Went back to the hotel, packed and said goodbye to Beijing and thanked Leslie profusely! Back to Terminal 3 to head to Shanghai. Through security, which felt like I was back traveling in the days of Red Alerts. No liquids in your carry on - at all. Including medicine. No lighters. No fun. (LOL). Fortunately, I had read the signs indicating no liquids so I asked the woman at check in if my little quart sized bag with all the (U.S. approved sized) liquids was ok for carry on. She told me no. Crammed the bag into my luggage and hoped for the best.

Once I located the gate (which was a nice hike), they crammed us into a bus and took a nice long ride out to the plane where we had to climb some serious stairs to get on the darned thing. The plane was far nicer than the 747 I flew out in - and not quite as full. The food? We'll just say I ate Fritos for lunch and was grateful to have them!

After waiting for 1/2 hour or so, luggage arrived. Interestingly, at the exit of the baggage claim area was a bin that said "lighters". This is where they recycle the confiscated lighters from the passengers going through security on the way in. It's a lighter exchange program! Somehow I don't see this policy being done in the U.S. (even though lighters are allowed on planes again.) Could you imagine it with say - lotion or some other contraband?

Followed the signs to the Maglev Train. It's a German-designed magnetic train that goes up to 484 kilometers in hour. However, today it only went 300. Basically it travels 30 kilometers in 8 minutes - so it's a really FAST train. There I met up with Helen from Jo's office in Shanghai. Then it was a 45-minute taxi ride into the center of the city to meet a group for dinner. Could have taken the metro, but quite frankly this L.A. girl was not about to take the metro in Shanghai during rush hour with luggage. Not happening in this lifetime!

Met up with Gu (who I've mentioned in previous blogs), Jenny (an Aussie living in Shanghai, working for InfoSalons and is in the pics from last year in Chengdu), and Lew & Clare Shomer from Shomex out of Santa Monica. Hilariously, the only time I seem to see Lew & Clare is anywhere BUT L.A.! Dinner was traditional Chinese fare, minus the spare bits and parts. My first Chinese style food since arriving 3 days ago!

After a nice restful evening, it was time to repack again. Headed out to meet Clare and Lew at their amazing hotel, The Mansion. It's a gorgeous boutique hotel located near the French Concession area of Shanghai. Did I mention it was gorgeous?

We went to the Yu Gardens area and wandered about. It looks like the "old China", with traditional buildings and lots of shops. And of course, no tourist area would be complete without at two Starbucks, a KFC, and Dairy Queen. Strangely, no Pizza Hut or TCBY! Bought a cool painting done on rice paper and some decorations for Chinese New Years. We then decided to walk down to the Bund on a shopping street where we were the only round eyes.

Talk about construction! The whole area south of the Bund appeared to be under construction - walked easily 1/2 mile through a couple of different sites until we came to a place to cross from the river side of the street to the buildings. The view over to Pudong was lovely - we were having a "blue sky day" in Shanghai - which for those of you in L.A. means a stage 1 smog alert, possible stage 2. As Lew aptly put it, "The streets of Shanghai are much cleaner than the air."

After lunch we headed back to the hotel to meet Gu, Jo and Jenny. Piled up all of our luggage and ourselves into Gu's minivan/suv and then the fun began. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride! We had 25 minutes to make it to the train station. Think of driving in Italy, Boston and Mexico City, combine them to the power of 20 and you are getting close to our experience! Of course that describes driving in China in general. I make it a point to NOT look at the other cars or whatever the traffic is doing. It's best that way. Think of a horse with blinders. Like that.

Does the phrase "hit by a bus" mean anything? What happened was Gu was taking the inside track on a left hand turn lane and lost to a bus trying to angle into the same lane. But this being China, he backed up, the bus went it's way and we went ours. Best bit of advice from Jo to Lew. "Never stick your head out the window of a car in Shanghai." Of course, if there's a bus kind of crashed into your side of the car and you are trying to help the driver extricate said car from the bus, then maybe a quick look-see is safe. Only maybe.

We arrived to the train station with about 15 minutes to spare before our train departed. I'm really not sure how we arrived there because I was way too scared to look. We grabbed the luggage and headed up to the station. OH MY GOD. Sea of People. Think of seeing 500,000 people in one building - and we were the ONLY round eyes in the place! It was scary. If we hadn't been with Gu I'm positive there is no way we would have made the train on time. Note to anyone planning to travel by rail in China - make sure you have someone who can read Chinese as nothing's in English.

So like good little ducklings, we happily followed Gu into the train station, up an escalator, through a waiting room, down another escalator and onto the train with all of our luggage. Remind me to buy the man one of those flags tour operators use!!! The train was lovely - and goes about 160 miles per hour.

The scenery on the other hand - we had heard it was a lovely ride out to Nanjing through the countryside. What we saw was factory after factory (some being built, some abandoned) - high rise after low rise after high rise - tons of construction, rubble, garbage heaps, polluted waterways and air that  - well, I don't trust the air I can't see when I breathe it! It does make for an intense sunset. Think red ball slowly sinking in the sky.

   Jo and Steph on the train from Shanghai to Nanjing


When we got off the train, another mini-adventure began. It's called getting out of the train station!!! We had to take the stairs down to a corridor that was fed by many different loading platforms. There was a ramp to slide your luggage, but it was slippery and built at about a 45-degree angle, so the potential for the luggage to get away from you was HIGH.

As we reached the corridor there was a "people river". For those of you who were at the fiasco of an opening party at IAEE in Miami last month - like that, only with luggage. What's the difference between a people river and a sea of people you may be asking? Easy. Movement!!! And no waves. Anyway - we merged into the river and eventually found the exit and our drivers to take us to the hotel. Along the way, we were treated to a firework display in front of a hotel located adjacent to the freeway. I mean the fireworks were going off 10 feet adjacent to the highway. Love the smell of gunpowder in the evening!

Nanjing is big! It's a city of 7 million people, and was the capitol of China during the 14th century. At one time, it was the largest city on the planet and the old wall still exists that used to encircle the city. Unbelievable, no? It took about 1/2 drive or so to get to the hotel, which is located in an industrial park area under construction and about 20 minutes from the city center. As I look out my window, I can see 8 cranes.

Our hotel, the Frasier Suitesis relatively new and quite nice. Jo and I are sharing a 2 bedroom apartment, complete with kitchen, washer/dryer, balcony, and a room that we think could be a storage room, but at them moment is empty except for a hamper. My only question is why there is only one plate, bowl and set of silverware when it's a two-bedroom suite? 

   Gu, Jo, & Jenny in our Suite

(Continued on Blog 3)