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For those of you that have been waiting for pictures and stories over the past month we apologize for the gap in entries. Jamie arrived safely in Shanghai a few weeks ago and we took the bullet train from Suzhou to get her. It's about 65 miles between these two cities but on the fast train it's a 25 minute ride. These new bullet trains are not only very time efficient (they fly up to 300 km/hr) they are also incredibly clean.
After getting off the train we took the subway to the Bund area, where we found our hotel and put the bags and the kids down. We stayed in the Astor House Hotel, which to me, had a similar feel as the Grove Park Inn. The hallways were lined with photographs of a simpler Shanghai, the exciting port city and international hub of celebrities like presidents, scientists, and artists. (Among them, Charlie Chaplin, Einstein, and Bertrand Russell, to name a few.) I laughed when I saw Ulysses S. Grants photo framed and hung in the lobby, what are the chances after all? The hotel used to be called Richard's Hotel after Peter Felix Richards, a Scottish merchant who opened the first foreign hotel in China apparently. The building true to the style of that time, has maintained its 19th century charm. All the rooms have the original hardwood floors and detailed molding on all the doors, windows, and ceilings. The hotel itself is worth a Google search, as it has quite a fascinating history.
Shanghai is an exciting city. A city where you just never know what you might find or see and who you might run into. In a city of over 20 million people we would have never expected to run into anyone who would have been from North Carolina. However, we all were walking around one night and stumbled upon a group of students visiting China from Elon University in NC. When we told them we were from Asheville they were very curious as to what we were doing there. We talked with them for just a minute but it was a somewhat surreal encounter. Walking around the city with no destination in mind you come across all sorts of sights and smells. You stumble on little ancient alleys that are filled with street food vendors and people selling anything from live animals (for pets or dinner, you choose) to designer knockoff clothing. It's interesting to note that these real China alleys are stuck into the modern surroundings of western influenced buildings, restaurants, and shops. One minute you will be next to a Chanel store and the next you are looking at a live chicken ready to be bought, chopped, and made into soup. It's this wonderful mix of old and new, that in places like China, are very obvious to see and experience. I have come to love the unexpected!
We picked Jamie up at the airport stayed another day in Shanghai and got back to Suzhou all in one piece. It was a really fun few days in the massive mixing bowl that is Shanghai.
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