Shanghai and Mighty (Days 15-18)

We started our explorations on Sunday, July 13 by patronizing the Guinness World Record Highest Library on the 60th floor of our hotel, the JW Shanghai Marriott. Over the next week, I tore through Dr. Paul Brand's part-biography, part-medical history Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants, a great find off the shelves of the 757½-foot high library.

Sadly, 'Garfield Shoves It In' was checked out.

In the library, as if we were part of a spy movie or ghost story, a host showed us a secret hidden bookshelf panel that swung open to reveal a door to the hotel's outside observation deck. 

We took in the view of the city looking out over People's Square on, looking back now, one of the few days where the pollution was "bad." Our first and last day in Beijing were the only other noticeably smoggy days where one could taste and smell the oily air and visibility was limited. Otherwise, pollution was virtually a non-factor throughout the trip.

It burns!

That afternoon we enjoyed one of the most lavish meals of the month on the 30th floor in the Marriott Café; an international buffet with a variety of dishes from India, Japan, China and beyond. We had our fill of oysters, crab, shrimp, sushi, pâté, lamb, beef, vegetables, pasta, desserts and bottomless glasses of champagne for the adults. The service was impeccable and the view was lovely, so we milked it for all it was worth and decided to not regret spending almost US$400 for a meal like that once a decade or so. 

After another visit to the pool (where we went through our usual routine of begging the kids to stop jumping in and out of the water, quit throwing kick boards and cease yelling at each other before the staff inevitably joins in), I set out alone into the hot and smoggy night air in search of a grocery store.

This posting near the hotel pool offered both  emergency preparedness and a new nickname.

On the advice of a bellman, I hopped on the subway for a few stops and then took a short walk to a Carrefour, an old friend from Europe and the main department store in Shanghai. The shop I found was a multilevel Walmart on Chinese steroids. Over all, it was a somewhat confusing experience; I had to check my backpack in a locker, where I needed assistance to understand the ticketing procedure, found the maze of busy aisles oddly organized and had to ask for help finding broccoli. I decided to take my time to explore every corner of the store and see all of the merchandise. Just about everything considered edible is available including bullfrog, pigeon and live turtles, and one can buy everything else from hiking gear to house paint. 

Kids' bikes from US $32 to $92, luggage for $36 and fabric softener for $4.

Bottled water and beer: sold everywhere in China, available in bulk at Carrefour.

At the checkout line, while waiting to pay for some semi-familiar food and beverages to take back to our kitchen I watched a store manager and young couple shout at each other for about five minutes. I was glad to get past the cashier without committing whatever offense had made the manager so irate. (It was one of a number of times we witnessed a loud verbal sparring match between various Chinese citizens. A couple of times I was able to take a photo or video but I failed to capture The Grocery Conflict.)

These guys were about to throw down by the Bund but they kept it to a heated staring contest.

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On Monday the 14th (day 16, the halfway point of our journey), we woke at 3 o'clock in the morning to watch Germany's World Cup final victory over Argentina. The play wasn't as exciting as some of the early round matches but we enjoyed seeing the championship atmosphere. It became a sports morning when we switched to MLB.TV to catch an Angels victory over the Texas Rangers. We are excitedly following the Halos' chase of the Oakland A's for the best record in baseball and I may or may not have used my brief forays into Buddhism and Shintoism to give our favorite teams some extra karma. 

Thanks to us the Colts are Super Bowl bound.

Not coincidentally, that afternoon the kids and I visited Jing'an Temple, a Buddhist temple on the eponymous West Nanjing Road, one of the busiest in Shanghai. The temple was first built in 247 AD and then moved to its current site in 1216. Soaring glass, concrete and steel now surround the temple, which has crumbled a couple of times but was rebuilt over the centuries until taking its final form during the Qing Dynasty. Further changes took place when the structure was converted into a plastics factory (!) in the early 1970s during the Cultural Revolution. Fortunately, traditionalists in 1983 led a charge to eventually return the structure to its original purpose. According to the back of my ticket (kids were free, mine was ¥50 / US$8), "since 1998, a large-scale reconstruction work had taken place in the monastery area, the main facade, bell and drum terraces...the Dharma pillar...Thai Buddha Hall, Golden Buddha Hall and so on had been continuously completed." 

That's their way of saying renovations are ongoing as there are always improvements to be made. The stone exterior and the woodwork, while built with ancient techniques, felt "new." However the temple and grounds instilled a deep sense of spirituality with artwork, idols, altars and offerings that provided direct links to the past.

Make an offering, touch the idol,  be a musical prodigy.

Make an offering, bow to the idol, be a fruit-stacking sensation.

Offerings have been generous enough for the admission ticket to congratulate the "enormous number of Buddhists (who) have shown their devout faith of the Dharma. Their donation has accomplished the sterling silver Buddha statue weighted 15 tons for the monastery."

The glow of sunlight hitting a thin layer of tarnish made the silver look bronze or gilded that afternoon.

The 8.8-meter, or 28.9-foot, statue sits in a structure made of dark Burmese teak supported by 46 columns; the Precious Hall of the Great Hero. Surrounding the Buddha are prayer banners, wood and metal statues, elaborate paneling and three intricately carved and painted wall hangings depicting scenes from the Buddha's life.

Detail with facial expressions.

Today, the devout can gain potential admission-ticket immortality by donating to "the following project of making a solid gold Buddha statue weighed 2 tons (that) is currently in its fundraising process." Count us in.

Our following project involved exploring a mall adjoining the Jing'an Temple subway stop. It was filled with pricey shops and restaurants but we eventually found the busy, less expensive basement food stalls. Our senses were quickly drawn to a bakery with such an irresistible array of breakfast, lunch and dessert buns that we ended up contributing to their fundraising process multiple times over the remainder of our Shanghai visit.

The mall price of acute inflammatory arthritis is too high but the mascot is adorable.

"Yippee!" yelped the youngsters upon the  yielding of yuan at yummy Yamazaki.

After another swim and upon Betsy's arrival, we walked to a bookstore that we found online in our effort to find some Mandarin DVDs and instructional materials. The shop was in a five-story building and  pretty much felt just like any other large book chain - only everything was, of course, in Chinese. Quinn was able to ask the sales lady for guidance and we left with a bulging bag of mostly Disney movies and workbooks for vocabulary and character reinforcement. (As if the land of Chinglish is the place to turn for such things!)

Do these street vendors know they're offering rejected parts?

On the way back to the apartment, we stopped at a small street-side food stall that offered about 20 different bowls or platters of various local foods. I chose two dishes, ordered some steamed rice from room service and proceeded to disrupt Kung Fu Panda with my enthusiastic enjoyment of the garlic-and-ginger-infused crunchy fungus and chewy tofu skins.

Just like mom used to make.

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The next two mornings, we were up early to watch live English broadcasts of the MLB Home Run Derby on a rainy Tuesday the 15th and then the All Star Game, featuring MVP Mike Trout, on Wednesday the 16th. The other Tuesday highlights were avoiding the persistent downpour by sticking to the indoor pool and using the subway for our second bakery visit for some egg and meat sandwiches, breadsticks and chocolate pies. 

We had to get out on Wednesday so the kids and I decided to check out the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. We discovered animal exhibits, space and communication technology, medical displays and a ping pong robot that humbled both boys. All of the descriptions and guides were in Chinese and several of the video stations and interactive opportunities were out of order but the museum had a nice flow and the displays were generally user-friendly.

This is what happens when  science meets technology.

Sadly, these and three toy souvenirs were the only pandas we saw on our trip.

Our favorite parts were the rooms with dozens of stuffed and mounted animals from all around the world, the pathology displays with examples of real arteries, veins and organs and the space equipment including satellites and rockets. After a 2½ -hour visit, we wandered around the adjoining subway area where we found a shaded garden and one of the area's several fake-goods markets, complete with aggressive merchants enticing passing shoppers and tourists into every store. 

Our choice of eateries won out over a nearby competitor, which lost - or maybe gained - a point for promoting this entree on their front wall:

While a bargain at just US$2.60, we deemed this R-rated dish to be unsuitable for minors.

After the waitress told me which chair I was to sit in (so I could be in a better position for them to serve me all the dishes for distribution she said, when asked by Xander)  we finally ordered some duck to go with some wide noodles, a big bowl of eggplant and our favorite, sword beans. We would be advised later that we should have had the famous Peking duck of Beijing but we agreed the meat and sauce were pretty tasty - once we picked away the thick, rubbery skin that is included here with poultry dishes.

A major theme of this trip: Pretty Tasty.

Hope you're enjoying. There's still more to come covering our last three days in Shanghai and our week in Tokyo.

We Kowtow in Lantau (Days 10 and 11)

On Tuesday, July 8, fully intending to get caught up on our hotel-sink laundry effort, I signed the kids up for a two-hour Chinese Art class in the Kids At Art studio in our hotel. (That effort would be thwarted as I spent most of that time trying to contact Wells Fargo in an effort to allow us withdraw even more funds even more frequently.) However, with a promise to return with full payment, I left the kids to enjoy the full focus of the attentive staff. 

I asked the teachers to use Mandarin as much as possible as they guided Xander, Vaughn and Quinn through new techniques with ink and paint. The kids created several paintings each with the intent of presenting their favorites to Betsy for her upcoming birthday.

That afternoon I continued to shirk my laundry duties, opting instead to sit and write by the pool as the kids frolicked in the cool water. When Betsy joined us after work, I commented on how very friendly the pool service staff was as they brought us our sandwiches, lemonade and beer. When we got the bill for HK$1,457 (US$188), we realized why. Holy hot pot, there went our dinner plans!

Pictured: $57 worth of beverages

Still the pool was the most beautiful one we’ve seen so far; overlooking the harbor and with a waterfall at one end. Plus we were treated like kings so we decided it was worth it and retired to the hotel room for the evening and curled up with some ramen and Chinese television.

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July 9 was busy and memorable Wednesday as we left the hotel early for a day-long tour of Lantau Island before departing for Shanghai that night.

Lantau Island is twice the size of Hong Kong Island and the largest among the approximately 256 outlying islands within the territory. The tour began with a 40-minute ferry ride from Hong Kong to Lantau through the busy harbor filled with cargo ships heading off to or returning from long voyages. Luckily for us on a day where temperatures climbed over 100 degrees, we hopped from the air-conditioned boat to an air-conditioned bus that offered salvation after each broiling tour stop on the island. A sign posted at the front of the bus offered this sobering advice:

I've always been suspicious of my right thumb and now I'm on high alert.

Many of the 120,000 inhabitants of Lantau have jobs in Hong Kong (2 million total) and must make the daily ferry trip to work. They ride their bicycles from home and leave them parked together on the dock. 

But not a bike lock in sight.

Our guide says there is very little crime on Lantau because most people can trace their family lineage back for centuries and very few people migrate to the island so basically no one can get away with anything. There are, however, several prisons (apparently for criminals from elsewhere) including a juvenile detention center that offered a nice incentive for good behavior for the day.

The first stop on the tour was a refreshing visit to the pristine Cheung Sha beach. We were pleased to see a barrier ringing the shore after hearing about the six fatal shark attacks around the island over the last 15 years and happily waded into to the warm surf.

The bus then took us to the unique Tai O fishing village, a former haven for smugglers and pirates that is now a popular tourist destination. We enjoyed a short boat ride that gave us a close-up look at some the remarkable, yet dilapidated, pang uks; fisherman's homes that are built on stilts to better endure flooding. 

Fishing long provided the primary means of income in the village but overfishing has forced the inhabitants to rely on tourist spending. We passed stall after stall of very ripe, sun-dried, salted  examples of meager fish, shrimp and mollusks that neither we nor anyone else on our tour dared to bring back on the bus.

There's something fishy going on around here.

We visited a temple where we had our first experience burning incense as a symbolic offering. In Chinese Taoist and Buddhist temples, worshippers light and burn incense which they wave our raise above the head as they bow to the statues or plaques of a deity or ancestor. One makes says a prayer of hope or thanks and then places the stick or sticks in a receptacle in front of the idol.

Next, our bus climbed the winding road up the mountain to the Ngong Ping plateau for a visit to the majestic Tain Tian Buddha Statue and the nearby Po Lin Monastery, where we were served a delicious vegetarian meal.

The monastery was built in 1907 and plans for the Big Buddha were made over sixty years ago with the project finally coming to fruition in 1990. The 202 separate pieces of bronze were gradually shipped to the island and then trucked up the hill before they were assembled in 1993 to form the 112-foot, 250-ton statue. The serene and dignified Buddha rests on a bed of lotus flowers with his left hand in his lap, signifying the giving of the moral treasures known as dhana, and his right hand is raised, representing the removal of affliction.

The structure beneath houses three separate exhibition halls of worship and six smaller bronze statues surround the Buddha praising and making the various symbolic offerings required to enter into nirvana. 

Our tour of Lantau ended with a ride aboard the Ngong Ping Skyrail, a 25-minute cable car that offered stunning views as we descended from Hgong Ping plateau to Tung Chung New Town near the airport, from which we would depart a few hours later. 

We shared our ride with a South African/Australian expat and her daughters, aged 10 and 8, who gained our admiration as they described their earlier four-hour ascent by foot to the Big Buddha in the day's intense heat and humidity.

Our flight that evening from Hong Kong to Shanghai took just over two hours, transporting five sleepy travelers to the third stop on our journey for new round of adventures, cuisine, friends and hilarious mis-translations.

Harboring Contentment (Days 8 and 9)

An early in-room breakfast in Guilin followed by an intense round of re-packing occupied the morning hours of Sunday, July 6. A short 1½-hour flight took us to a dramatically different landscape. We found a city of densely-packed skyscrapers, fancy cars and a bustling harbor as we switched currency from Chinese yuan to Hong Kong dollars. 

Several years ago, Quinn wondered where Mommy was during one of her overseas business trips. She searched her memory for potential destinations and asked, “Is Mommy in Beep Beep?” It took us a moment to realize she heard “Honk Honk” whenever we mentioned Hong Kong and just had things a bit mixed up. Ever since, we have called the city Beep Beep in her honor.

Sisters say the darndest things.

Waiting for us in the lobby of the Renaissance Harbor View Hotel was a very special reunion with our good friend, Wen Ching, a classmate of Betsy’s from the Purdue Statistics department. We hadn’t seen her in seven years but we picked up right where we left off and had a nice afternoon together. She was especially excited to see the kids again as she was one of the first to visit Xander in the hospital and held Quinn as a baby the last time we were together. 

We ventured out into the blistering heat of the afternoon for a city stroll toward the tram that takes visitors to Victoria’s Peak for a reportedly spectacular view of the city. Unfortunately, we saw only a long line that drove us into a nearby air-conditioned mall and the comfort of a Starbucks for some refreshments. The kids were dragging from our non-stop sightseeing schedule, the rush of the plane flight and the dreaded - perhaps inevitable - onslaught of Mao’s Revenge. Yes, you can brush your teeth with bottled water, keep your mouth closed in the shower, avoid raw fruits and vegetables and walk around with a bottle of Purell but it it’s going to catch up with you eventually. Fortunately, two days and one overworked hotel restroom later, our box of Pedialyte packets were gone and everyone’s appetite was back.

ANYWAY, Wen Ching had just enough time before heading to the airport to join us as we met some friends for dim sum across the harbor in Kowloon. Evelyn and Ricky Chow and their boys, Kevin and Joman, were kind and informative hosts on two memorable nights in the city. 

Evelyn is the sister of Yin Wang, a second-grade teacher at Xin Xing Academy and our family friend. Betsy had visited Evelyn on a previous trip and both families were excited to meet each other. 

After we enjoyed a delicious array of snacks that touched our hearts and said an all-too-sudden farewell to Wen Ching, the Chows helped us find a taxi that took us back from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island via the tunnel underneath Victoria Harbor. Since the kids were exhausted, we called it a night but made plans to see the Chows again the next evening.

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On Monday the 7th, as Betsy headed off for a day at the office, I gave the kids some extra time to rest before we explored the amenities of our hotel where, on the sunny 11th-floor concourse, we found a playground, tennis courts, a mini driving range and a pair of beautiful pools. We also wandered around an extensive art gallery located between the hotel lobby and the subway stop underneath that includes an intriguing Kids At Art studio that holds classes for young artists. Inspired, Vaughn drew the harbor's edge as seen from our hotel window.

You can see how construction continues to expand the city through reclamation of land from the sea. This has been going on for centuries with major projects having been conducted since the mid-19th century. Buildings that once enjoyed waterfront views are now several blocks inland. It was amazing to see (and difficult to ignore the incessant sounds of) new construction all up and down the shoreline. Boats dredge up sand and silt from far offshore and pump it into cordoned-off zones, then dump trucks and bulldozers add rocks, soil and clay before deep cement mixing makes the ground firm enough on which to build. It is reported that up to 25% of Hong Kong Island is reclaimed land; both HK Disneyland and HK International Airport were built entirely on areas that were once water. 

That night, we decided to try the ferry to cross the ever-shrinking channel to Kowloon for dinner and enjoyed the leisurely sunset ride. 

We met the Chows at a Thai restaurant for another marvelous meal with many new dishes introduced to us by Ricky. We are fortunate to have opportunities throughout our trip to dine with locals who can introduce us to the most interesting restaurants and dishes to sample. Not only might we have settled for closer, "safer" places to eat but there's no way we'd have been able to get as deep into the mysterious menus as we've gotten thanks to friends like these. 

I only stopped stuffing my face long enough to keep the camera still for a moment.

We were glad that the kids had the energy for a pleasant postprandial stroll along the waterfront in the relative cool of the evening. The bright lights of Hong Kong reflected beautifully off the harbor and gave us the opportunity to take some great photos.

Also to appear in several other families' Kodak/iPhone moments. Here Betsy gets the star treatment.

We said our goodbyes to the Chow family and confirmed our plans to host Kevin and Joman at our home in Edina, Minnesota later this summer. We can only hope that we show them as good a time as Ricky and Evelyn showed us during our first two evenings in Hong Kong.