ASIA...Finally!

Whew! We finally made it to China. We had a 5 hour delay in San Fran so instead of arriving at 5:45pm in China, we arrived at 10:45pm. Kind of sucked because that gave us less time to relax before going out a bit but OK. It’s kind of weird to think about it but we missed almost the entire day of the 6th.

Pudong International Airport is a really nice airport. We got in and out in no time, thankfully. The shuttle service into Shanghai to the Ritz was interesting. We passed by a number of apartment buildings and the ones with lights on that you could see into all had flat screens in them. It just struck me as funny.

A bunch of decided to go out and check out a place right across the street from the hotel. It’s called Bi Fenc Tang. We mostly got dumplings and they were excellent. We almost ordered the chicken feet but didn’t want to embarrass ourselves by eating it wrong. I apparently got introduced to something that I’ll have to get used to when over here. When the group crossed the street, we were practically mugged by a family of beggars. They’re not like beggars in the US that let you go when you say No or just keep walking. This family was aggressive, including the kid, in coming after you and shaking the cup in front of you. We even left the restaurant in the opposite direction and they found us.

So far my impressions of China are pretty good. The city itself look very clean. We’re getting a tour of Old Town on the 7th by our local guide John. That should be really interesting. He said he’s taking us to the best dumpling place in Shanghai. I’m wondering if it’s the same place I saw on the TV show No Reservations with Anthony Bouerdain (I hope the spelling is right). His guide took him there as well.