The sunrise was every bit as beautiful as yesterday, rising over the path of the river and giving me great shots of reflections in the water. Dede and Bruce, who joined me on deck for breakfast, skipped today’s sunrise. Bruce joked that now that I have introduced Dede to sunrise photography, he never gets to sleep in in the morning. He said he’d return the favor once he thought of one.
Today’s tour was to the water town of Zhujiajiao, an old town built more than 1700 years ago and covering 18 square miles, packed with tourists, mostly Chinese. Today is the beginning a week-long holiday and also the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, in 1949, so there were crowds everywhere. Our guide explained that befor the days of television, people went outside and gathered in public places to celebrate, so this tradition has continued. Zhujiajiao was extremely crowded and it was hard to moveand very claustrophbic on the narrow streets. In order to keep our guide in view, I had to concentrate on where she was, and paid little attention to the many vendors lining both sides of the street. When we reached the end of our walk, which included an old apothecary shop and an ancient post offce, neither very interesting, we took sampans down the canal and back to our starting point. I was as usual, very tired and happy to get back to the bus.
Then to another traditional and delicious Chinese lunch complete with lazy Susan, many appetizers (most of them pickled but different from yesterday) and many courses that included all the meats: chicken, pork, beef and fish, with a great soup and spinach with water chestnuts. All very good, and so different from American Chinese food.
Following lunch, we visited a silk factory where we learned about (and were able to touch, if desired) silk worms, their life cycle – 30 days - their food – only mulberry leaves – and how their cocoons are spun into silk thread. Most interesting to me was that the factory makes silk duvets out of cocoons with two worms. They can’t find the beginning of the silk fiber so they stretch a batch of a cocoon over a bed frame, making many layers that ultimately become a duvet. With a cotton cover, these wereabout $110.00. I passed. After that (and like a leather factory I visited in Turkey), we had a fashion show by grim-faced Chinese models parading down a runway and were encouraged to visit the showroom where we could buy items made in silk. I tried to find a jacket large enough, and appropriate enough, to wear with my tuxedo pants but even XXXL size was not big enough. Chinese men are smaller, especially around! So it had be a few gifts and back to our ship. In all, another very long day.
I note that I’m complaining rather a lot about being tired. But in truth, I am. My travel agent warned me that this trip would be strenuous. And it is. Hard for new knees and a back recovering from two cracked vertabrae. Maybe she was right. I am feeling much older this time and have had to be helped up from sitting and off of boats by fellow travellers with kind attentions. I used to perform those same functions for others who were older than I am. Julie, who is 93 and my “buddy” for the day was much better able to manage, and she was wearing medium heels.
Shanghai, which we will leave this evening, is truly amazing – one skyscraper after another, all interesting if not the finest architecture I’ve seen. Scattered among the endless skyscraers are many apartment buildings that look great from the outside but Mary, who visited a freind in one, said you wouldn’t want to live in one. But then, she’s from Dallas. Buried among all this modernity, there are still a few buildings from the 30’s, the time of the French and British concessions.
I learned today that: a license for a car in Shanghai costs $10,000 American dollars, and that’s before the car – there are plenty of BMW’s and Mercedeses around – an apartment in Shanghai can cost upwards of $30,000 per square meter; Shanghai is the only city with two international airports; the Chinese language has over 50,000 characters and each has four tones, each with a different meaning; a single silk filament from a single cocoon can be as long as 100,000 feet.
This was dinner-on-deck night so the pool area was all set up with tables and chairs and an elaborate buffet. While waiting for dinner, Dede and I stood on the upper-most deck of the ship and took many pictures of the harbor, with all the buildings so dramatically lit up, and the passing dinner ships, all neon and blinking away. It makes Baltimore’s Christmas Parade of Boats very simple by comparison. The harbor area is truly amazing. And to think that all this was done since 1990, when before that, the Pudong area was farmland and rice paddies.
I had dinner with Julie, Mike and Chris (who thinks Obama is a Muslim), and a new couple, Rosanne and Steve, from Toronto. After dinner and the show (on deck, and not very good), we went to the Panorama Lounge where we all danced (including me) until we couldn’t stand any longer. It was much fun.
Stay tuned.
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