{"id":802,"date":"2013-11-25T21:20:46","date_gmt":"2013-11-25T14:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/?p=802"},"modified":"2013-11-25T21:24:17","modified_gmt":"2013-11-25T14:24:17","slug":"world-trade-center-shanghai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/?p=802","title":{"rendered":"World Trade Center & Shanghai"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another fairly relaxed morning, struggling with internet and cable tv issues.\u00a0 Oh well, I guess this is a TIC (this is China) thing.\u00a0 I decide to see what\u2019s out in Beijing today, inspired by my taxi ride yesterday.\u00a0 Since every train station seems to be the center of major activity, I\u2019ll ride to a train station I\u2019m not familiar with, and come above ground and see what I find.<\/p>\n

I pick Guomao for today.\u00a0 It\u2019s a transit station serving two different lines.\u00a0 When I get off, I start looking for signs of what points of interest there might be.\u00a0 I see something that says World Trade Center, and it looks like it covers several blocks and has numerous buildings.\u00a0 IT\u2019S HUGE!\u00a0 Someone later told me it\u2019s the biggest shopping mall in Beijing.\u00a0 I usually have a solid sense of direction, and I can read a map, but I GOT LOST in this mall.\u00a0 Every high-end luxury brand I\u2019d ever heard of has a store in this place.\u00a0 Where do this many people get this much money?\u00a0 My only purchase was lunch at Fatburger, a fast-food burger joint out of Las Vegas and California.\u00a0 Burgers and fries were great!<\/span><\/p>\n

I must have looked like I was lost because two nicely dressed young Chinese people walked up and started talking to me.\u00a0 They were very friendly.\u00a0 Before I knew it, I was being escorted out of the mall and into a nearby building where they were displaying their art.\u00a0 They were students at a Beijing University and having an art show.\u00a0 I walked out after purchasing two small pieces.\u00a0 There must be a sign on my back that says \u201cI\u2019m Buying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judy comes in around 9:45 pm.\u00a0 She is wound up and excited, talking about all the new experiences in Shanghai.\u00a0 At the same time, she\u2019s scrambling to get everything put away, and herself into bed so she can teach tomorrow.\u00a0 I\u2019m getting the weekend stories in small pieces.\u00a0 To get the real lowdown, we\u2019re all going to have to wait for her to write about it, or talk about it to me in more detail.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Shang3\"<\/a>

The Girls, Cheryl (now teaching in Guonzhou), Alexis (birthday girl), and Shannon.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Shang7\"<\/a>

We’re where?<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Shang8\"<\/a>

When I get lost, look for me under this thingamajigger.<\/p><\/div>\n

In my own words, she saw some amazing sights and buildings, and ate at some great restaurants.\u00a0 They walked the \u201cBund\u201d along Shanghai Harbor.\u00a0 She spent some fun time in an antiques market, and helped one of her friends shop for a cricket.\u00a0 Yes, a cricket!\u00a0 Apparently they went to a really large pet market, looking for a pet cricket.\u00a0 There are two types, singing crickets, and fighting crickets.\u00a0 They have little houses, and food, and other \u201cgear\u201d.\u00a0 Cheryl couldn\u2019t settle on a price, so no cricket is purchased.\u00a0 I keep remembering the occasional fall football game when crickets would swarm to the lights and I couldn\u2019t give instructions to students without eating a cricket.\u00a0 Midnight, and Judy finally conks out.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Shang10\"<\/a>

Cricket anyone?<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Shang9\"<\/a>

Cricket condos.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Shang6\"<\/a>

Shanghai Harbor from the Bund.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Shang5\"<\/a> \"Shang4\"<\/a> \"Shang2\"<\/a> \"Shang1\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another fairly relaxed morning, struggling with internet and cable tv issues.\u00a0 Oh well, I guess this is a TIC (this is China) thing.\u00a0 I decide to see what\u2019s out in Beijing today, inspired by my taxi ride yesterday.\u00a0 Since every … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=802"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":804,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions\/804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}