Shanghai

Welcome to Shanghai, it took one and a quarter hours to reach the City from Arcadia due to distance and heavy traffic. Once again we traveled on fantastic motorways and marveled at the new houses, landscapes and new office/factories for some of the worlds leading industries. VW and GM manufacture their cars and ship them overseas from China and the port was like one gigantic parking lot. As soon as we opened our eyes, we knew we were in a city, the smell due to smog just hung in the air until this cleared to beautiful sunshine, unfortunately the smell never left. On our return Carol changed into something more comfortable and commented that she could still smell the city from her blouse. Despite all of this, the buzz and noise was very hard to describe, the huge volume of people in the bazaar area we visited was unbelievable. The scene was set prior to us leaving the coach when our guide gave us a note to hand to a taxi driver, telling them where to return us to the ship if we lose her in the crush. She was not joking! It was just madness but glad we experienced it. At one point we came into a square where thousands of Chinese were eating and the noise was like trillions of starlings, we were all overawed by the sight. Carol's brother lived here for two years, now we understand how it took him hours to get to and from work. We can see why his wife, Renata, loved the city and its diverse culture, I am sure we will visit again in years to come.