Hangzhou

Shangri-La Hotel, this was the biggest hotel I ever stayed at. I scared myself in it's long hallways envisioning ghostly twins or a little boy saying redrum.

HangZhou Flying Eagle Boat Co.- the biggest factory supplying kayaks, rowing boats, ext. They're doing the racing boats for the Olympic games too. Here they're making some Thai boats to send over to Thailand (everything is made in China). We were there so JB could buy a kayak and water jogger. Humm...will upcoming blogs be from kayaking adventures in the Suzhou Canals?

Xi Hu Lake (heart of Hangzhou)

The lake by night

The Lake by day

Ballyahhllyahlly

Something special to modern Hangzhou is this ball trend. The skyline entering the city is house after house topped with shiny balls. Someone thought it was a good idea and it became a must have accessory for Hangzhouan homes. It's a funny sight, several hundred years from now people will wonder what was that city all about.

Shanghai

View from The Bund

The Bund

Grand Theatre

This is common to have these sort of trainy transportation on the main shopping streets.

Typical goodies store.

National Art Museum

Example of the masses.

A main shopping street.

Shanghai Ballet

This inverted arched building is Shanghai's Grand Theatre which we saw the Shanghai Ballet in. Taped music, a noisy cell phone talking audience and bad lighting made the overall theatrical experience a bit disappointing.

Karina and I inside the theater.

Dinner afterward. JB pulled a chicken head(with neck) out of the soup to eat. I didn't know it was in there and I have to say to see it's eyes and open beak with it's tongue hanging out, it's really not appetising, more pitiful.

Suzhou Amusment Park

Firecrackers go off every night in different parts of the city. They love that and water shows...what an expense.

Places like theme parks or promenades they're selling devil horns every two feet. And sure enough adults, kids, teenagers- everybody is wearing them. That's definitely a strange one to me.

Squid on a stick. Not bad, but it's easy to be not bad after trying the popular vendor food fermented tofu- FOWL!!

Food, Food and Food

It's rare to go out and just order one thing at dinner- it's always a complete smorgasbord. A lot of food goes to waste which is a shame, but it's makes for a colorful spectacle.

Three months here and I'm still fascinated to what they serve up on the streets. At any given time of the day (and night) people are chowen food from vendors that line the street. This women is cooking up baby birds.