Airport and Home

Modesto High and Beyer leave the hotel in Shanghai at 0730. We have a two hour flight to Beijing, a two hour lay over and a non-stop home to San Francisco.

The poor Downey folk left at 0430, flew to Thailand for a seven hour lay over then flew to Los Angeles.

The bridges in Shanghai were built in the 1990s.

Even the 20 story high buildings have people's laundry hanging to dry.
G and Catherine were twins for the trip home.
Spencer is ready to fly.
This is the last time Joe and Kett can worry together.
The terminal in Beijing is brand new and beautiful.

Scott Hamilton is buying gifts for his kids.

The End.

Monday in Shanghai

Monday, after a yummy breakfast at the hotel, we went to a silk factory.

The silk worms were charming.
The factory smelled musty. The coccoons are soaked in boiling water. The air felt like boiling water.

The silk is pulled, evenly across wire frames.

Kett and Joe watched intently.

The next room at the silk factory was the store.

Some people love to shop.

The next stop was a street with more shopping.

If you got too tired walking, you could take the train along the street for one yuan.

Spencer poses at "The Thinker".

Next, we are taken across the river to enjoy the view.

Gina goes upside down.

Destie goes upside down.Noelle goes upside down.

Et cetera.

Policemen are everywhere.

The traffic signs have green if the road is clear, yellow if it is slow, and red if it is stopped.Street vendors sell vegetables... directly on the street.

We enjoy our last group dinner, but the boys are still hungry.

The final hurrah is a trip to see the Chinese Acrobats.

Sunday in Shanghai

We are taken to the Galaxy Hotel and allowed to shower and rest. Lunch is on our own.

Gina and Destie opt to watch Gymnastics in their room. (We lament that we aren't in Beijing watching it live!)

Noelle invites her friend to join Belly and me. Joseph doesn't want to go out into the heat, and is a bit tired of Chinese food (go figure). We eat at a Japanese Restaurant in the hotel.

The sashimi was plentiful and good. I worried a bit after ordering it, but so far, so good.

Belly helped me finish mine, and then had sushi.

Some people have discovered that McDonalds will deliver!

This guy was in the hotel elevator. He is the ONLY person I have seen wearing a helmet. China used to be known as the "bicycle kingdom" and now could be known as the scooter kingdom. People ride on the back of bikes sidesaddle, have kids on their handle bars, play chicken with buses... but no helmets.

We gather for the buses...

to be taken to the Bund.

There is a statue in the park by the river.

We enjoy the amazing architecture.

We enjoy wathcing the boats- some fancy, some barges with coal.

Then we go inside a tea shop. There are samples. Lychee tea is a bit odd to my tastes. I love the jasmine.

The Beyer gang is there too! Here is gorgeous Ashley.

Then the clouds break loose. It pours!

Thunder! Lightning!

We make a break for the bus, and are taken to a shopping area by the restaurant. The vendors want to sell umbrellas. This is where we ate:

The beer is only 8 proof.
Spencer finds a more familiar beverage:It is the first night that we can see the moon.The lights look like China Town...

Next, we are back at the river on a 45 minute "cruise".

The lights are amazing. Boats and buildings are brilliant billboards.

Tomorrow is our last day.

Tomorrow will be our full day in China.

The Road to Shanghai

Saturday August 9th

We awake in Epoch City.

The entire orchestra descends the elevators to board buses.

We stop for lunch.


We are deposited at Silk Road Market for shopping.

"Lady Lady" the vendors call out "Lady LADY"



The vendors tug, pull, cajole. The vendors smile and plead.





Joseph is fascinated by the faux-lex watches.

Many of the group buy an extra suitcase for all the treasures we have accumulated.

Destie and Gina see a Starbucks across the street.

Crossing the street would be like bungee jumping with an extra long cord. Fortunately there are underground passages.


Beneath the street there are... MORE VENDORS!


We emerge at the Starbucks. We need a Beijing cup to add to our collection. The bathroom is remarkable- it had toilet seat covers!


Beijing's efforts at beautification are evident.

We enjoy the leaping lady topiary.

At 5 pm, we board the buses. Everyone is drenched in sweat. Perfect condiontion to go to the train station.

Buses are not allowed in the train station parking lot, so we park 2 blocks away. The wheel on my suitcase, now over 50 lbs, promptly crumples. It is difficult to keep up with the group.

The train station is not airconditioned, and has the gentle aroma of urea. We have almost 2 hours to wait for the train. Some partake of the fastfood offerings: KFC or McDonalds. The girls and I have chicken and rice.

Fortunately for me, for 10 yuan a porter will take your suitcase down the stairs to the train. He abruptly deposits the suitcase outside the train. I get it up the 3 steep stairs and into the narrow hall. The hall has a carpet that bunches up under the broken wheel

Kett in the hall...

Each berth has two bunkbeds. The suitcases for four people take up every inch of floor space, and must be arranged properly to fit.

The beds are long enough, and fairly comfortable.

Destie and Gina and I share a room with a girl who says "you can call me Tina". I ask her is she is a student and she says "yes". I ask what she is studying, and she says "Tourism". That is all Tina said in the 11 hours we spent together.

Destie responds by turning upsidedown.

We start moving quickly after boarding. The sun sets, so there isn't much opportunity to see the passing sights.

In the morning, we are warned that the train will only stop for 15 minutes. We must disembark quickly.

Kevin is ready to get off the train.

We are met by cheerful people with red signs.

This person from Fresno State is happy to be in Shanghai:

Noelle is happy to be in Shanghai:

The whole mob is happy to be led to the buses.

We are all desperately in want and need of a shower, but first we are taken to breakfast. The breakfast was actually very good. We had steamed buns with pork, watermelon, fried eggs (!), chow mein, toast, soup. Modesto High was in a private room. It was a trifle warm.

And now we are staying at the Galaxy Hotel.

It is Sunday the 10th and we are ready to rock and roll!