In the morning, we head for Zhujiajiao Ancient Town, located in the suburbs of Shanghai. On the way we pass a giant flower tree. The tree is based on a design by Korean artist Jeong-Hwa Choi, but is a knock-off by a Shanghai company.
Checking out all the motorcyclists and how they deck out their rides. Hand protectors!!
We arrive in Zhujiajiao and it's like a small, touristy asian Venice. Gondeliers ferry tourists down the canals that are lined with shops and food vendors.
Spinning plastic bags keep flies away from the food stalls.
There
are lots of 'Jung' shops in the village. Jungs are sticky rice with an
assortment of savoury or sweet ingredients wrapped in banana leaf packets
and steamed. Also called "Grenades" by our friend Hugo, because he says,
"they're green on the outside and they EXPLODE in your stomach!!! HAHAHAHA!!"
(Not that they're spicy, but they're very filling. They seem to expand
in your stomach.)
As part of the tour, they drop us at various shops to try to drum up business for local stores. Today we visit a pearl emporium. We learn how to tell if the pearls are real or fake by rubbing them together. If it's smooth, the pearls are fake. If it's bumpy and some powder residue comes off, it's real because pearls have irregular surfaces.
Before leaving Shanghai, we also check out the China pavilion (中國2010年上海世界博覽會) that was part of China Expo 2010. It'a a red behemoth. The exhibit is closed now, so we can only visit the exterior of the building.
In the evening we fly to Zhangjiajie in Hunan province. We have a quick dinner in the Shanghai airport at 'Kungfu', a chinese fast food joint. Bruce Lee's gonna serve me up some kickass food! WHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!....
The chicken is not very tasty.
Somehow there's a pocket knife found in dad's carry-on bag that passed by Canadian security, but doesn't escape the Chinese scanners. Lose one little Swiss Army knife.
