A few days in Shanghai

On Sunday, September 11th, we made our return to Shanghai for the last stop on this journey.  We had thought to ourselves that, because they are so close, flying from India to China would be easy and fast…..not so much!!!

Unfortunately, our flight from Trivandrum to New Delhi was early in the morning but our flight from New Delhi to Shanghai didn’t leave until 2:30AM so we had a 17 hour layover in the New Delhi airport!!!

We found that there was a lounge that you pay to sit in so we shelled out the money so that we could at least sit in comfort for the first 15 hours!!

The good thing was that the chairs were comfortable and internet was very good so we both managed to get some work done and then we spent time watching some DVD’s that we had brought with us. 

The bad thing was that there wasn’t much food available in this part of the airport so we bought a few snacks and picked at this and that.  By the time we were able to check in and move into the main terminal, we were starving!!

Fortunately the flight was basically on time and we were able to sleep some so we weren’t completely trashed when we arrived in Shanghai at 10:30AM.  We were met at the airport by two young women who were both PhD students at the university.   They didn’t want to tell us their Chinese names, but told us to call them Tina and Becky, although “Tina” kept forgetting what her English name was!!!  

They dropped us at our hotel and then walked us across to one of the canteens for lunch.  They took us at our word that we liked spicy food and ordered one of the best meals that we have had while in China.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and trying to get our minds back into the mode of being in China again!!

On Tuesday, Michael had the day off so we headed to one of our favorite spots….the Bund!!! 

We didn’t have a major plan for the day except that we had a dinner reservation at an Italian restaurant that we had enjoyed back in 2012.  We walked to the building where the restaurant was housed, just to make sure that we knew where it was.  While in the building, we saw a fun restaurant with a balcony overlooking the river, so we decided to stop and have a small lunch first.  The views were magnificent…..

….and I especially like the dots of red from all of the flags!!

After lunch, our time was spent walking along the Bund itself and enjoying the buildings on the other side of the river……

This is a magnificent skyline and one that is easily recognizable!!

The area known as “The Bund” is a wide, long walkway along the river and we enjoyed strolling back and forth……

I especially liked the “flower” topped building the the center of this photo.

And, this building changed shapes as we walked past it.  It was interesting to see that it was actually curved and leaning slightly….

There was some interesting metal work on one side of the walkway…..

….and I was truly enamored with the way that it dipped and moved……

Wouldn’t it be fun to design a quilt with some of these shapes.

As the afternoon wore on, the area became much more crowded with SOO many cameras and photos being taken….

It actually became hard to walk because you were always in some “selfie-taker’s” way!!!

There were a couple of professional photo shoots going on…..

They were a handsome couple and it was a pretty place!!!

We enjoyed our dinner at “Mercado” and were planning to walk along the Bund after dark but unfortunately it had started to rain, so we just caught a taxi back to the hotel.   Even with the rain, it was a fun day!!!

The rest of the week was fairly quiet as Michael worked during the days and I (since I wasn’t feeling well) spent some time relaxing  at the hotel. 

On Friday night we were taken back downtown for one last banquet

…enjoying some really good food with some very nice people!!!

As we were walking back into the room for the last time, I finally remembered to take a photo of the carpet……

It wasn’t super exciting, but I did like the carpet in one of the sitting areas……

I think that it would make a fun piecing design….

On Saturday, the 17th, we climbed on to the 18th plane of our trip and enjoyed a good flight to Detroit, although we were delayed by 2 hours leaving the Shanghai airport.  This is a fairly common occurrence as the Chinese Military controls all of the airspace and they are very particular about how many planes they will allow at one time.

Even though we arrived late to Detroit, we still had time to eat a Big Mac before our final flight to Atlanta.

It felt SO good to be back home and to sleep in our own bed that night.