Shanghai, China

Monday, October 21

We were initially bumped off our flight from Yichang to Shanghai because of over booking, but with the help of our agent in Seattle and our industrious local guide, we were given seats and left Yichang as scheduled, arriving in Shanghai in time to for bed. The following morning, we met our new guide and headed out on a tour of the Pudong, a new area which is comprised of the majority of land in eastern Shanghai that merged in May 2009 and has since become China's financial and commercial hub. The architecture of the new city is spectacular, including the striking Oriental Pearl TV Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Center that looks like a bottle opener, and the Shanghai Tower, currently under construction that, at 2070 ft. will be China's tallest building.

This visit to the new area was followed by a visit to the old Town and Yu Yuan Garden which was the template for the "Willow Pattern" English china which features the centrally positioned tea house. Next was a soup dumpling lunch at Din Tai Fung that had me in heaven .We had heard about Shanghai soup dumplings that have the rich soup broth inside the dumpling. It's tricky to eat them as you have to poke or bite a small hole in the side of the dumpling so you can suck out some of the soup before you pop it in your mouth and get another burst of soup with the filling. Delicious! We walked off lunch by strolling around the town and visiting a silk factory where I thoroughly enjoyed the shopping.

Yu Yuan Gardens

Making Soup Dumplings

Silk factory - pulling silk to make a filling for a comforter

Shanghai at night with Pearl Tower at left