Shanghai is smaller in land area than Beijing, but has more people – 24 million people.  Beijing has 23 million people.  Xi’an has about 9 million, Chengdu 11 million, and Chongqing has around 33 million.  I wish we  had more time in Shanghai, but we only had one day.  The day started off with a visit to a temple.  The temple had a happy Buddha and a female Buddha.  After the temple we went to the Bund.  Shanghai has a river running through the middle.  One side is the older downtown and one is the newer downtown.  The Bund is a waterfront area.  The view from there is the iconic Shanghai view. It’s not very iconic in my photos since it was a very hazy day.  There were a lot of European style buildings near the Bund too.  We went to an embroidery gallery.  The work is amazing.  All the embroidery was done with silk thread so the photos glowed and changed colors as you moved.  Some pieces took a year or more to make.  This was art way out of my price range.  After lunch we went to a garden and more shopping.  For dinner we were on our own.  We were supposed to go to a dinner show, but it got cancelled.  10 of us took the subway back to downtown area.  We went to the Pearl tower and went up to the observatory and then had dinner in the revolving restraint.  Every restaurant we ate dinner in on the trip had a huge lazy susan in the middle of the table so you could spin it around to try all the dishes.  We joked that at our last dinner we were the lazy susan, spinning around the food.  Overall, the trip was wonderful, the people were so much fun, the food was great, and the sites were beautiful.  I’m tired, but so glad I did this trip.

(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore