Shanghai Tour

Today was China's national holiday, Labor Day. As such, nobody was working and we had no meetings, so even though it was a Friday, we totally became tourists. When my team and I checked in to the hotel here (Marriott Executive Suites with apartment-style rooms), even though the rooms had been pre-paid with a company credit card, they double-billed 4 of the 5 of us again, on our personal credit cards presented for incidentals charges. OOPS!!! They are in the process of refunding the charges on our personal credit cards, but in the meantime to make up for the screwup, they booked a professional tour for us, with an English-speaking guide. Leo, I thought, was pretty good. However, he spoke English with an Australian accent. It was pretty weird!!! The accent and the face just didn't go together.

This first pic posted here is taken from our first stop on the tour, some famous gardens that, of course, I have already forgotten the name of. I like the pic because it's a contrast of old and new. In the foreground are the rooftops of some old buildings, while in the skyline in the background features Shanghai's three tallest buildings, from left to right, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Jin Mao Tower, and the Shanghai World Financial Center. This pic was also taken just after we participated in a Chinese tea ceremony.

From there, we went to the Shanghai Museum, but got there ten minutes too late to get in. From there, though, I took this picture, to the left; I really love some of the architecture in Shanghai. Having missed the museum, for the fun of it Leo took us to Shanghai's French quarter. Weird to see European style architecture in Shanghai! Then he took us to a silk "museum" where of course after the brief tour by a very energetic little English-speaking Chinese girl, there was more silk than you can imagine, all on display for purchase (of course!). Yes... I did buy something for Michelle.

Following dinner at a Chinese restaurant that frankly wasn't very good, we went on a night time boat ride on the river. It was pretty cool.

To check out all 82 photos and 4 videos I have posted online, you can click here for Flickr, or here and here for Facebook (in two albums).