First Night Shanghai

Hey everyone.

Good flights over. We had no problems with getting to our flight to Shanghai in Chicago, nor did our luggage. The captain on the plane even announced that the luggage from that plane made it on board and we were ready for take off! ha-ha. So all went well with that. I even had almost an entire row of 6 seats to myself ( I was at one end and one guy at the other end.) So that was very cool. I was able to actually lay down for part of the flight and sleep some. The Ambien did alright. Didn't totally knock me out...but it made the flight much much much easier.
It didn't seem like 14 hours (13 actually we arrived an hour early!!!)

Now...Shanghai.....

Wow what a hot, humid, steamy, smoggy, AMAZING city!!!! It is interesting. I tried to send you pictures here and to upload them to my photobucket site and the internet here wouldn't let me send through my google email...but MICROSOFT OUTLOOK from my school account will let me...WEIRD!
*(It finally let me upload pictures in the emails, and on this blog)Anyway...as you can imagine it is something else here in Shanghai. It is around 3:00AM here. I went to bed around 8ish PM here w/ some jet lag...and now can't sleep so you are getting this! ha-ha.

The meal we had last night was really good. Some sort of green beans, cabbage, lemon glazed fried chicken, and a lot of other stuff....(those were my favorites).

We have a GREAT tour guide. The local guide is very good as well.



Oh...the pollution...
you cannot imagine! Within a few hours of being here I could feel it...and the heat just adds to it. Itchy eyes...heavy lungs...ugh!!!! About what I figured it would be...but nasty stuff. You'll see the haze in the pictures...even at NIGHT. Nasty.

Other than that...I really like it. The people here (even in a larger city like Shanghai) are drawn to the Americans... We were taking a group picture earlier...and of course (as you will see when you see the group picture at some point) I'm in the front acting a fool....all the Chinese run up with their cameras and start snapping pictures of us....ha-ha. Sheeeesh. I'll close. Good stuff so far. I'm tired, but having a good time and it has been a really good start.




(1st picture Me with Shanghai skyline day shot, 2nd picture I took as we walked back from dinner..night skyline of Shanghai, 3rd picture is a street scene from Shanghai, 4th picture would be me on top of our hotel..the observation deck)

Where I'll lay my head

(Click on the pics for more)
Our hotel in Shanghai

It is ROUGH...but someone's gotta do it! Sheeeesh.
We will stay here at the beginning of our trip and at the end.




Our hotel in Beijing...

Hotel in Xian

Hotel in Suzhou

Hotel in Hangzhou

Schedule & Itinerary

(Most places listed here are LINKS to more information about the place)

Jul 04 Leave USA

Jul O5 Arrival Shanghai (D)
Arrival Shanghai, transfer to your hotel.

Jul 06 Shanghai — Train to Beijing (B.L.D)
Today’s sightseeing includes the Bund, Yu Garden, Nanjing Road or Xintiandi
Take evening train for Beijing leave Shanghai 20:00 PM
Overnight on train (soft sleepers/4 pax per cabin)

Jul 07 Beijing (B.L.D)
Arrive in Beijing 07:00 AM, meet and transfer to the hotel.
Today’s tour starts at Tiananmen Square, the landmark of Beijing, as well as a
symbol of the new China. Proceed to the Imperial Palace (Forbidden City), the
largest and most complete complex of ancient architectures. After lunch, enjoy an
afternoon tour of the lavish Summer Palace. This evening, enjoy Legend of
Kungfu Performance

Jul 08 Beijing (B.L.SD)
Today’s Highlights include a visit to the Great Wall, the most ancient and longest
structure ever erected by man. After lunch, visit the Sacred Way & Ming Tomb,
which houses the tombs of 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty (1368 AD -1644 AD).
This evening, taste Peking Roast Duck Dinner

Jul O9 Beijing-Xian (B.LSD)
Transfer for your morning flight to Xian, the great ancient capital of the glorious
Tang Dynasty in the 7th century. Afternoon: we’ll view the astonishing army of the
life sized terracotta warriors that have been standing guard by the tomb of the
Emperor Qin Shi Huang for over 2,000 years. This evening, you will be treated
with Dumping Dinner & Tang Dynasty Performance



Jul l0 Xi’an-Wuhan (B.L)
This morning tour to Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Ancient City Wall & Provincial
Museum
Take evening flight for Wuhan

Arrive at Hubei University
Hubei Class Schedule and Itinerary Part 1

Hubei Class Schedule and Itinerary Part 2

Jul 30 Wuhan-Shanghai- Suzhou (L.D)
Transfer by university to Wuhan airport & take morning flight to Shanghai.
(E-ticket issued by CITS)
Meet at Shanghai airport and drive to Suzhou - “Venice of China”
Tour to Tiger Hill, Humble Administrator’s Garden, Grand Canal and silk factory

Jul 31 Suzhou — Wuzhen - Hangzhou (B.L.SD)
This morning, we drive to Hangzhou, admiringly called “Heaven on Earth” by
travelers. En route, we’ll visit Wuzhen — a famous ancient water town of the region.
Arrival Hangzhou, cruise on the beautiful West Lake. This evening, enjoy local
cuisine

Aug 01 Hangzhou-Shanghai
This morning, tour to Linying Temple and the famous Tea Village in the green valley. After lunch, drive back to Shanghai. Free time on your own.

Aug 02- Shanghai
Depart for home from Pu DOng Airport 4:10pm
Arrive in Chicago 4:50pm
Arrive in Nashville 8:10pm

Up The Yangtze

I went and saw the new documentary Up The Yangtze last night at the Belcourt here in Nashville.
Tonight is the last night it will be there, but I'm sure it will be on DVD soon enough. It is well worth seeing. I enjoyed it very much. It was nice to see it before I leave next week on my trip.

One of the things I'd like you to notice while you watch the movie is the facial expressions of all the people involved. Their faces say much more than even their body language or their words.

Well worth watching.

Gifts for China

One of the things we've been asked to do in our preparation for the trip is to get together something to use as little inexpensive "Thank you" gifts for various people we'll meet while in China. (Things NOT MADE IN CHINA!!!) That was not an easy task.

So I had several copies of pictures I've taken of Nashville made and I plan to give them out in little sets tied together with THANK YOU written in Chinese on them.

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL OF THEM.

Skin of Our Teeth

Well, at this point in preparing for the trip....there are some interesting concerns!

The travel agent that booked our flights out of Nashville (everyone else is flying out of Memphis except for 3 Nashville people and one Late addition to the trip in Memphis), for some reason booked our flight (on American Airlines) for the 8:30AM flight out of Nashville. That will get us into Chicago O'Hare at 9:55AM. Our flight from Chicago to Shanghai is scheduled to LEAVE at 10:35AM. Um...now I'm not a math genius by any stretch of the imagination...but....uh... that is going to present a problem! ha-ha!

We now have the travel agent trying to get us all booked on the earlier flight of 6:00AM to Chicago.
I'm thinking that won't be too much trouble, and it shouldn't be full...since it is a 6:00AM flight on a holiday (July 4th). We'll see how it goes. I have a plan for whatever happens. If we have to stick with the original flight of 8:30AM then I'm going to pack two larger carry on bags, and just pay the $25 fee American now charges (don't get me started) and just let that be my luggage, with no worries about it NOT arriving in Shanghai with me. (there's no way they can get the checked luggage from the flight to Chicago onto our flight to Shanghai) It will (at best) be a day late...if not LOST somewhere out in airline luggage limbo! ha-ha

If we get the 6:00AM flight, then I plan to take the regular backpack I usually use, and a small backpack as a carry-on.

I have my last "China meeting" this Saturday, June 28th in Memphis. Should have more information at that time.

Meanwhile, China has a few preparations it is busy with too...

Earthquake in Sichuan

How sad, and tragic for these people and their families.
Keep them in your thoughts.

Many have been concerned about my going to China after the earthquake last week. I appreciate the words of concern, but we will not be anywhere near that region of China. It would be like worrying about people in Nashville, when an earthquake hit Kansas City. It has an impact, but it isn't the area that was hit by the quake.

Shadow of the Silk Road

In preparing for my trip to China, I have read several books about the country and people of China. (as seen in earlier posts) I have now ventured out to not just China, but to the region of Eastern Asia. With the book Marco Polo, I read more of the history of China during the Middle Ages, as well as the Silk Road during that time. I am now reading Shadow of the Silk Road which deals with the places/nations found along the old Silk Road(s) today. The British author Colin Thubron travels from X'ian, China to Anitoch (Antakya) in Syria.
X'ian is of special interest to me because I will be visiting there on my trip. It is the home to the "Original Emperor" The Yellow Emperor Qin (prnounced Ch'n), China is named after him. X'ian is also the location of the Terracotta Army that was discovered there around 1972. This is one of the places along with the Great Wall, that I am highly anticipating visiting this summer.

Hubei University

My "home" for at least two weeks of my trip will be an apartment on the campus of Hubei University. The following images are what the university displays to students interested in applying to the University. So I'm guessing my accommodations will be similar. Looks very nice.
We will have INTERNET access while there, so I should have no problem keeping the blog going. Now, if I can just get over the FOOD thing.....haha.

Not sure I'll have much use for the Television....since I don't speak enough Chinese for it to make any difference. ha ha.

Panda Cubs

How can you NOT look at these guys and smile? Amazing