China

 I normally try to write as we travel, but for the two weeks we were in China, I was unable to access this blog.  It seems that the Chinese government and Google have a dispute over free access of information.  As a result, Google products are either throttled, or completely blocked.  Also blocked are Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Rocky, our amazing tour guide, explained that the government wants to insure that the Chinese people receive accurate, truthful information, and they do not believe they will get that from these various internet sources.  I will let that thought speak for itself.

On to the trip.  We booked a two week tour with Uniworld tours.  Good choice.  The tour was well designed, and our guide, the previously mentioned Rocky, was great.  At each city we also had a local guide.  They all have chosen an "English" name, often related to their given name.  Rocky's last name is Shi, which means stone.

We arrived in Shanghai on April 3, after a very long, but not too unpleasant, flight.  Shanghai is huge and mostly modern.  The population is 24 million.  Like most Chinese cities, it has a series of 'ring roads' surrounding the downtown.   As we were driving in from the airport, our local guide, Candy, pointed out the many high rises being built outside the 4th ring road.  These were apartments.  Families living in the downtown area are being 'offered' free apartments in these new buildings, so that the older downtown buildings can be torn down for new ones.  Since the government owns all property, I am not sure the residents have the option of refusing such a generous offer.  Candy said that even though their new commute would be bad, the new apartments would be a great deal,  since the old ones are 200-300 sq feet and the new ones 800-900 sq feet.  They would also get private bathrooms.

 Our hotel was the Waldorf Astoria on the Bund.  The Bund, the center of downtown, is a beautiful park along the river front.  Many of the buildings on the west side of the river date from the early 20th Century, when the area was controlled by the English.  On the opposite side of the river is the new financial district.  According to Candy, 20 years ago it was all farm land.  Today is it covered in the modern buildings.  The second picture was taken in front of our hotel, looking across the river.

Day two,  we tour Shanghai.