June 15 After another garden in Suzhou, we visited the No. 1 Silk Factory(slow link). As in China #1. We saw silk worms and their cocoons, the separating of the silk cocoons, processing of silk, and many silk products. All culminating in a silk fashion show or a duvet cover, the ultimate finale was unclear to me. Now back to Shanghai for an overnight train to Beijing and our home for a few weeks.
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Links added by Jeannette and subject to change
June 13 Another day of Shanghai touring. Today, we started at the French secession quarter with walking, a museum and some traditional housing. We then made our way to the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum. A surprisingly large 5-story exhibition hall dedicated to, you guessed it, the planning of Shanghai. The profession seems to be more highly revered here. After, we took a stroll down Nanjing Road, a main pedestian shopping boulevard uncomfortable in its large scale and attention to foreigners. By my estimation everyone in Shanghai is selling either rolexes, bags, or shoes and any one of them could approach you at any moment to see if you’re interested in buying some of their replica objects. We had a hot pot for dinner and some drinks. Tomorrow, we leave Shanghai for Zhujiajiao, a so-called water town and the city of Suzhou.
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June 12 Today, we toured around in Shanghai. First, we went to Pudong, the new burgeoning world-class skyscraper district and checked out the surroundings from a tower observation deck. Tower in the park is alive and well. Second, we visited the Xintiandi District. Basically, a Shanghai version of Faneuil Hall, old city fabric repurposed for high end retail. Third, we went to some very nice traditional Chinese gardens with special rocks that were almost certainly “lucky”. We milled around the surrounding street markets and had jasmine and love butterfly tea in a traditional Chinese tea house. The touring finished with a river cruise with the Pudong skyscrapers on one bank and classical architecture of the Bund on the other, there were even fireworks. We had a drink to end the day with an unexpected performance by Phillipino lounge singers.
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June 11 After connecting in Chicago for a 14 hour flight, I arrived in Shanghai Wednesday at 2pm (local time and day). We waited at the airport for all classmates to arrive, then boarded our delayed bus to get to the hotel in downtown Shanghai. We got to the hotel at 11pm, putting our door-to-door total travel time at 30 hours (not including time changes). We are 12 hours ahead of Boston time, don’t change you watch, just flip AM and PM. An itinerary for the next few days was distributed, we’ll be touring in and around Shanghai for a few days, leaving for Beijing on Sunday.
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