Disney in October

In China, there's only one "Cheesecake Factory" restaurant, and it is located right outside of Shanghai Disney in a shopping area known as Disney Town.

In Disney Town, everything has ears! I'm not into Halloween, but this is kind of cute.

I did not visit Disney's park. I have arthritis and an enlarged bone joint in my right big toe. It doesn't bend anymore. It hurts to walk, and just by going to the restaurant, I thought my foot would fall off. No way I could have walked through the park too!

Shanghai Train Station

I travel to Shanghai via high-speed train. Here's a look at the train station platform. 

Shanghai's Nanjing Road East - Pedestrian Street Mall

As mentioned yesterday, there are two parts to Shanghai's Nanjing Road. Here are pictures of the east part, the pedestrian street that people think of when you say "Nanjing Road." If your feet hurt, you can pay the equivalent of 50 cents and get a ride from one end of the pedestrian street to the other. I love Shanghai. 

Shanghai's Nanjing Road East

In Shanghai, Nanjing Road has two famous sections. Nanjing Road (west) is a pedestrian street mall and considered the heart of the city. About a mile away, maybe even less, is Nanjing Road East, which is newer and even more upscale. 

People dress well in Shanghai, and I used to dress smartly on my trips there. I would wear heals and wouldn't even be bothered by it. But now I have to wear flat shoes due to some problem with my right toe that some doctor said was osteoarthritis. In fact, the only shoes that don't hurt my feet are Converse All-Stars, so that's what I wear in Shanghai now. No one is looking for me to be a fashion trendsetter, so there's no need to dress up. 

Shanghai is a fun big city and I love my trips there. But I only like to go on days in which someone can let Mimi out for a walk midday. 

Flowers for sale

A common sight in summer, near busy intersections, are ladies selling sweet-smelling flowers, gardenias I think. Hang them on your backpack, rearview mirror, or set them on your table to make your summer smell special, infused with the best of memories. The lady pictured here, near the entrance to a Shanghai subway station, gave me a second flower after I took her photo. I think that means we are friends. :-)

Trip to Johannesburg, South Africa

At the end of May I had to go on a trip to South Africa. I had never been to Africa before, so I was a bit giddy. I had to take two flights. The first flight was 2.5 hours from Shanghai to Hong Kong. The second flight was 13 hours and was from Hong Kong to Johannesburg. Jo'burg looks very much like America. Above is a residential neighborhood in the big city. 

After arrival, they took us to a mall for lunch. On that day, the mall had a rooftop market going on, and I got a latte there.

Next to the mall was an "African market" that sells local handicrafts. I picked up a few souvenirs.

Later in the day, a bus took me and my group to a conference location a couple of hours away from Johannesburg. We passed by a black township, and I saw these people standing beside the road waiting for rides. A township is similar to a Chinese village (as I view it), although I'm no authority on life in Africa.

During my trip, I was able to go on two jeep safaris in a game reserve. I'll soon post photos from that, so come back soon! 

Shanghai Tower

 

Some friends I know from east Texas were in China last week, and they flew in and out of Shanghai on the way to their destination further west. So at the end of their trip, I traveled to Shanghai to meet them and spent three days with them. They wanted to see Shanghai Tower, the second tallest building in the world after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and the building with the highest observation deck in the world (you can't even go that high in the Burj Khalifa). We rode the elevator the the 119th floor observation deck. Unfortunately, the rain clouds had trapped the air pollution, and the photos turned out dark and dreary. Someday when a day off, a trip to Shanghai, a clear day and thirty extra dollars are sitting around, I may go up again and get a good photo. I do not like heights, but it only took 54 seconds for that elevator to get us up to the 119th floor. 

Mimi's departure in Shanghai

 Mimi is in the car traveling to Shanghai.

 She loves to look out the windows while in a car.

 The driver had to stop for a pit stop, so Mimi decided to get out and stretch her legs.

 Back in the car now.

Her super huge carrier didn't leave much room for comfortable sitting.

She might not have napped in the car had she known she'd be sleeping so long on the flight.

Out of the car, into the cargo terminal.

And … apparently she is not too happy about it.

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change," she surely uttered at this point in time.

Door closed, cable ties secured, and just to be sure, netting goes over the carrier.

I like the triple security measures.

Mimi calms down and takes it like a real trooper.

Mimi lovers rejoice!

My mom thought Mimi looked old and sickly in the last photo I posted of her, so I decided I better post some "healthy" Mimi photos. You know, photos of her on the trampoline (my bed) playing with her toys (my shoes).

 That's not a blurry photo, that's a dog tearing around on her trampoline.

She just had a bath, so she's sporting the unkempt wet hair look. It's hard to keep her hair trimmed. She's taking a breather.

Looking innocent … looking away from the camera (like my mom does when SHE sees a camera).

 Look at sweet Mimi, all innocent and elegant.

Ah, the terror has returned to her eyes. Time for round two!

Sorry I've been off the blog for a week. Life just gets busy. I'm at the airport in Shanghai waiting to fly to Thailand. We've had a three-hour delay so far. Take care!

SHANGHAI - A picture is worth a thousand words, and doesn't require spellcheck

I really love this place.

Ripping down Shanghai

My first trip to Shanghai was in 1997. I loved the city, but was quite disappointed in their shopping selections. The department stores sold poor quality clothing, and there were few imported items (i.e., items I might find while shopping in the U.S.). I had expected the "big city" to have more advanced options like Hong Kong had at the time. Shanghai did have fancy hotels and even a Tony Roma's steakhouse, but overall, things were fairly poor even in Shanghai. That has all changed now. It is hard to find things in Shanghai that look poor, unless you try really hard and travel out to the extreme suburbs. But I did find one neighborhood near downtown that still looked rather old; it is getting torn down though, so it won't be looking old for long. I decided to take some photos before it is too late to see the old Shanghai.

This scene looks like it could be from almost anywhere in China, but you won't be seeing much more of this in Shanghai.

In the far back, the pencil-point building is the J.W. Marriot hotel, and the spaceship building is the Radisson hotel. So this is not terribly far from the main downtown area. The foreground shows the demolition of concrete three-story homes behind a concrete wall construction barrier. No doubt, high-rise buildings will take over this prime real-estate. I bet those pinkish buildings won't last another ten years before someone tears them down to build something nicer.

The corner store is no more.

More on Shanghai again tomorrow.