Shanghai

Here we sit in the harbor waiting clearance to leave Shanghai. We have been waiting since 7:00 last night, 22 hours ago. We're fogged in and the authorities say we can't leave. There is a big queue of ocean-going vessels waiting for permission to leave or enter the harbor. It is pouring rain outside so we can't sit on deck. It is not even a pretty harbor: it is a huge port with acres and acres of cars and more containers than you could imagine. Speaking of cars, we saw quite a few Buicks in Shanghai yesterday. There is an annual lottery for license plates in Shanghai and limited to 50,000 per year. (Morag heard 5,000, I heard 50,000.) They may go for as much as five thousand dollars (US) just for the plates. Shanghai residents have to have the plates before they can buy a car and the competition is fierce but they keep the plate the rest of their life. It can be put on any car.

Maybe by the time we finish this blog we will get permission to leave, but we are not counting on it. This will mean adjustment to ports of call but we haven't heard what yet. I think ports where passengers are scheduled to leave or come onto the ship are not negotiable so they will have to make ports like Bangkok and Singapore but intermediate ports can be skipped to keep the rest of the schedule.

Shanghai was the first port where we have had to show passports to enter and leave the ship and we were cautioned to be sure to have them with us at all times when ashore. There were Chinese immigration officials at the gangway when we left and returned to check passports. We had a long bus ride, about an hour, to downtown Shanghai and I don't know what we expected of it, probably a Soviet-style city with colorless, endless buildings; instead we found a modern, bustling, crowded but beautiful city with more skyscrapers of various shapes than we have seen in any other place including Manhattan. Another thing that surprised us was that the cars were mostly new, so unlike a Soviet place. Our guide told us that there was a sort of oneupmanship in designing skyscrapers to make them unusual and different. They certainly succeeded because there were lots of different shapes, sizes and colors. The Sheraton Hotel, for instance, had three skyscraper towers with no telling how many floors.

Our first stop was to go up what was once the tallest building in Shanghai and the ride up to the 88th floor observation deck took 45 seconds. The only way we could tell we were moving was that our ears popped. We were actually in the lower edge of a cloud so visibility was poor. Still it seemed strange to look down on tall buildings. Had we been able to see we would have seen where they are building what will be the new tallest building in Shanghai and second tallest manmade structure in the world but we could not see it for the mist. We had about 30 minutes to spend looking around before we went back down to our bus and then were taken to lunch in a very classy hotel. Our dining room was on the 14th floor and there was about 60 in our group and we were not the only ones dining in this place. There was another tour group also in the hotel and their dinner was served in the 12th floor dining room. That should give you an idea of how large this hotel was.

After lunch we went to some gardens in the old city. They were quite extensive and included unique trees, fishponds, fountains, sculptures and unusual rock formations. The place was absolutely packed and we had a difficult time keeping our tour guide in sight and keeping up. After going through the gardens we were taken to the Silk Museum and were allowed time to wander around and purchase silk items if we so intended. There were lots of dresses, scarves, blouses and bedding items. They were very beautiful and not very expensive. I think several from our group spent quite a bit of money there.

After the museum we went to a downtown shopping district where we were turned loose for a couple of hours. We actually only stayed for a few minutes and boarded the shuttle back to the ship because it was cold and windy and we didn't want to buy anything. We had an interesting day and were impressed by the cleanliness of the city and the way it was landscaped. There is an intricate network of elevated roadways and underneath they were well landscaped with greenery and gardens. Some of the elevated roadways had flower baskets hanging over the sides stretching for miles. For a city of over 25 million it was amazingly clean and the people seem very friendly to foreigners. We really enjoyed our day here. Morag was particularly impressed by the roadworks. The greenery consisted of neatly clipped hedges and it would be lovely in the spring when flowers were blooming. This was a worthwhile stop.

So we sat and waited for about 36 hours before we were finally allowed to sail. We pulled in the gangway just after 8:00 p.m. on Saturday evening and slipped our moorings at about 6:00 a.m. on Monday morning. Next stop is supposed to be Halong Bay, the stop for Hanoi but there will have to be some adjustment. So, until then.