Shanghai Charlie and Chicken's Feet!

Beautiful and interesting isn't it?  This is a view of Shanghai. 
Here is some interesting information from Wikipedia about Shanghai:

Shanghai (Chinese: 上海; Shanghainese: Zånhae; Mandarin pinyin: Shànghǎi) is the largest city by population of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ^[6][7] and the largest city proper by population in the world.^[8] It is one of the four province-level municipalities of the PRC, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010.^[4] It is a global city, with influence in commerce, culture, finance, media, fashion, technology, and transport. It is a major financial center^[9] and the busiest container port in the world.^[10]
Located in the Yangtze River Delta in eastern China, Shanghai sits at the mouth of the Yangtze River in the middle portion of the Chinese coast. The municipality borders Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces to the west, and is bounded to the east by the East China Sea.^[11]
Once a fishing and textiles town, Shanghai grew in importance in the 19th century due to its favorable port location and was one of the cities opened to foreign trade by the 1842 Treaty of Nanking which allowed the establishment of the Shanghai International Settlement. The city then flourished as a center of commerce between east and west, and became the undisputed financial hub of the Asia Pacific in the 1930s.^[12] However, with the Communist Party takeover of the mainland in 1949, the city's international influence declined. In the 1990s, the economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping resulted in an intense re-development of the city, aiding the return of finance and foreign investment to the city.^[13]
Shanghai is a popular tourist destination renowned for its historical landmarks such as The Bund, City God Temple and Yuyuan Garden, as well as the extensive and growing Pudong skyline. It has been described as the "showpiece" of the booming economy of mainland China.<sup>[14][15]

Soooooo, last night I get a message from Charles saying, "Taking off on tiny Chinese plane to Shanghai.  I I die I left you in my will!  ;-)"   YIKES!!!

Obviously Charles was very nervous about the plane he was getting on to fly to Shanghai.  Then I was very nervous!  I told him not to get on the plane if he  was really feeling that way!  But, he did board the plane, and thankfully messaged me that he arrived safely in Shanghai.  Whew!  


He also sent me this picture of what he had for lunch yesterday before boarding the plane...</sup>

<sup>These are boiled chicken feet...eww...I guess it is what you get used to, but these look pretty yukky to me.  Charles said they aren't bad, but the texture is a little weird.  I  am kind of weird about textures, so I don't think they would work for me even though I am pretty adventurous about foods as well as life in general.


I think the claws on the end don't help ... kinda scary looking!  But, I guess if someone saw me eating steamed blue crabs and they had never seen anything like that before, they would probably feel the same way!


I wish more people got to travel the world and experience all the variety of things Charles is seeing.  I have been blessed and traveled quite a bit, but never to China.  It's on the bucket list.


If you really want to give your children and grandchildren something they will carry with them for all their lives, and expand their horizons, then send them traveling.  I believe that if we all better understood how people in other parts of the world live, it would become a better world.  Perhaps we would not judge things that we are not familiar with quite as harshly if we understood each other better.


Anyway, I am glad Charles had a safe trip to Shanghai, and am anxiously awaiting his safe return to the USA!  I know one thing for sure, he will be glad to get home to some good old American food!  


God Bless - Love-Peace and Joy</sup>