Day 12

Shanghai

Date - 14 May

Weather - Sunny, smoggy and very warm with a cooling breeze

Accommodation - Renaissance Hotel


We headed out at 8.30am initially for a tour of the city and returned to our hotel room at 10.00pm. It was a long day but once again it had good variety. Our trip seems to be running on drugs to mask the virus. It's working and everyone was very chipper on the bus this morning despite the coughing and sneezing.


We drove into the city centre on the middle ring road. The traffic was running well as it was a Sunday morning and especially so for a population of 23 million and with unregistered citizens up to an estimated 28 million. Thomas, our city guide, gave a background on the traffic situation in Shanghai. Because of the pollution there have been no motorbikes for 10 years and they have been replaced with electric scooters. The issue of licence plates is restricted to 2000 per month but more than 10,000 want a plate. Each month an auction is held for the 2000 plates and it can go as high as US$20,000. Rush hour is three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon. 


We firstly visited The Bund with its elegant European style buildings lining the esplanade. It was very busy with many Chinese making the opportunity on a Sunday. A popular thing to do was to have a photo of the tall, unusual television tower (640m)  in the New Division in the background. We also had our photo taken but the smog was heavy again today. The esplanade overlooks the Huang Pu River which was crowded with large and small ships going quite fast and close together. I was last here 25 years ago and the television tower was partially constructed. The change has been immense. 



A short distance from The Bund we visited the Chinese Government owned silk factory, Tian Hou Silk. We were given a demonstration on the life cycle of the silkworm and how the thread is pulled from the cocoon. One cocoon can produce an astonishing 1500 metres. A speciality of the factory was silk-filled doonas and pillows and a number of our fellow passengers bought some including us. They vacuum pack them to fit well into a suitcase.



Lunch was at a shopping centre especially for children. The food was different from what we have had previously but our energy was flagging and none of us felt too hungry with the colds we have. In the same building was the exquisite silk embroidery gallery and we visited this after lunch. We were in awe of the skill of the embroiders especially those who can embroider two different scenes back to back on one piece of silk. 



We had three spare hours in the afternoon to visit the Shanghai Museum and Nanging Road. Carol, Henk and I initially headed for a coffee shop and found one in huge bustling shopping centre, Raffles City. It had all the popular Western brands including Victoria's Secret, Ugg, Massimo, and Burberry. We had renewed energy after the coffee and set out to find a pharmacy for throat lozenges. We didn't know where to go so I tried to mime a sore throat and taking tablets but Carol said I looked like I was dying. By this time three Chinese from the shop were trying to help. Finally, Carol pulled out some tablets from her bag and we were on our way to the hectic and crowded Nanging Pedestrian Mall. Overlooking the mall was a huge poster of George Clooney with his Omega watch. 



On the way back we walked through a pleasant, large city park which had many parents sitting on the edge of path with umbrellas and a note describing their children attached to the umbrella. It is a way of finding potential  matches for their children. Many older citizens were playing mahjong and cards. Unfortunately, we did't make it to the museum. 



After dinner the optional tour was an acrobatic show and we went to it. We have booked all the optional night activities. There were about 32 acrobats who seemed to defy gravity and body flexibility using all sorts of apparatus including trampolines, bicycles, motorbikes, ribbons and trapeze. It was a great show.


We arrived back at our hotel at 10.00pm and we quickly packed for an early start with a wake up call at 4.00am. Our bus will depart for the airport at 5.00am for our flight to Guilin. This will be our last flight of the tour. 

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