They built all of this in the last 15 years?

(You can expand any of the pictures by clicking on them - forgot to mention that before.)

OK, to start of my second full day in Shanghai, I decided to opt out of the expensive breakfast buffet at the hotel (182 RMB = $25), and hit the streets for breakfast. I didn't really 'go native' but hit up the bakery that I visited for dinner the night before. I thought it was being smart, and to have fresh bread - that would be good.

Well, they were open at 7 as advertised (well not advertised - the night before, I looked up the word 'tommorrow' in my phrase book and pointed to my watch - the clerk punched up a number 7 on the calculator - and I knew what time to come back in the morning), but they didn't have anything fresh on the shelves. I guess in China, when the bakery opens, that's when everyone shows up for work, but doesn't mean there are nice warm yummy things on the shelves. So, I got something that was wrapped up from the night before. Chocolate was in the description, so I figured it couldn't be bad.

I also stopped at their 7-11 equivalent, 'Family Market' and got some grape juice and drinkable yogurt with oat kernels in it (I had this in Mexico a couple months ago- delicious - really).

Here's a photo of what I had to break the fast this morning:

On the way there and back, I got to see some older folks practicing Tai Chi. This made it worth going out to get breakfast. Here's a couple shots of them.

Now, it gets real dark here at about 5:30-6:00 PM. The guy who made the invitation for me to come over to help out said that there is only 1 time zone for China, and Shanghai is on the far eastern end of that zone - so it gets dark early.

He showed me how to use the subway system so we rode the subway from the neighborhood where he lives, to the station by the hotel. The sound of hundreds of voices chatting in Mandarin on the subway was very interesting.

I decided to head to the riverfront on the Pudong (literally, east side of the river Pu) and try to find some dinner. I scanned probably 20 restaurants all offering what might be another bone festival so I wimped out and went with KFC. Fries tasted the same, Chicken was blecccchhh. There was all kinds of guys with little bar-b-que grills attached to their bikes selling what looked like kebabs, but I stayed clear. But they smelled oh-so-good. After KFC, I might just go for something like this later on.

The main attraction at the riverfront is the very strange Pearl TV tower. I got some pretty good pictures of it:

The second main attraction of the riverfront is the view across to the old side, the Bund, in Puxi (literally, west side of the river Pu) and I got several good shots of this.

The digital camera that we bought has a 6x optical zoom. I got in real close on a couple of the old building on the riverfront using the full zoom. Pretty good for a $150 camera and a steady hand.
Well sort of steady.


There are also boats on the river with neon lights on them. Here's a shot of one of those.

At the square where the Pearl Tower is, I went into the 'Super Brand Mall' and bought a hoodie sweatshirt to supplement my now tired GAP hoodie that you probably all have seen many times in the fall and winter. In case you don't believe that it's called the 'Super Brand Mall' I zoomed in and took another shot at the title on the front of the building. It could only be funnier if it was the 'Super Happy Brand Mall'.

I rode the subway back and downloaded the pix and typed out this posting. I hope you are enjoying the posts.

Most of the Pudong side has been built in the last 15 years. Just thinking of all that manpower and work makes me tired. Time for sleep.