February 21 - Shanghai, China

We arrived in Shanghai around 4 am this morning. Like India, China has a very strict Visa protocol. Usually countries send their immigration officials on-board the visiting ship to check or stamp each passenger’s Visa. Here we had to get off the ship and go through the process within the terminal. Since I didn’t have a morning tour planned, I waited in the comfort of my cabin until the announcement came that lines were short.

I must confess I do not know much about China, except for the “Made in” stickers on many of the items I purchase. I learned that China is the world’s 3 ^rd largest country (after Russia and Canada). With a total population of 1.4 billion it means one-fifth of mankind is Chinese!! 43% of the land surface of China is made up of mountains (including Mt. Everest). The 3,900-mile-long Yangtze River is the longest river in Asia. We sailed on it into Shanghai from the China Sea, just to the north of Shanghai. And, final bit of trivia: Shanghai is on the same latitude as New Orleans.

The rain has followed us from Hong Kong but stopped prior to my evening tour. I went to a Chinese Restaurant for dinner followed by a short ride to a theater for an Acrobatic Show. Dinner was another unique experience. 10 of us sat around a table with a huge lazy susan in the middle. Dishes arrived including shrimp, chicken, fish, pickled salad items, rice, soup, beef, boc choy (spelling?) and several items no one at the table could label. As you can see by the picture at the bottom of this message, we did not leave much behind. It was all tasty!

We were not allowed to photo the show. It was not only enjoyable, but amazing to see how these folks can turn their bodies inside out in contortions I can’t begin to describe while balancing glasses of water. We enjoyed it!!!