A much more satisfying shower experience today. Sabrina learned from her father about an electric water pump that gives us very nice water pressure. Still, though, the heater shut off during the shower. Weird.

Took a taxi to breakfast: thin pancakes of some kind, light tofu with syrup and sweet beans, and popular traditional Shanghainese steamed dimsum thingies with pork and gravy inside.

Walked from there to Sabrina’s parent’s place, similar in size to the place we’re staying, with an elevator but not as nice interior.

Today’s observation: there are awful lot of the same car here: the Volkswagon Santana. All the taxis and police cars, and apparently a lot of civillians as well. It appears fundamentally identical to the old Volkswagon Fox that I used to drive. Everything is as I remember it, even the glove-box latch. But the Fox is not available in the West anymore.

Traffic here is pretty insane, but that typical for Asia. Still, not as bad as Hanoi. At least they have traffic lights here, and most drivers even obey them.

Took a taxi to a shopping district called YuYuan (Yu Gardens). Lots of small shops selling way overpriced touristy souvenir stuff. Bought two paintings. A large painting of bamboo plants, and a smaller one with a poem on it. The sticker prices for these totalled around ¥560, but Sabrina got both for ¥190.

After shopping in YuYuan, we stopped at Mid-Lake Pavillion Tea House, a very historical-looking building built out in a pond, and reached by a strange bridge with 9 corners, zig-zagging diagonally across the pond. Got window seats upstairs, affording a nice view of the tourist mecca below. Had flower tea, and pork in sticky rice bundles wrapped up in leaves (a very common snack in Asian food.) Flower tea is made from parts of flowers, but hand-assembled, tied with a bit of string, squeezed into a ball and dried. When boiling water is added, the ball expands to look like a flower in the water. Special tea pots for this are made of clear glass, so you can see the flower. Tea came with free souvenirs: tea compressed into blocks, with Chinese characters molded on them.

Took a taxi to Pudong (very long and slow in heavy traffic). Met Sabrina’s sister at a boutique to look at clothes. They have a brand of dresses called ‘Fashionmonger’. That name cracks me up. So many things can be mongerized. Cheesemonger. Funkmonger. Bassmonger. Or the ultimate monger, the fearsome Mongermonger.

Went home by subway, very efficient system here.