15:45 Arrive Shanghai, Pu Dong Intl.
4* Ocean Hotel, Shanghai
Day 2, Shanghai (D)
On arrival in Shanghai you will be met by your local guide and transferred to your hotel. After checking in you will experience your first taste of the city with a visit to the magnificent Bund, then a walk along Nanjing Road, the main shopping area in Shanghai.
Day 164 1 Kings 9-10; 1 Corinthians 10 We landed 10 minutes ahead of schedule at 15:40. Temperature was perhaps in the high 20s. We got our passports stamped.… We passed a woman on the way out who pointed us in the direction of a long-haired man called Max, who checked our names off on his clipboard. The woman, “Maggie”, joined us later, and because there were some 50 of us we were divided into two parties of more manageable size: ours was directed to “Coach A” which was boarded by Maggie, the others to “Coach B” with Max. At the hotel we were left to go up to our rooms and refresh ourselves, before meeting up again in the lobby
ca.¾-hour later at 6.50pm. Janet nipped out to a nearby shop for 4 x 500ml bottles of
Coke Zero and a big one of water. When we all met up again we went in our two coaches to a restaurant for dinner. After a short wait we were shown to five round tables somewhat “snugly” seating 10 persons each. Food was brought and put on a central “Lazy Susan” on each table, from which we served ourselves. There was also Chinese tea to drink, and one free beverage. Most (I included) opted for the
Suntory beer that they poured out of 660ml bottles into smallish tall glasses (one such glass for each person free of charge).
Janet saw that they had Pepsi Max so asked for that. She remarked that only she and I used chopsticks on our table. Then there was an optional trip on a river-boat (the walking tour of the Bund,
etc., having been postponed to tomorrow): a circular trip of some 40 or 50 minutes showing to good effect the free light-show provided by the illuminations of the tall, modern buildings of the new city. It was ¥200 per person, and everyone opted for it. The boat was mocked up to be like a Mississippi paddle steamer; it was indeed propelled by a rear paddle, but it was powered by a (very noisy — that’s why there’s music and almost no sound on the movie I compiled back home) diesel motor.
Friday 13 June 2014 — 20:11:52
Shanghai at night from a river-boat
Friday 13 June 2014 — 20:15:44
Shanghai at night from a river-boat
Friday 13 June 2014 — 20:19:24
Shanghai at night from a river-boat
Afterwards we were led back to the coaches for the short transfer back to the hotel
(ca.9.30pm). Towards 11pm Janet was updating her journal with pen and book before turning in, and I was doing similarly on the
“little
feller” till perhaps 11.30pm. I put a dressing on the left heel, to avoid spotting on the bed-linen. One of the “Your tour dossier” documents said:
Tipping is common practice and seen as a way of life in China. It is customary to tip both your driver and guide ¥40 per person per day. For your convenience your guide will collect the full amount from you on your first day in Shanghai.
But neither Max nor Maggie made any mention of this, this evening. Copied the 3 photos and 9 videos from this evening from the camera to the
WD Elements HDD (21:45–21:46). Edited the three photos with Photoshop (22:11–22:17), but the version of
Windows Movie Maker on the “little feller” proved almost unusable so I gave up trying to compile the videos together.
