This morning Qinqin picked me up at my hotel and we took a taxi over to the bus stop. We took a public bus about an hour out to the Ancient Zhujiajiao Water town. They call this the Venice Of China. We walked over the famous Fangsheng Bridge. We continued walking through the area which is lined with all kinds of shops. A lot of the seniors come out to this area to buy food. We went through the Kezhi Garden. Kezhi means planting vegetation in the spare time of study. This home, also known as the Kezhi Garden has three areas, for living, for study and for vegetation. I asked how many people would live in this “house” because it seemed quite expansive and had many buildings. Qin Qin smile and said well just a family and probably many concubines. Makes more sense!

We had a few snack along the way, one being what they call a pancake with pieces pickled vegetables baked in it. It was very good. We also shared a naan bread from a Muslim restaurant on our way out. It was extremely good and I have seen many shops selling them especially in Xian. Had I of known they were so yummy I may of been eating them everyday!

We ended spending more time wandering the area then planned and then with the Friday afternoon traffic we did not get to the Pudong area( the east side of the river where the skyscrapers are) until 3. We ended up eating at a small restaurant and I ate more dumplings! Mmmmmm! After our late lunch we went up the Shanghai Tower which is the tallest building in China and has the fastest elevator in the world. 18 meters a second and we went up 118 floors in 55 second! My ears popped and I actually took a few seconds off the elevator to get my bearings. Unfortunately the smog was bad and the view was not the greatest. Still amazing though! There is a building they call the bottle opener. It was originally supposed to be a round opening but they changed it to square as the architects who designed the building were from Japan and the Chinese government thought it looked too much like the Japanese flag.

Although it doesn’t sound like I did much today it was a very full day. Back to my hotel by 5 and I was exhausted. I mustered up some energy to walk back over to Nanjing Road after dark. I was warned it was going to be soooooo busy as it was a Friday night. I walked part way up the pedestrian shopping street and it was barely passable! I was approached over and over with people trying to get me to come shopping.... “watches... bags... what you shop for?” I have learned to not even react and they leave you alone quickly. They can see me coming a mile away though!

There were a few times during the day we were trying to find taxis and QinQin was out in the middle of the road with me in tow....I am sure she could sense my fear. She just kept telling me... trust me I know these roads! Will remember these insane moments of walking and biking on these crazy roads!