March 7th, 2024 Day 9 of 24 Shanghai, China

Hello from China. Yesterday we were on a slow boat to China and this morning we woke up and we were here. In 2020, when the world cruise ended abruptly, it was here our luggage was finally off loaded months after we were put off the ship in Australia. From here it went on a cargo ship and sailed back to us in California. Kind of a neat place to finally visit even though our luggage had already been here. I started my morning as usual. I tackled the gym upon opening at 6:00 am. I did end my workout a bit early as the view coming into the port was spectacular. We came in through the shipping corridor and there were more ships than I had ever seen in the waters with us before. There are two other ships docked here and we came in right between. That some fancy parallel parking if you ask me. I headed back to the cabin to wake Megan. We grabbed a quick light breakfast in the Neptune lounge and headed to the Rolling Stone to meet with the Cruise Specialist team for our excursion today. Today we took the bus to the Bund area of Shanghai to visit the Jade Buddha Temple that was built in 1882. Please enjoy the many photos I took while I was there. There are none though of the six foot solid Jade Buddha that is there as we were not allowed to take photos of it. Next, we boarded the bus and headed further into the downtown area. It reminded me of Jersey City where you look across the river to the skyscrapers on the other side in Manhatten. We visited the Yu Garden which has over 40 scenic spots in the inner and outer gardens. It has many old wooden buildings and structures like most of the Old Town area that is found in the heart of downtown Shanghai. Due to deterioration and fires, few of the original buildings remain. There are several being renovated at this time and many scheduled to be dismantled to make way for new high rises. The rate at which Shanghai is growing is said to be astonishing. The skyline has changed drastically just since the last world cruise was here about 5 years ago. After the garden we were given about an hour of free time and with some recommendations from our amazing tour guide we had delicious Bao buns, unique Chinese tea and we shopped for and purchased some Jade pieces to commemorate our visit to China. We met back up with our tour guide at the designated time and decided we weren’t ready to head back to the ship yet. After verifying the pickup spot for the ship shuttle, so we could catch it back to the ship later, we ventured back to the shopping district for some more fun on our own. We stopped for a Tsing Tao beer, walked through a chocolate shop that had life-sized chocolate animal sculptures, watched them make dumplings at the street side cafes, saw artisans pounding and creating silver jewelry, saw so many tea shops, and just soaked in the atmosphere that was the culture and history of this part of China. A few times I just had to stop and take a breath and make a mental memory of what I was seeing, hearing and smelling. After we finished our time in the shopping district we decided to walk along the waters walk way to enjoy the amazing panoramic views of the skyscrapers across the river. Tomorrow we will venture up one of them as part of our excursion, but you’ll have to wait to hear about that then. About 5:00pm we decided to head back to the ship. When we got back, we grabbed a light bite at the Lido, our first meal there of the trip, and then headed to the Main Stage for a performance. The ship brought on a local performance group called the Shanghai Spectacular and we were treated to several different types of Shanghai entertainment. We bumped in Gail and Marty after the show and caught up with them and shared what all we did today. It is now almost 10:00pm my time and I am so very tired. I have over 28,000 steps on my pedometer for today and it was worth every step. I have many photos to sort through so I can give you a taste of our day in pictures. I hope you are enjoying our adventures and that you are having a lovely time living vicariously through me. Wishing you sweet dreams (or actually to you, a good morning).