Today we are going to Hangzhou, a two hour train ride south of Shanghai. Sabrina booked us rooms at the Marco Polo hotel, which coincidentally my China guide book says is one of the nicer hotels. The train station in Shanghai was very much under construction, and really looked like a war zone. Crowded, definitely…

Slept late again. Vacation is good. Today we’re catching the edge of a typhoon. Very rainy. Limits the options somewhat. There are two museums in town I want to see. The new Shanghai Museum in Peoples’ Square is the first on the list. Then a Science &Technology museum on the subway line in Pudong. We…

Slept quite late today. Got up and took subway to Peoples’ Square. From there, started the walk down Nanjing Rd, one of the more famous shopping areas in Shanghai. NanjingLu is closed to vehicle traffic, so you can be pretty carefree, except for some little tourist trains that drive up and down all the time.…

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…

Up at 4am to leave for Toronto to catch our flight. Flight delayed for an hour after we were all inside. There was an old guy behind us who refused to move to his assigned seat, because of his heart condition. Announcement came on saying there was a delay because of some maintenance paperwork screwup.…