The last stop on our China tour was Shanghai. Our tour operator saved the best for last as Shanghai was easily the nicest place we visited on the tour. Shanghai is a great blend of old and new and western and eastern influences.
We started and finished our stay in Shanghai with a visit to the Bund, the riverfront area in central Shanghai. It was pouring rain during our first visit so we made a second trip.
On one side of the river, there are historic buildings - former banks and trading houses built by European nations in the late 19th century. On the other side, there are modern office towers and luxury apartments.
On our second trip to the Bund, we spent more time there than we planned because we were travelling with a celebrity - our friend Sue. She was mobbed by Chinese people who loved her red hair and all of them wanted their picture taken with her. Vanessa had her picture taken a number of times as well - a girl even pretended to be a street vendor so she could get close enough to Vanessa so that her boyfriend could take a photo.
We found out afterwards that most of the Chinese people on the Bund were tourists from outside of Shanghai. They rarely, if ever, see Caucasian people in person, so they were really excited when we let them take photos of us. Sue and Vanessa felt like movie stars!
The centerpiece of Old Shanghai is Yu Garden which dates back to the 16th century.
The shopping area next to the garden looks really cool but isn't particularly historic.
We attended an unbelievably good performance by the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe. The performers were as talented as the ones you see in Cirque du Soleil shows.
We also had time for a quick visit with Blake's friend Ward, his wife Winnie and their twins Naomi and Isaiah. Ward and Blake did their MBAs together and Ward is now working in Shanghai. They took us to a beautiful cafe and it was great to get caught up with them.
Here's one last photo from Shanghai. It was taken on a spiral staircase in our hotel.
That was it for Shanghai and, as hard as it is to believe, that was it for our world trip. Our next and last destination was home. It felt very weird to pack our bags knowing that it would be the last time we'd have to do that for a while and our next sleep would be in our own bed.
Even though we're home, we've still got some blogging left so we hope you'll tune in.
Blake and Vanessa
We started and finished our stay in Shanghai with a visit to the Bund, the riverfront area in central Shanghai. It was pouring rain during our first visit so we made a second trip.
On one side of the river, there are historic buildings - former banks and trading houses built by European nations in the late 19th century. On the other side, there are modern office towers and luxury apartments.
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| The Bund in the rain |
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| The Bund on a drier but not clearer day |
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| The "European" side of the river |
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| An example of the European architecture |
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| A smog-filled look across the Huangpu River at the modern downtown area |
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| The bottle opener shaped building in the middle of downtown is 101 stories high |
On our second trip to the Bund, we spent more time there than we planned because we were travelling with a celebrity - our friend Sue. She was mobbed by Chinese people who loved her red hair and all of them wanted their picture taken with her. Vanessa had her picture taken a number of times as well - a girl even pretended to be a street vendor so she could get close enough to Vanessa so that her boyfriend could take a photo.
We found out afterwards that most of the Chinese people on the Bund were tourists from outside of Shanghai. They rarely, if ever, see Caucasian people in person, so they were really excited when we let them take photos of us. Sue and Vanessa felt like movie stars!
The centerpiece of Old Shanghai is Yu Garden which dates back to the 16th century.
The shopping area next to the garden looks really cool but isn't particularly historic.
We attended an unbelievably good performance by the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe. The performers were as talented as the ones you see in Cirque du Soleil shows.
We also had time for a quick visit with Blake's friend Ward, his wife Winnie and their twins Naomi and Isaiah. Ward and Blake did their MBAs together and Ward is now working in Shanghai. They took us to a beautiful cafe and it was great to get caught up with them.
Here's one last photo from Shanghai. It was taken on a spiral staircase in our hotel.
That was it for Shanghai and, as hard as it is to believe, that was it for our world trip. Our next and last destination was home. It felt very weird to pack our bags knowing that it would be the last time we'd have to do that for a while and our next sleep would be in our own bed.
Even though we're home, we've still got some blogging left so we hope you'll tune in.
Blake and Vanessa
