government is thinking of building a hydro-electric power station in the gorge, and they are currently blasting the mountain to test it's strength. (This fact was further confirmed by an abandoned town we drove past, followed by a shiny new series of buildings and apartments higher up on the mountain) It's sad to think that such a beautiful sight may one day be submerged underwater or ruined by a massive power plant, but China has certainly done the exact same thing in the past (Three Gorges Dam, anyone?).

While I am definitely saddened by the thought of the gorgeous Tiger Leaping Gorge being ruined forever for the sake of Chinese development, I'm thankful that I was able to see it and experience it first hand before it is possibly destroyed for good. However, there is always hope that the Chinese government will decide not to build a dam or a power station there. I'll end this entry with a picture from the deepest portion of the gorge, where you can see the raging rapids and even a viewing platform from the other side of the canyon (that's for people too wimpy to make the 6 mile trek). If you were good at Where's Waldo - maybe you can spot the Leaping Tiger himself. You have took look closely though!

Day Eight

Today began with a trip to a local museum in Li Jiang for the Naxi "Dongba." The Dongba are the "shaman," "witch doctors," or "necromancers" of the Naxi people, who are talented in the arts of divination and who know the ancient Naxi pictograph language. While museum itself was certainly interesting - one of the most striking things about the museum was a chart that compared ancient Naxi pictographs to the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt - with some eerie similarities.
Our visit to the museum was followed by a leisurely walk around one of Li Jiang's beautiful Chinese gardens. The garden was tranquil and relaxing, featuring several lovely pagodas, bridges, and gorgeous views of the "Jade Dragon Snow Mountain" - one of Li Jiang's main attractions.

Before grabbing lunch at the Banyan Tree we roamed about Li Jiang's old town for an hour or two, glancing in the local shops and meandering Li Jiang's many quaint backroads. The shops in Li Jiang boast a strange variety of goods, ranging from dried Yak meat to five-dollar fake designer (Chanel, Gucci, you name it) sunglasses.

In the afternoon we visited a small township outside Li Jiang, where Dr. Rock, an apparently famous anthropologist and horticulturist, manned the National Geographic expedition to the Yunnan Province. The town was a serious blast from the past - chickens and donkeys roamed the streets, and we wandered about through dilapidated stone buildings to find the museum honoring Dr. Rock.

Our last stop for the afternoon was a visit to the "Baisha" murals - a unique selection of frescoes dating back over 600 years that, thanks to the innovation of the Naxi people, were spared from destruction during Mao's cultural revolution. While the murals were very interesting, the array of ridiculously misspelled signs that dotted the Baishai area were the true highlight of the visit.

At night we ventured back to the Li Jiang old town in order to see a Naxi cultural music show. The music was shrill and discordant, unlike any music we have heard in the past, but it was very amusing to watch. The ensemble also featured several unique instruments that were cultural artifacts of the Naxi People. The most interesting parts of the show, however, were the eighty year old men, sporting some classy sunglasses, that comprised most of the band.

Day Seven

Today was primarily a travel day - so this entry will be a bit short. We got up bright and early in Shanghai and headed off to the airport in order to catch our flight to Li Jiang. The travel itself was largely uneventful - one funny side note was a sign at the Shanghai airport that read "Line for Old, Weak, and Pregnant" that we found hilarious. I tried to take a picture with my cell phone (didn't really pan out) but we didn't want to take out our cameras to illicit suspicion from the Chinese officials.

After arriving in Li Jiang we took a walking tour of the old town. Li Jiang is a quaint mountain town in the southwest of China, near Burma and Tibet. Li Jiang is also home to a large Chinese ethnic group known as the "Naxi." The Naxi, as roughly as I can compare them, are something like a Chinese version of the Native Americans. While this analogy is certainly rough and not too accurate, it can give you a vague idea of how the Chinese interact with the Naxi. After grabbing a tasty lunch at a local restaurant we continued our walking adventures in Li Jiang. The old town is gorgeous - with no cars allowed inside - it is a network of small winding streets, markets, corners, and canals, offering a glimpse into China's rural past.

At one point we stumbled into a busy market square were a man sat atop a horse waving around an AK-47, after several minutes of observing we realized that for only a few coins anyone could do the same! I quickly seized the opportunity and hopped up on the horse myself.

We spent the remainder of the evening at our luxurious hotel, the Banyan Tree, where I relaxed sipping White Russians in our private villa. The hotel itself is incredible - comprised of only about fifty private stand alone villas, each with a private jacuzzi, a quaint private outdoor porch, and any comforts or amenities one could ask for. I will try to upload a few pictures from our room and the hotel in general - but for now feel free to check out the hotel's website.

Day Six

Our second full day in Shanghai began with a superb breakfast at the Four Seasons. Following breakfast we loaded onto our private bus and headed off to the Shanghai "Children's Palace." The name can be a bit misleading - a Children's Palace is actually a school for young kids (ages 5-8) who are especially gifted in the musical and visual arts. Not only did we see some surprisingly well done artwork, but we also were fortune enough to get to watch a small concert put on by a few of the students. It was quite interesting to see such small children play complex music on the piano, the Chinese violin, and several other instruments.

After the Children's palace we ventured to one of Shanghai's premier silk factories. The factory itself housed every portion of the silk production process - from raising silk worms to the processing of fine silk carpets. It was fascinating to watch the process with which skillful carpet weavers slowly crafted each carpet. According to the local factory manager - some of the finest carpets can take up to 14 months of work to complete. It was also fascinating to see how the factory took vast quantities of silk worms and turned their cocoons into the final silk product. While I don't personally consider silk carpets particularly interesting, the quality of many of these carpets was astounding. The carpets are so finely crafted that they will be completely different colors if you look at the carpet from opposite angles. It could be white from one angle and blue or black from another!

From the silk factory we ventured to the Temple of the Jade Buddha - one of the most famous temples in China. The temple itself was filled with the smells of incense and the quiet chants of monks. While I would certainly like to share some pictures of the temple with y'all - I wasn't allowed to take any pictures in the temple.

Our lunch was fantastic - perhaps the best food we've had in China so far - we ate at a local Shanghai restaurant named "Mei Long Zhen." It was possibly the best Chinese food I've had in my entire life! My personal favorite was the mooshoo pork.

Our afternoon featured a lengthy drive to the countryside, to visit a local township and take a sampan (remember your vocab lesson from an earlier entry?) ride. The town itself was starkly different from the hustle and bustle of the Shanghai metropolis. While it was certainly beautiful, the town was a bit dirty, but most likely a much more accurate representation of an average lifestyle in China than Shanghai. While our sampan ride was enjoyable and the town itself quaint, the highlight of our visit to the township had little to do with China.

We met another American walking around the city, and he introduced himself to us, saying that he was from L.A. After parting ways with him I had the feeling that I had seen him before or that he looked eerily familiar. Unfortunately, he vanished amidst the maze of waterways and old buildings. After finally deciding to ask him if I knew him from somewhere, and having the good fortune of running into him at the township's ancient post office, I asked him if he was, perhaps, famous. It turned out that we had run into Nathan Fillion. While not an A-List actor by any means, he was a star in the TV show "Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place" and is the lead actor in the upcoming movie "Waitress" (comes out summer 2007, I told him I would plug it).

Despite the fact that we had an adventure-filled day, the best part was yet to come. In the evening we attended the Shanghai Acrobatic Circus. While I have seen my fair share of circuses and acrobatic shows (I've even seen a bear that can walk on two legs) this show was especially remarkable. I cannot even convey the ridiculous and incredible feats that these truly talented acrobats performed - including knife throwing, fire balancing, a five person high tower of people standing on each other's shoulders, someone being catapulted by a see-saw while wearing stilts, 8 ball juggling, and clay pot tossing. Take for example this photo - the women are balancing themselves completely on these chairs - which are not connected to anything and are merely balanced on top of the chair below. We concluded our evening with a late dinner at "M on the Bund" - a world renowned restaurant in Shanghai with a spectacular view of the city. After that it was off to bed, we travel to Li Jiang, a rural town in the southwest Chinese mountains, early tomorrow morning!

Day Five

Today began with breakfast at the executive club on the top level of the Shanghai Four Seasons, where we finally met up with Jim, Dotty, and the other two members of our tour group. After a quick introductory meeting and a briefing about the finer points of traveling in China, we began our tour of Shanghai.

Our first stop was the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum. Located near the heart of Shanghai, the museum featured a room-sized miniature model of Shanghai. The model itself does not actually represent contemporary Shanghai, but rather what the Chinese government intends to complete by the year 2020. The model itself was massive – and Fred informed us that the entire room was only the “inner ring” of Shanghai, the most central part of downtown. Note the people in the background of the picture to get an idea of how truly massive the miniature city was – not to mention Shanghai itself.

Next we took a leisurely stroll through a much larger park in the more central portion of Shanghai, ending up at the Shanghai museum. The museum itself was rather interesting, featuring ancient Chinese sculpture, pottery, painting and calligraphy that dated as far back as 2000 B.C. and earlier.

After our journey to the museum we visited the “Old Town” of Shanghai – a bustling and beautiful oriental marketplace, filled with the sights, sounds, and smells of Shanghai. While some of the buildings do date back to before the colonial era, our guide told us that many of the buildings have been newly built to mimic the old architectural style. The most striking example of this was a Starbucks (yes I stopped there) situated nicely in the ground floor of a seemingly ancient Chinese marketplace.

In the heart of the old town we ate at “Green Ripple,” one of Shanghai’s most famous restaurants. In fact, the walls of the restaurant featured pictures of the likes of Bill Clinton, Fidel Castro, and the former President of India all dining at the restaurant. The food was awesome and we left the restaurant stuffed. Following lunch we traversed the fascinating Yu Gardens, a maze of walkways, small ponds, pavilions, and beautiful statues located at the heart of the Old Town.

Leaving Old Town Shanghai, we ventured out to the “Bund” – a bustling boardwalk in the former British concession with a dazzling view of the Shanghai skyline. The local merchants – constantly hounding us with various useless trinkets – were simultaneously annoying and amusing. On the way back from the Bund we ventured into the Shanghai Chinese Embroidery Gallery, where we saw some of the most fascinating silk embroidery I have ever seen. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not a big fan of this sort of thing – but some of these works were truly awesome. My personal favorite was a stunningly realistic picture of a tiger – sewn with such fine silk that it looked three dimensional and realistic. Keep in mind that this is silk and not a photograph.

That concluded our first real day of exploration in Shanghai, stay tuned for tomorrow’s update!

Day Four

Sadly for my loyal fan base, today was primarily a travel day. We began our morning in Hong Kong where we were carted off to the airport, once again, by a fabulous Rolls-Royce. We made our way to the airport from there and boarded our flight to Shanghai.

After arriving in Shanghai we met Fred, our guide for the rest of our travels throughout China, who escorted us to the Shanghai Four Seasons. Shanghai is perhaps the largest city I have ever seen. I can't even describe the amount of skyscrapers and massive buildings. I believe Fred told us that Shanghai is the second largest city in the entire world! Second only to Mexico City.

In every direction as far as you can see there are skyscrapers, and behind those - more skyscrapers. To top that off - the buildings in Shanghai are as wild and fanciful as one can imagine. Spiraling towers and strange architectural designs abound. Every which way there are fascinating and new buildings, and a vast majority of Shanghai's development has taken place in only the last 10 or so years.Not to waste our day, we decided to take a small walking tour of the city in the late afternoon, to get a feel for the neighborhood. After getting lost and stumbling into some local residential neighborhoods, my mom and I found ourselves in a lovely "People's Garden." It was interesting to experience a beautiful Chinese garden amidst the bustling metropolis of Shanghai.

After a bit more walking around we decided to head back into our hotel and grab a few drinks at the hotel's lounge. The remained of our night was rather uneventful, but my uncle Jim and aunt Dotty arrive in Shanghai tomorrow - so be ready for some serious blog updates as our Tour de force of China begins full swing!