Hello, Shanghai!

We arrived in China late Sunday evening after a flight delay in Tokyo. We are staying in another beautiful hotel - the Park Hyatt, Shanghai. It is ultra modern in architecture and very high tech...more on that at another time. We are on the 80th floor (of over 90). It is so high that the view out of my window this morning was CLOUDS! There is a giant hole through the top floors that an airplane can fly through!  

                                                                   Here is a picture:

                                     

The trade show starts tomorrow, so we spent our "free day" sight-seeing.  First, we went to the Bund, an area of Shanghai that has a beautiful walkway on the river, the financial district, historical buildings, as well as local commerce.  Here is a sampling of some things we saw.

         

                                      COLONIAL BUILDINGS (turn of the century) ON THE BUND

         

                                             THE HUANGPU RIVER THAT FLOWS THROUGH SHANGHAI

         

                                         A NEWLY MARRIED COUPLE GETTING PICTURES TAKEN

                                   

                                                    MONUMENT TO THE PEOPLE'S HEROES

        

                                                        CUSTOMS HOUSE AND BANKS

         

                                                 BEAUTIFUL WALL MADE FROM FLOWERS 

         

                                            SHANGHAI STOCK MARKET (only a Bull Market here!)

                                     

                                                            SIGNAL TOWER FOR THE SHIPS

                                      

                                                         THE GORGEOUS WALDORF ASTORIA

                                      

                      ONE OF THE MANY ENORMOUS FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS - EASILY 6 FEET TALL!

                                       

I ORDERED A RASPBERRY ICED TEA. THIS IS NOT LIKE IN THE US. IT IS RASPBERRY SIMPLE SYRUP ON ICE. IT WAS VERY REFRESHING.

                                       

                                                  OUR TREAT OF MACAROONS AND MERINGUES.

                  

       

           FROM THE OPULENCE OF THE WALDORF ASTORIA TO A FARMER BRINGING FOOD INTO THE CITY

                                   

                                               THE NEXT STOP WAS THE PEOPLE'S SQUARE.

        

                                                                 POLICE PATROLLING  

       

                                               THE WALKWAY HAD INTERESTING BRICKS . . . 

       

                                                      . . . AND LOTS OF PIGEONS! 

       

                                         THE BIG FOUNTAIN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SQUARE

       

                                              THE CHILDREN WERE HAVING LOTS OF FUN!

      

                                    

                                                                     SO WAS MANDY!

       

THE VIEW FROM THE VUE LOUNGE. THE WALKWAY A LITTLE TO THE RIGHT OF THE MIDDLE IS THE BUND WHERE WE WALKED EARLIER IN THE DAY.

       

WE WENT TO THE "CHINA KITCHEN" THAT WAS RECOMMENDED TO US BY THE EXECUTIVE CHEF WE MET IN JAKARTA. OUR FIRST COURSE WAS A 10 VEGETABLE SALAD THAT HAD MUNG BEAN SPOUTS, CARROTS, GREEN AND RED PEPPERS, CELERY ROOT, CUCUMBER, CHINESE CABBAGE, SHITTAKE MUSHROOMS, AND THREE OTHERS THAT I CAN NOT REMEMBER. NEXT, WE HAD SIZZLING COD WITH A DELICIOUS SAUCE MADE FROM SESAME SEED OIL, SOY SAUCE, WHOLE GARLIC CLOVES, SPRING ONIONS, AND HONEY. VERY YUMMY!

                                  

                                                         CARVING THE PEKING DUCK

        

                                       THE LAST COURSE WAS BLACK PEPPER CHICKEN.