Trip Report!! ABD Enchanted China 6/4-15/2017 Update 8/11/18! Day 10 - Shanghai à la Carte

[cynditech]

Thank you for sharing your trip report! It looks amazing. We are in the process of booking a trip to China for next year, and your report has really been helpful to me!

 

[happy wanderer]

We have traveled to China twice (2005 and 2014)...it has been a joy reading your report and reminiscing. Can’t wait to read more!

 

[Theta]

We are heading to China on this trip in July. Many people have made comments about the pollution in China, comments like, "Better bring your respirator." I am actually getting tired of having to defend my choice of vacation destinations. So how was the pollution when you all went?

Do you recommend any steps to help with breathing cleaner air?

 

[sayhello]

We have traveled to China twice (2005 and 2014)...it has been a joy reading your report and reminiscing. Can’t wait to read more!

I'm hoping to have the next day up soon. Life has just gotten away from me.

We are heading to China on this trip in July. Many people have made comments about the pollution in China, comments like, "Better bring your respirator." I am actually getting tired of having to defend my choice of vacation destinations. So how was the pollution when you all went?

Do you recommend any steps to help with breathing cleaner air?

In general, I didn't have much problem with the air. Our last day in Shanghai, I noticed my chest seemed a little tight, but that was it. Now I was there the beginning of June. But I hear the pollution is worst when it's cooler.

Sayhello

 

[CaliKris]

We are heading to China on this trip in July. Many people have made comments about the pollution in China, comments like, "Better bring your respirator." I am actually getting tired of having to defend my choice of vacation destinations. So how was the pollution when you all went?

Do you recommend any steps to help with breathing cleaner air?

As @sayhello says, the air pollution in China is worse in winter. Summer is the rainy season which helps clean the air, plus coal is burned in the winter. We went on the ABD China trip in late June/early July last year. The only place we encountered noticeable air pollution was Beijing. It really didn't get to me until the last day there. We did pack masks but did not use/need them at all. Here is a link to the masks we purchased on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Ma...eywords=cambridge+military+air+pollution+mask

 

[Theta]

THat is good to know about pollution in the winter being worse.

Thank you!

 

[sayhello]

Oi! So here we go! Next installment! I got reminded today that I have other unfinished reports, and I *SO* want to finish this one *before* I go to Iceland! Let's see if I can do it!

Day 9 - Lijiang River Riders

So, today was another day that I had really been looking forward to, thanks to pxlbarrel and Cousin Orville’s Trip Reports. Their photos of the mysterious Gumdrop Mountains along the Li River were just spectacular and intriguing!

The day started out a bit rainy and wet, but Jenny, our local Guide assured us that the Gumdrop Mountains looked much better in bad weather than in good.

Breakfast was still the typical mix of breakfast foods and entrees I just couldn’t face. This day, I actually found my normal cereal that I eat at home, so that was kind of nice. The dragon fruit they had was spectacularly delicious. Here’s the view I had during breakfast. It wasn’t *too* hot, but the rain definitely made it humid!



After breakfast, we drove a bit of a distance to where we were to pick up our boat for our cruise down the Li River. We unfortunately were missing a couple of people today, due to illness.

Boarding our boat. We were not the only folks on this cruise, but we had a large area for our group.



It had stopped raining, but the clouds still looked ominous. It *did* give the area a cool, mysterious look!



Inside the ship *was* air-conditioned, which made it nice, although for a period of time, the windows were all fogged up until things equalized a bit.

We were provided tea while on the cruise, but apparently the kitchen didn’t pass muster, because we had box lunches from the hotel that we had ordered ahead of time. The box lunches were very good – sandwiches and fruit and chips and such, but some things, like the chips, had a very different sort of seasoning to them. Some people liked it, some did not. But there was enough in the boxes that I don’t think anyone went hungry.

Joe, me and Ralph, enjoying some tea.



Ralph and the amazing Jenny (who is now an ABD Adventure Guide! SO well deserved!)



This part of the trip was a *VERY* welcome interlude from the overall pace of the trip. We just floated down the beautiful river for around 3 ½ hours. You could sit inside, or head outside or up to the roof, take photos, watch the river and people go by, listen to Jenny talk about what it was like to hike some of the Gumdrop mountains, listen to Ralph or Joe or Jenny tell us about the various areas we were passing, and take a kajillion photos. It was quite peaceful and lovely, and a wonderful way to pass the morning.

The gorgeous Gumdrop Mountains definitely do look cool and mysterious shrouded in clouds and mist.



Occasionally we passed some horses and small buildings along the banks.





The mists did start to lift as we went along, although it hung on in the background for a while.





Continued in next post.

 

[sayhello]

This would be a cool place to vacation or live.



Waterfall!







Joe & Ralph bought some deep fried teeny-tiny crabs for us to try. Most of them were smaller than this. They were actually pretty yummy, like chips.







Just so beautiful!!



Continued in next post.

 

[sayhello]

Our area of the boat.





The sun did finally come out, but unfortunately, the settings on my new camera accidentally got changed, and the sun didn’t really show. The pictures are still cool. But I do think it looks better cloudy!



Coming up on an area that is depicted in the picture on the 20 yuan bill.





The group in, literally, “the money shot”.



Continued in next post.

 

[sayhello]

This building is actually draped in green colored netting stuff to kind of make it blend in better. I don’t think it worked...



Back inside the cabin



This little boy apparently was fascinated by me. Whether it was my white hair or not, I’ll never know, but it was kind of fun playing peek-a-boo with him.





We eventually docked just outside the small town of Yangshuo. We had to walk through a long, mercifully covered, market area to get from the dock to the town. It was oppressively HOT here, and seriously humid. We rode part of the way into town in these little trams.





The area we were dropped off in was a shopping area. Here, we were to do the shopping for this evening’s activity – the White Elephant exchange. Everyone was given a red tote bag and 20 Yuan. You were to spend that 20 Yuan on a gift or gifts that you either thought people would like or that would be a good gag gift. You could not spend more than the 20 yuan. You then put the gift(s) into the red tote bag so that it would be anonymous. I think we had about an hour and a half here to shop, and we were to return to our drop-off point to head back to the bus after that.



It was HOT. I mean, seriously HOT. Thank goodness I had my small umbrella with me, or I’d never have made it! There *was* one point at which, however, I was SO wet with sweat, that I actually suddenly felt almost fine. There *is* a reason we sweat! That brief respite didn’t last nearly long enough. The smart shops had fans or A/C. You’d go in just to cool off!

I ended up buying some small things. A fish keychain and a small figurine. I also bought a beautiful, small glass bottle for myself which had a scene of the Gumdrop Mountains painted in ink on the inside. The woman who was painting them painted my name, in both English and Chinese, on the inside, also. It was fascinating watching her do it!



Continued in next post

 

[sayhello]

Finally, it was time to head up to the meeting point. I passed CG & her kids on the way there. Only we had a much more difficult time finding our way back than any of us had expected. I’d even taken careful note of landmarks, and it didn’t help. We finally *DID* manage to find our way back, but it was a bit crazy, considering the area wasn’t *that* big. The streets just all kind of looked the same.

We headed back to the motorcoach, which was still in the process of being cooled down, but was still better than being outside. And there was blessed water!! (I’d taken some with me, but had gone through it fairly quickly).

We headed back to the hotel, with Jenny regaling us with more stories of her childhood in Guilin.





Here is one of the workers at the hotel in her gorgeous native costume.





The view from my room. Not the best view, but still cool.



After cooling down and cleaning up, we all met outside in the pool area for our “BBQ Dinner”. The food was OK – nothing special. At least the weather was cooperative!

Afterwards, we headed to a conference room in the hotel for the White Elephant Gift Exchange. It was good fun, with some hilarious gifts, and some serious stealing of gifts (poor CG!) and some fun demonstrations of some massagers on Ralph’s back!





I ended up with one of the massagers (the rolling-pin type one being used on Ralph’s back) but at this point, I *literally* had *NO* room in my suitcase to take it back with me (I was starting to consider what I could abandon when I headed home…). I ended up swapping it with the father of the 2 young boys for a cool ink picture of Guilin.

Everyone with their loot.



We had an enjoyable performance by Ralph (no details here – it was fun!) and then it was time for the Junior Adventurer’s movie night. Some of the Adults stuck around, but I was exhausted, and headed to bed.

Coming up the next morning – Day 10 - our transfer Day to Shanghai!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Such great pics and awesome memories! I forgot about us getting a little lost. I missed the tiny crabs! Never saw those. The gumdrop mountains have been on my list since I saw the movie the painted veil. They were a highlight for me and hauntingly beautiful!

 

[sayhello]

Such great pics and awesome memories! I forgot about us getting a little lost. I missed the tiny crabs! Never saw those. The gumdrop mountains have been on my list since I saw the movie the painted veil. They were a highlight for me and hauntingly beautiful!

Some people wouldn't go near the tiny crabs, but I really liked them! And I'd never heard of the Gumdrop Mountains until I read pxlbarrel's trip report. I think I'd seen images of them before, but never knew where or what they were. So lovely, and a highlight for me, too!

Sayhello

 

[Jasrhon]

Yay, thanks for the additional posts. I am actually reading this from The Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. We just arrived last night after a 13 hour flight from Vancouver. We were so exhausted we went right to bed before 8pm. As a result, I have been up since 3am surfing the web and checking social media. Our ABD officially starts in 3 days but we have a few pre-days in HK before it all starts. Your trip report has been very much appreciated.

 

[sayhello]

Yay, thanks for the additional posts. I am actually reading this from The Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. We just arrived last night after a 13 hour flight from Vancouver. We were so exhausted we went right to bed before 8pm. As a result, I have been up since 3am surfing the web and checking social media. Our ABD officially starts in 3 days but we have a few pre-days in HK before it all starts. Your trip report has been very much appreciated.

Yay! So glad you're enjoying it! Have an AMAZING time in China!! But how could you not?

Sayhello

 

[starrzone]

Your trip sounds amazing!! I am from Eastern Canada and had the privilege to travel to China back in 2006 with my friend who is an employee at a major airline; we went Beijing--> Xi'an--> Guilin--> Shanghai--> Hong Kong. My favorite memory from our stop in Guilin was our Li River cruise; I'll never forget the souvenir vendors who would come right up to our tour boat in their small wooden (canoes? I know that's not the right term!) to peddle their wares!

 

[sayhello]

Your trip sounds amazing!! I am from Eastern Canada and had the privilege to travel to China back in 2006 with my friend who is an employee at a major airline; we went Beijing--> Xi'an--> Guilin--> Shanghai--> Hong Kong. My favorite memory from our stop in Guilin was our Li River cruise; I'll never forget the souvenir vendors who would come right up to our tour boat in their small wooden (canoes? I know that's not the right term!) to peddle their wares!

Sounds like your trip covered similar ground to ours - just with Hong Kong last and no Chengdu. China *was* amazing! This trip was very special and very spectacular. I consider it a real privilege to have taken this trip!

Sayhello

 

[sayhello]

Day 10 – Shanghai à la Carte

Today was another travel day, from Guilin to Shanghai. We had a choice this morning, to participate in a Tai Chi Lesson, or sleep in and meet a bit later to head to the airport.

I really wanted to do the Tai Chi Lesson, but it didn’t happen for a few reasons. First off – extra sleep = a good thing. But more than that, the timing was just off. I’d have to get up, shower, do the lesson, and then run back to the room to change, and fit breakfast in there at some point. It was still *really* humid at that point. If I could have done the lesson first, then headed back to my room to shower, then have some breakfast, I would have been more likely to participate. But the timing was just off for me. The folks who participated seemed to really enjoy it! But honestly, it was just really nice at this point to have a bit of a sleep-in!

I *did* watch a bit of it from my room, while getting ready!



Guide's pic:



After breakfast, we headed out to our motorcoach, to head to the airport. Our lovely Guide Jenny accompanied us to the airport, and told us some last stories.

I don’t really recall anything really out of the ordinary with this flight. Maybe @CaliforniaGirl09 will remember. Our flights rarely left on time.

Anyways, when we arrived in Shanghai, we were met by our next local guide, Flo. She seemed to be a pretty modern woman, and very knowledgeable about Shanghai. She led us through the airport to the Maglev station, where we were going to catch the Maglev High-Speed train into Shanghai. It doesn’t really go that far, just from the airport into town, but it’s definitely a bit of an adventure, and quite the experience. On this day, the train made it up to 300 k/h (186 mph). Which isn’t even the top speed the train is capable of! They curved the windows so that you couldn’t actually focus on the outside scenery. Apparently, at that speed, watching the scenery go past would be too disorienting!









When we arrived in Shanghai, it was raining. We had to wheel our carry-ons a bit of the way in the rain, so I, of course, stopped to pull my umbrella out of my carryon. By the time we got to our motorcoach, it had pretty much let up, though.



That's Flo, with the black umbrella, in front of the motorcoach.



As we rode to the Shanghai Peninsula, we were given a bit of a run-down on how things were going to work once we were there. Apparently there was going to be some sort of multi-media presentation to explain all the workings of the rooms to us! This turned out not to be the case, though. They brought us all up to this one magnificent room that had its own conference table, and we all signed the paperwork and got the keys to our rooms. One of the workers led me to my room, and briefly showed me around it, but there was no presentation. But that was OK, I think I figured most of it out!

This hotel room was really something else. It really kept going on forever. It had a long, winding hallway.



First off the hallway was the bathroom. OMG, this bathroom was beyond gorgeous. I honestly think I’ve had whole hotel rooms smaller than that bathroom was!



Continued in next post.

 

[sayhello]

Next came the dressing room. Tons of closet space, and a dressing table with music, and a nail dryer and just all sorts of gadgets.





Then, on the way to the bedroom, was the dry bar, where the minibar, the booze, the water, the very fancy coffee maker, etc., were.



Then, finally, came the bedroom. While it was nice, and large and comfortable, I have to admit, it was just a tad of a let-down compared to the rest of the room. It was dated and rather worn (as if the rest of the room had been up-dated, but they hadn’t gotten around to the bedroom yet). It was still very nice, but a bit in-congruous with the rest of the room. NOT that I was complaining! It was still an absolutely wonderful room!





The view of the Bund and Pudong from my bedroom.



Honestly, for one person, it felt almost *too* big. Having to go back and forth from the bathroom to the dressing room to the bedroom to get ready kind of made it take me longer to get ready in the morning. Which is, of course, exactly something that I *don’t* need!!

We had time to settle in to our rooms, and a time was set to meet in the lobby for family pics. Most people had brought “nice” outfits to wear for this night, so the Guides took advantage of that to get some lovely family and group pics on the lobby stairs of the Peninsula.






Continued in next post

 

[sayhello]

After that, we headed out to our motorcoach to go to dinner at Din Tai Fung, a restaurant that specialized in soup dumplings. This restaurant, which has a Michelin star, is a totally un-assuming little restaurant in a shopping mall! It’s very ordinary looking. But the food is far from ordinary! I’d never had soup dumplings before, but, oh my! were they delicious! When I heard “dumplings”, I imagined the heavy bread-like bao I’d had before. These were *nothing* like bao! They were delicate little pouches of soup-filled dough that you picked up with your chopsticks, put on a spoon then pierced to release the soup. After drinking the soup, you ate the dough and the insides which were things like minced chicken and shrimp. It was all quite delicious!





The area where the dumplings were being made was behind glass, where you could watch. If the workers saw you taking a photo, they’d all stop and pose. It was pretty cute!





We then drove through considerable Shanghai traffic, to see the acrobatic show, ERA.

On our way there, we were all quite impressed by the Shanghai infrastructure, much of which, like the ultra-modern Pudong area across from the Bund, did not exist 20 years ago. China is definitely investing in its infrastructure!



ERA is a Cirque du Soleil-like show of amazing acrobatics and performers. But the venue is small and way more intimate than any Cirque show I’ve been to! Loved it!! They had trick bike riders, balance artists, hoop jumpers, a man who spun & balanced large porcelain vases, and many other spectacular acts. We were running a bit late, but luckily managed to get there and in our seats before the show started!





I think everyone really enjoyed this show!







Continued in next post