Wednesday, April 26- Shanghai on our way home today. It's a lazy morning so Rémi and I decide to go for a walk. We are in a gated area with a golf course behind our hotel. There are condos, apartments everywhere, but there are so few people. Obviously this type of accommodation has not taken off.

This was the view from our bedroom window.

We say goodbye to the BC group as they leave at 11. We hang out for a while longer then it is our turn. Ron and I have started coughing, Rémi is congested, but thinks it's allergies, a few others are showing signs of colds.

At the airport we check in pretty quickly and go through security without any hassle. We decide to have a bite to eat around 3. Our flight is around 5pm. The flight is painless really except that neither Ron nor I are feeling very good. I don't even attempt the meals that are handed out. We are happy to arrive in Montreal around 5 pm, of the same day. Ron and I still have to fly to Ottawa. I try to get our flight changed to go to Moncton directly, but the Air Canada agents would do nothing for us. We get to Ottawa around 9pm and go to our B&B which is just 10-12 minutes away.

Tomorrow is another story. We finally get home on Friday,  April 28 at 10 pm. 

Tuesday, April 25- Shanghai A little rainy, but warm. Up for breakfast at 7:30 for our departure at 8:30. One couple stays behind because they are not feeling well and one other couple wants to see the city on their own. The rest of us are headed back to the downtown Shanghai. It will be a long day as we have a show tonight. Our first stop is to visit a silk factory. Ron and I end up buying 2 pillows. I always have a hard time finding a comfortable, form fitting pillow. They pack them very well and will be easy to fit in our suitcase. We then go off of Nanjing St. which is a very popular shopping area. We are told by our guides not to follow anyone down the little alleys to buy on the Black Market. Of course we all do. We go in groups and do not feel intimidated or frightened at all. I buy a t-shirt and a purse that I will give to mom. We are there until 12:30, so now it's time for lunch. Two other people are deciding to stay in the bus instead of visiting a museum because they are not feeling well.  This museum has about 6 different exhibitions: a silk gallery, old money/coins, Calligraphy and painting gallery, etc..

The machines that stretch out the cocoons

Lady manually stretches out the cocoons, the silk.

They had all of our women help to stretch out the silk. It's amazing how much a little piece can pull out.

Busy Nanjing Road

It's a pedestrian street 

Busy for a Tuesday

Narrow alleyways

Paul and Rémi walking down the alley.

After a regular supper, we go to the venue for the Shanghai Acrobatic show. Wow, it was amazing. So worth it. I can't even begin to describe each act. It did remind me of Cirque du Soleil. Couldn't take any pictures. It's over shortly after 9 and we are back in our rooms by 10:30 pm. It's been a long day. Tomorrow's departure is 11:00 for the group flying to Vancouver and noon hour for the rest of us.

Monday, April 24- Hazy morning. Up for breakfast by 8. Food not very good; cold, not as many choices as we are used to. Some of our group members did not get up to the deck last night so someone asks to have it opened. We go up again, but obviously not the same colours.

Obvious early morning haze

Not quite the same beauty as last night.

Because we are only leaving at 10:30 we go out for a walk around to discover what is near the hotel. We find a park where people are exercising, playing ping pong, and just hanging out.

I loved these sculptures in the park.

Men exercising.

Women doing Tai Chi, I think

Table tennis. They were good.

Our 50 storey hotel- The Marriot.

We leave for the airport at 10:30 for a 1:00 flight to Shanghai. We have an hour's drive to get there. We are late boarding as the plane only arrives around 12:30. Some people go to McDonald's to get some burgers. We board around 1, but sit there for close to an hour before take off. Not sure what the issue was. We arrive in Shanghai shortly after 4pm. It's close to 4:30 when we meet our local guide, Benny. It's an hour to downtown. We go for supper upon our arrival. There are no plans for tonight so Jack tells us that we are going to the Bund as this will be our only chance to see it at night. Wow. The pictures will explain what it is.

The skyline from our side of the river.

Loved this tower

Lots of people on the Bund. (walkway to see the buildings on the opposite side)

Lots of fiancées having their pictures taken by professionals. These are their wedding pictures even though they might not be getting married for a while. No family members are there either. It seems that some of these are just for advertising, and these two are not necessarily a couple.

The boats cruise up and down the river as well.

 We stay here for about 30 minutes and then we have another hour's drive to our hotel. We are not staying in town, which is very disappointing. We had hoped to be able to come back, but no.

Some people have cough colds and are really not feeling well at all.

 

Sunday, April 23, 2017- Sunny day, 26-27 C. In Chongqing today. This city is the size of New Brunswick and has a population of 34 million, Canada's population, unreal.
We have an early breakfast and meet Jack and the gang around 8:00. We meet our local guide Ken and he leads us to our bus, about 20 away, and 100 steps up a staircase. Lots of people are walking around considering that it's Sunday and fairly early still. On the bus around 9. We drive around the city. Lots of construction going on and workers are seen everywhere. We are headed to the zoo to see the Pandas, primarily. Because it is Sunday, many locals are here as well. They bring their lunches and stay for the day. We have two hours to visit. Our first stop is to see the Pandas. There are no young ones when we first arrive. Luckily they are there at the end of the visit so we get to see them and take pictures.

It was obviously breakfast when we arrived.

They sure love their bamboo.

This guy was walking around a lot. Seemed perturbed.

Two young ones playing.

The young ones were staying away.

There were many other different animals as well.

Lots of different types of monkeys.

Lots of penguins

We leave around 11:30 and head to the restaurant of choice, not ours.. Regular stuff. We won't go to the hotel until much later. Everyone is disappointed as we are all tired. The plan for part of the afternoon is shopping on a pedestrian street with all of the big name brands- Gucci, Rolex, Polo, Adidas, Givenchy, etc. We stay for about 1 hour. Ron and I share a gelato. Not done yet. Our next stop is the old market section of town. This place is wild. Anything that you could ever want to eat can be found here.

These two men were pounding this gooey mixture of nuts and toffee.

Looks like huge drinks

This guy was a psychic

Pounding sticky rice

Always easy to find Ron. He always got a lot of second looks.

Not sure who lays these eggs.

Often saw women carrying large pieces of cardboard.

Lots of hot peppers

Different kinds of eggs

Another mystery egg

Not sure what she was shucking.

This lady is selling hacky sacks. She was also making them.

Making cool designs with cotton candy

Not sure what this was.

Not sure what this is either

Looks gross...

We head for supper around 4:30. We finally eat spicy Chinese food. Good. After supper the bus is going to the hotel. Everyone is ecstatic. Our hotel is the Marriot. It has 50 floors. Ours is the 36th. Jack tell us that we must check out the bar on the 50th floor. There is also an open-air deck. We relax for a while, then decide to check out the top of the hotel around 8:30. WOW! We can see the whole city. Here are some pictures that Ron took.

Such a pretty sight.

We have to leave our luggage outside our room to save us from having to go to the airport early to check in. This way we only have to be ready to leave around 10:30. We are going to our final destination, Shanghai.