version without pictures printable pdf single page March 11 • March 13
Today is our last day in China. I awoke early again at 5 am and got caught up in my diary. That’s a good feeling. I feel that I don’t have much of a feel for Shanghai yet. After the build up about it in the “China Inc.” book that it rivaled Manhattan, I guess I haven’t seen that part yet. Hopefully by the end of today I’ll feel better. Thanks to talking with Joan last night we switched our tour to the Shanghai Museum away from the TV tower and the fast train ride.
We weren’t disappointed. We spent the morning at this lovely museum. First we were addressed in a formal room. Two bus loads of us were in attendance. For the first hour we used head sets tuned into the main guide. We were looking at the fabulous bronze collections. Most of them were dating back to 11th to 13th century BC! Amazing detail and very well preserved. It was a very large collection. Some were from later periods but not necessarily improvements over the earlier ones.
From there we took the escalator to the top floor (4) and worked our way down seeing furniture, calligraphy, painting and ceramic galleries. Just finished in time to leave for lunch at noon. The museum is free to all and it was a pleasure to see it so well used by the Chinese people. We also saw several young students working with clipboards on their assignments for school. What a wonderful morning.
We lunched at the China Central Hotel and it was delicious and extremely plentiful. There was a lazy susan in the middle and dishes were added and added and added! Yum! We decided we would neither go back to the museum or to the ship and our leader told us how much money to get to go to the TV Tower as well as a cab drive that would drive us around the taller new buildings before going back to the ship. This worked out well except he was way off on the price of admission to the TV tower so we didn’t have enough money cashed into yuan. It all worked out well because waiting on a bus near where the cab pulled up to the gangway was another Chinese guide that could encourage him to let us pay in dollars and get yuan in change.
I’m really glad we went up the TV tower for the panoramic view. Other than the fact the day was very smoggy the view was spectacular. Our bus driver had given us the fact that in 1978 there were 120 buildings taller than 15 stories in Shanghai. In 2007 there were in excess of 6,800 buildings this high or higher. I think we could see them all as we walked the full circle. We found our driver waiting for us and then drove around a bit before taking the tunnel road back to the other side and home to the ship. Now I have the feeling I had hoped for.
Back on the ship I decided it was time to get some exercise in the pool. I hadn’t been on that open deck since arriving in Shanghai. Guess what I saw from the other side of the ship — the Manhattan view clear as anything. Had I but known that morning when it was blue skied I could have gotten the spectacular view not the murky one. We really seemed to have brought the sunshine with us wherever we have gone.
The pool was terrific and heated much to my surprise and great pleasure. I did laps and exercises for 45 minutes and had no trouble getting out of the pool because I had been able to stash a towel by the pools edge. It was soaked by the time I got out but it did the trick. Had a sit in the hot tub which was ambrosia. Of course all this healthful activity was followed by a gin and tonic watching the skyscrapers as I drank. A bit of heaven on the 8th deck. I went down and got my camera and took a few shots before starting the diary for the day. We sailed about 5:30 or 6 pm.
What a lovely stay we had in China. I would have liked more excursions here but I was most happy with our amended choices. Glad to hear that couples are almost as pleased with daughters now as sons. These children are loved and pampered and develop what is called the “the little Emperor” complex. After being king or queen for the first five years, kindergarten is a rude awakening. They have to be taught sharing and socialization but then that is not so very different from any child at that age. How I do love China and will always be interested in knowing more and reading more about it.
The evening was capped off with a concert by an excellent Russian pianist. She was tall and dressed in a beautiful gown and played romantic numbers. Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Schubert. She had great facility and will give us another concert in two days, Her name was Katya Grineva and she has a CD that we wish to get. We will hear her play again in two days. Another great day. It’s midnight now as we set our watches ahead one hour.