After over 16 hours of travel and a partial day of sight seeing, we are finally ready to collapse into our Shanghai hotel beds for a coma-like sleep. Our travels started off with a bang. The cab we took to the airport came equipped with a pug passenger, the royal dog of China. Who knew?!!
We had a 2001 moment when, just prior to deplaning in Shanghai, a group of masked men in full astronaut-like white bunny suits boarded the plane to take our temperatures. Luckily no one was suspected of carrying the H1N1 flu and we were only held up for a few minutes. For those who wonder how long it takes 4 people to take the temperatures of 300 passengers, the answer is roughly 10 minutes. They do not use mercury thermometers. Their device looks like a giant laser pointer that shines 4 red dots on the passenger's forehead. It also reads thoughts.
We did not have much time to explore the city today, but we did learn a few things. 1) No matter what type of vehicle the Chinese drive, they are aggressive roadsters. 2) Tourist districts are uncannily similar no matter where in the world they are located 3) When you are sufficiently tired and hungry, the Denny's of China looks pretty good.
It appears as if the comments are working!
sethandliz said...
June 17, 2009 at 11:33 AM
You are indeed correct on 1). Chinese drivers also love the horn. I remember being in a few vans where the (horn on)/(horn off) ratio was about 1.0. Give us some food reports!
allenleetc said...
June 17, 2009 at 12:25 PM
got home from louisiana last night & "The Lady From Shanghai" was on the movie channel. Coincidence...I think not!
Looks like you guys are off to a good start.
mom
arleen said...
June 17, 2009 at 6:11 PM
who is watching all of your cats? I hope you didnt bring them to china...dont they serve cat at denny's there??
(Hi Arleen!)
melissamarie said...
June 17, 2009 at 9:40 PM
Cool! first set of pictures! you two are really good at documenting everything.
How is the sightseeing going? Did you move into your new place yet?
Unknown said...
June 18, 2009 at 8:56 AM
Hahhaahaha 2001. I love it! "I can't let you do that.... Daaavvvve." Seriously, were the space suits necessary? Very entertaining, we'll be keeping up on your travels.
Katheryn Dorr said...
June 18, 2009 at 5:13 PM
How's it going? Surely something blogworthy has happened since Tuesday!
Katie said...
June 18, 2009 at 5:47 PM
We are still in our hotel. We move to our apartment next week. We now have cell phones. (Thank you Valeria!!!) E-mail us for the numbers.
sethandliz said...
June 18, 2009 at 6:42 PM
For those keeping score at home, Anna, Martin, Mira, and Nathan are cat-sitting while our own house is being fixed up. Martin, the committed no-pets-person, has discovered that it's amusing to play with the cats and the laser pointer.
Anna G. said...
June 20, 2009 at 9:07 PM