Day 5 (Nov 9 Thursday) Lake Yangcheng and Shanghai:
Right after lunch at Lake Yangcheng & our group photo taking in front of "Water People" restaurant, we proceeded to our last stop, Shanghai. This is my ten or eleven visits to Shanghai since 1980. Except for the early eighties and in particularly the last few years, I find something new every time when I come here. Though its not my favorite city (Hangzhou perhaps) in China but I sure don't mind coming back every now and then. The traffic was not too bad and it took us a little over two hours to arrive at the metropolitan. We were taken to Xintiendi, a new shopping center near the French Quarter. While our group members wandered around in small groups, I spent my time in taking photos of various roadside cafe and especially the back alley.

Then we went to the famous Bund, the landmark of Shanghai I'd say. The sky was not so clear though and sure it reminded our Southern Californian schoolmates, the smog in Los Angeles. We took time to take photos of the old buildings including the former HSBC and the new highrises across the river at Pudong.

And before our optional night cruise, we'd our dinner at The Hong Qiao Restaurant @ Hong Qiao Road, a Shanghaiese noveau cuisine. There's a furniture shop right beneath the restaurant floor and Danny's heart missed a beat when he noticed Esther wandered downstair to check out the antique collection (just kidding Danny). Though my classmate complied with my request and promptly reclined on a opium bed (decoration piece inside the restaurant) posing for my photo (many thanks). Then we embarked onto the SS "Bus #6" at 19:40 for a 45-minute tour of the Huangpu River. As I said earlier it was an optional event and cost us RMB80 each. Now I'd tried both the day and night cruise.

Before we checked into Hotel Mayfair, a 5-star hotel with swimming pool facility, we moved on to Nanking Road to the so called "The Big Four Department Stores @ Naking Road". Again we broke up into small group. James and I checked out the men's section whereas Dinny and Maggie the ladies' fashion floors. During that half an hour James and I learnt a lot more about each other. Thanks James, you're such a nice guy. At the end we didn't buy anything. Though I got a book and some "Kam Wah" ham (RMB30 worth).

As the Mayfair is very expensive the two guides and driver stayed at a service apartment about 10 minutes drive away. Since I couldn't contact Henry W who said earlier that he'd treat us to dinner tomorrow, I'd asked the local guide to reserve two tables for 22 (to include Joe & Susan plus Henry L & Amy and just in case Henry W) at the Nanking Road West branch of Siu Nam Guo, a very popular restaurant in Shanghai which also has a branch in HK. I've given my mobile number to the two Henrys and Joe. So far I only got a call from Joe who said he definitely would meet us at our luncheon place tomorrow. Eventually I managed to tracked down Henry L and Amy who agreed to join us for dinner at Siu Nam Guo too but unfortunately no news or call from Henry W.

Day 6 (Nov 10 Friday) Shanghai:
Orginally this was supposed to be a free activity day. Nevertheless I've made arrangement with the guides and driver to take us to Pudong. Bob and Margaret couldn't join us since they'd meeting with their local friend. And Dinny also has her own personal or business appointment. Since the sky was still foggy, we didn't take to escalator ride to the top of the TV Tower. Instead we sauntered around the Mingzhu Park for photo-taking, tango dancing (just between Peter & Maggie), chattering and watching a group of bright young kids from a public primary school playing. Totally relaxing. Then we went to a dumpling shop recommended by the local guide who learnt about the place from a HK member of one of his former tour groups. Since it has got only six tables (with four seats each), we needed to coordinated with the shop owner and grapped one table at a time until we all fourteen were all seated. I pre-ordered a total of 14 orders of dumpling (a dozen each) including 4 orders (a dozen each) of pork (RMB6 per dozen), 2 pork + shrimp (RMB6.5 per dozen) , 2 pork + chicken (RMB6.5 per dozen) , 2 crabmeat + pork (RMB12.5 per dozen) & 2 whole crabmeat (RMB81 per dozen). We all think that the basic one is the best, Joe and Susan arrived shortly after we'd finished since they encountered traffic jam from their ride from Hanzhou. To allow them to have their lunch, we agreed to meet at the Huaihai Road, another main shopping area. After a short walk along Huahai Road, We again broke up into small groups. Maggie took Frank to go to the famed and recently reopened Broadway Dancing Hall for a quick lesson and dance. Winnie & Ben chose to go to another shopping area. After we rendezvoused with Dinny again we'd dimsum and dessert at "Ah Yang Soup Shop". Around 16:00, Danny, James, Peter & I decided to go to the neighborhood of Siu Nam Guo since its Friday and getting taxi is absolutely a nightmare after 17:00.

Upon arrival at the restaurant we checked out the men's room first. Then we spent time walking around the Wu Jiang Road and Peter got his RMB25 hair cut. We went back to around 18:00 after two round of sangria plus grilled chicken wings and mussels at a nearby restaurant. The rest of the group shown up gradually including Joe who'd joined us for the afternoon tea at "Ah Yang Soup Shop". Together with Esther, I ordered the food including one disc of the specialty of the restaurant, deep fried snake cutlets and its for men only since some of the girls have problem with it (they have glutinous rice cake Shanghai style instead) though the two Maggies, Esther & I think Winnie did give it a try. We loved it (Maggie and I had it a few years ago in HK) though and reserved two pieces for Henry L who arrived nearly 45 minutes late with Amy due to the taxi shortage problem that I mentioned earlier. After the dinner, Peter bought deep fried 'smelly" bean curd as dessert and it was real good, crispy outside and soft and tender inside.

We went back to Mayfair but the night was still young. Most of us (including Henry & Amy and Joe & Susan but not the healthy living Bob and Margaret) spent nearly three hours at the dancing bar. The French AOC house red we ordered was just so so but the Chilean Sauvignon Blanc I got subsequently was much better. Though my Martini was a bit too weak for my taste. To the Filipino band we were God sent since they’d a quiet reception prior to our arrival. We danced (Amy is a great dancer, real swinger), sing (Amy – 'The Moon shining on My Heart – Mandarin song' & Peter –"Pretty Woman' and he played the electric organ too. Peter/Jeannette did video taped part of it. It was real fun and we could have danced all night!

Day 7 (Nov 11 Saturday) Shanghai and Hong Kong:

Some (my Maggie too) chose to get up early and go shadow boxing, line dancing and exercise at Chung Shan Park across the hotel. And after our breakfast, we went to the old town area and tour Yue Garden (Yuyuan). Again it's better to view the photo instead of writing about the famed garden. Afterwards, we spent time to do some last minutes shopping in the area. Peter got five red neckties for his music band friends from at least three different shops. And Justin could well be the champion of shopping. We'd a brief lunch and then proceeded to the airport for our flight back to Hong Kong.

It's a great seven days and I hope we can do it again in the future