ARRIVAL

Busy, busy, busy, the shopping capital of the world. Shanghai! Whenever you see something that says made in China on it, it comes from Shanghai. It was very surprising to me when I noticed that there was a blue sky and a lot less pollution. This is because it is right next to the sea, which of course puts more pollution in the ocean. I love Shanghai so far! Now we are off to meet Emma, she will bring us to the hotel. When we got to the hotel we settled in and thought about what we were going to do the next day. We also went searching for a Tea House and ended up eating at the restaurant right next to it!? The food was really good anyway and afterward we got an Oreo Blizzard at Dairy Queen. There are so many Ice-Cream shops in Shanghai. I've probably seen 50-100 Häagen Dazs' and 60-100 Dairy Queens/DQ's!!

OUR ONLY FULL DAY IN SHANGHAI

This morning I woke up a little to late and had a rushed breakfast so we could hurry up and go to the Bund and Nanjing Rd. First the Bund (this is a protective wall). We walked by so many people all selling the same thing. These wheels that you attach to your shoes and wheel around everywhere. They would stop right in front of us and I felt like one seller was following us around and every 377 seconds he'd come up to us and try to sell us the wheels again. We strode down the street then went in to Gap to do some shopping! Then we kept on walking and ended up at the same place we were at last night! This time we found the Tea House but ended up going to a different place to have a tea ceremony and some noodles with dumplings. We tried so many different kinds of tea and I found out that I like tea. Well, some kinds. After this we started heading to the Bund. The Bund is next to the river on the west side. It is kind of crowded, and today it was hot, so it was a good day to be outside. There are so many buildings in Shanghai. One of the tallest looks like a bottle opener. It has a big hole at the top and really looks like one. There is an amazing skyline! On top of being overwhelmed by that beautiful sight, I was overwhelmed by around 50 people (all at different times) mobbing us to take thousands of pictures with us. One time this little boy's family wanted to get a picture of us with him, and he started running away because he was so scared! It really made me laugh. Then when he finally stood still for the picture we gave him bunny ears and everyone laughed. Its not really polite to touch a Chinese persons head but we didn't touch it and it was all taken in the right way. After we got the picture with them, we tried to walk 5 feet and were mobbed again. At the end of the day my cheeks were aching from smiling so much! I could tell I made them soooo happy because they walked away laughing and smiling. I love making people happy! In America and Europe I'm normal, but in Asia I'm exotic!

LEAVING

This morning I was woken up by surprise and told the schedule for the day, made by Rosie:

8:20 AM-9:10 AM: get ready to go

9:10 AM-10:05 AM: eat breakfast

10:05 AM-10:40 AM: go to Hershey's and get some chocolate

10:40 AM-12:15 AM: work on blogs and charge up devices

12:15 AM: leave with Emma

We were right on task and had a great morning, I kind of wish we were in Beijing and Xi'an for one day and Shanghai for 3.

<3 World Rings Bell