Day 1 in Shanghai

Day 1 in Shanghai

We arrived in Shanghai last night at 9:00 pm. I tried to write a blog entry from SeaTac but I couldn't get on the internet. We flew from Seattle to Beijing, had a two hour layover, then flew from Beijing to Shanghai. Navigating the airports was actually pretty easy; a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Our guide, Denise was waiting for us at the airport and we headed to the Everbright Hotel. We were so thirsty since we hadn't exchanged any money, so we exchanged money in the hotel and went to a Chinese version of a 7 Eleven for water and beer. We ended up going to bed around 11:00 pm China time. I was exhausted!! I never slept on the plane because the seats didn't recline. Sitting straight up for 11 hours is not condusive for sleeping!

This morning we went downstairs for the buffet and met Denise in the lobby. We went to the bank to exchange our money for tomorrow. Then we left for a bit of sight seeing. We took the metro to Nanjing road, which is a huge shopping area. We didn't do any shopping; mainly just looking. I tell you, though, if I wanted a counterfeit watch, bag, or DVD it would have been a snap. Every ten feet there was someone trying to sell them to us. At the end of Nanjing road is the Bund. It's really just a walk along the river. There's not much there to do other than look at the river and people watch. We walked a bit and Denise took our picture in front of the Oriental Pearl Tower, which is the tallest tower in Asia. We could have taken an elevator up into it, but I didn't really want to find a taxi, cross the river, and go up inside. The picture works for me. We walked back to the metro station and took the metro back to our room for some time to relax.

Tomorrow morning we meet Denise in the lobby at 9:00 am to go get Cara. I can't wait!