Shanghai here we are

Hangzhou is best seen by bike. We rented a couple of "clown bikes" and cycled around West Lake. Along the way, we admired Red Carps and Turtles in a lovely Buddhist pond. Unfortunately, we also witnessed that turtles in fact are canibals (or at least wanna-bees), which spoiled the zen moment.

China is experiencing both heat waves and floods. Chongquing by the Jangtze River was hit particularly hard by floods, while the West coast (where we are) is getting hit by an average of 38 C. Global warming seems to travel much quicker than we hoped...

After a very modern train trip from Hangzhou we arrived in the bubbling Shanghai. In some ways, it feels very much like Hong Kong (very big modern buildings and new metros). Yet, the backstreets still have the charme of almost rural China.

So far, we have been pounding the streets around the Bund, Nanjing Road and People's Square. Lee was very excited about going to the Dinosaur museum, followed by a visit to the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum. This was a wonderful museum, which shows both the explosive growth of Shanghai and the modern measures to deal with it. We are impressed by the fact that Shanghai manages to stay "green" and by lack of expected pollution.

It's been really nice eating Western food again - but one has to pay for it (both is bucks and body weight gain).

In the two days remaining we'll try to explore the Concessions and the modern Pudong part of Shanghai.

Still working on getting the photos up. Thanks for your patience... you will not be dissapointed :).

Lee says thanks for all the birthday greetings. It's nice to be remembered... even if it's a few days late, Jef and Franky:).