Shanghai - Day One Part Two

 Shanghai is a city of great contrast, This view is across the Huangpu River which is the most important shipping artery of Shanghai. In Shanghai, the Huangpu River cruise starting from the Bund is a traditional tourist program. You can see the tour boats cruising down the river both day and night. 

 Dinner began with appetizers on our first night in Shanghai at a Restaurant on the Bund which turned out to be a terrible choice!  When our assortment of appetizers were served, one was an octopus based little square.  Now, I usually like octopus and squid, so I cut off a little piece and put into my mouth...Big Mistake!  It was the most horrible tasting thing I had ever experienced!  I didn't want to be rude and spit it out, so I immediately swallowed it whole!  Charles was watching my expression, and asked what was wrong.  It told him that it tasted just terrible, so he decided to try a small piece and see what I was talking about....his reaction was swift and just like mine!  YUK!  When I asked him what he felt about it he stated it "tasted like low tide!"  Yep, perfect description.  At that point we cancelled our entrees and went elsewhere for dinner (Mr. and Mrs. Bund was wonderful!)

Next day we all went to a lovely Szechuan restaurant for lunch where we had some amazing spicy food...Szechuan Shrimp which "sparkled" with heat on your tongue like pop rocks in your mouth....Ribs that were so delicious, you wanted to over-indulge.

 We had a wonderful time sharing this meal with Zev,
Jolin, Charles and Jon.  As you can see, we had a huge assortment of different items, and all of these were delicious!  I discovered a new vegetable item called "morning glory" which I had never had.  It isn't available in the United States, but I sure wish it was! YUM!









Following our amazing lunch experience, Jolin took Melanie and I for a total body massage at a local Chinese massage parlor.  The prices for a massage in China are amazingly cheap!  An hour long massage is only about $15 US Dollars!  Wow!  So, when asked if we wanted a half hour or hour massage, we decided upon the one hour option with an aroma therapy oil.  Sounded great, but things didn't quite go as we had expected.
First blip on the radar was the fact that they put Melanie and I in the same room...more like you would expect for a "couples massage."  Hmmmmm...okay, so we got undressed and lay face down on our massage tables face down.  The massage began and our two little Chinese massage therapists worked us over pretty good, with deep massage over our entire body.  Then, about half way through the hour the ladies told us to "turn over."  I thought to myself "I guess they are going to massage the front of my legs and arms."  So, I obediently rolled over and adjusted my cover.  Then, before I could realize what was happening I found the lady massaging my BOOBS!!!!  Melanie got so tickled, she had to leave the room...I was horrified, but didn't quite know what to say, and besides that the ladies didn't speak enough English to explain that I wasn't really interested in a boobie massage!  Then, when I was horrified enough, in walks Jolin our guide and she proceeds to sit down and wait!  OMG!!  There I was in my altogether, getting my boobies massaged as she watched!  I found out later than Chinese women think if you massage the breasts, they get larger!  My oh My!  Caution is required when you get a massage in a foreign Country!  It was good for a lot of laughs however, and we did feel relaxed afterward.

 Next we were off to the Bund for some picture taking.  We would be leaving for Thailand that night, and I wanted to be sure to get some pictures of the area before we left town.  The lovely flower wall behind us runs along the river and there is an elevated viewing area behind it where you look across the river to the thriving and new Financial District of Shanghai!  It is an amazing view!

And quite a contrast to the side of the river on which we were standing at the flower wall.  The older side of the River was originally part of the French Concession which held this area from 1849 to 1946, and the architectural and cultural influence is very obvious.  This was also the center of Catholicism in Shanghai during that period.  This was an amazing day up to this point, and what happened next was about to be both horrifying and amazing!

In my rush to get out of the cab on the French side of the river, I had apparently left my purse which contained, among other things, my passport!  It was about 3:30 or 4:00 when I realized that I did not have it in hand.  I did realize that the last time I remembered having it was in the cab, but none of the three of us could remember what cab company or even the color of the cab from which we had exited!  Jolin, immediately contacted the Shanghai Police and within minutes they were on the scene.  They were wonderful, an explained that cameras positioned in the area would be able to pinpoint the cab from which we had exited.  However, time was against us, and I was just sick over having left the purse behind.  A Paddy Wagon rolled up and we were all escorted into the back of it for a ride to the Police Station.  I have to wonder what people were thinking as they saw two Americans and a Chinese climb into the Paddy Wagon!  Not funny at the time, but looking back, a funny experience.  The police were wonderful, and Charles was in contact with the Consulate attempting to find out what we could do to get me to Thailand and back.  It was going to be a nightmare!  No one thought we would be able to recover the passport in time for me to leave that evening.

After filling out the police report, we were headed for the Consulate to see if I could obtain a temporary visa.  The traffic was awful and we needed to be there before 5 PM...things were not looking good.  I had a thought about looking through the pictures we had taken in the area to try and see when I had my green purse last.  While the pictures did confirm that I had left the purse in the cab, one amazing thing came about as a result.  While snapping pictures from within the cab, we had captured one shot which showed the registration number of the Cab Driver!  Hope sprang up!  Jolin began calling all the cab companies in Shanghai (and believe me, there are many in this city of 23 million people) in an attempt to locate the cab and driver we had used.  We went back to Charles' house and the search was on.  For over an hour, Jolin called one cab company after another as Melanie, Jon and Charles prepared to leave for Thailand without me.  I would follow the next day if I could resolve the passport problem.  Then, just as time was nearly out, and hope was gone, Jolin called Melanie and Charles downstairs and I thought she was going to say we would not be able to locate the missing passport.  Instead, she suddenly smiled and said - "Yay! You will all be going to Thailand together!  The purse and passport have been located and the driver is on his way here with them!"  What a miracle!!!  I was reduced to a sobbing mess as I hugged Jolin, thanked her profusely and took a treasured necklace from around my neck and placed it on hers.  I will never forget that moment.
When the Cab Driver appeared, the entire contents of my purse were intact except for my iPhone.  At that point, the iPhone didn't matter a bit!  The amazing thing was, that $400 USA, credit cards and the passport were all there.  We all celebrated profusely before heading to the airport that night and onward to Thailand! Answered prayer is amazing!

GOD BLESS!   Peace, Love and Joy

More to come tomorrow................

Around The World In 18 Days!

In just 18 short days, Melanie and I are about to get on a plane and head to the Far East...halfway around the world! 

Neither of us have ever been there and with each passing day I get more excited about what we will see and do while we are visiting Shanghai, Bejing, in China and Bangkok, Koh Sumai and Phuket in Thailand!  What a bucket list of a trip this will be!  I am going to ride an elephant in Thailand for sure! 

All our arrangements have been made by my son, Charles.  We will be staying in some fabulous hotels/villas in some beautiful and exotic locations.  My husband just gave me a brand new Canon Rebel t3 camera so that I can hopefully take some amazing pictures to record this fabulous trip!

I look forward to experiencing the cultures of both countries as well as their food and scenery!  Everyone keeps telling me the shopping will be quite fabulous as well, so I expect I will be doing some of that too!  We will be gone for two weeks and arriving back home just in time to get ready for Christmas. 

I love travel, and am looking forward to adding these two countries to my list of already visited!  I hope those of you who read my blog regularly will enjoy the many things I plan to write and the pictures I plan to share!  I don't think I will run out of things to talk about for a very long time!

I will be reviewing the plane rides and the restaurants and tourist sites.  I hope to get a few really special pictures of people and places to share.  There is a "floating market" in Bangkok which I am looking forward to seeking.  Everything about this trip will be "new."

I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year!  We will be taking the girls and heading for the beach on Saturday.  We love to share Thanksgiving at Harbor Docks where the owner sponsors a donation dinner to benefit Habitat for Humanity and Second Harvest every year.  The servers are volunteers from all over the country, and the entire proceeds from the event go to the two Charities!  Last year they raised over $17,000 for these worthy charities!  What a great way to say thanks for the many blessings we have received this year.

I have prayers in my heart which will travel around the world with me for a friend whose husband is fighting cancer.  I will share these prayers with my "Chinese daughter" Lilac.  She is a sweet Christian young woman who lives in China and works with my son Charles.  I met her and have gotten really well acquainted with her on SKYPE!  We talk regularly and share things about our respective countries, and our shared belief!  It has been amazing!  We are both anxious to meet face to face and share hugs!

Well...I must sign off for now, but I promise to be back soon with some amazing pictures and information!

GOD BLESS - Peace, Love and Joy!

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>