One of the things you have to work with in Shanghai is the technology variables. For example, SJTU gives me a Chinese phone number and SIM card, which is great, but a) everyone here uses We Chat which b) won’t work on your phone outside your room unless you have a Chinese phone. Also c) if you did not load the We Chat app before you got here and you have Google as your app service you can’t load any apps here in China.
So I take pictures and do We Chat with my Chinese phone that I bought for about $90. But now I have to We Chat the photos to myself while We Chat is on my computer and live so I can download them and get them onto my blog. (Worse is trying to VPN into your computer at Highline. Type one letter, wait one minute for it to process. I am not kidding.)
So we have done lots lately. Shanghai Disneyland which I do not recommend. Long lines for a few rides that are spaced far apart.
We did go to this fabulous amusement park not far from us. $17.00 for an all-day pass. Ben went on over 25 rides. And the park is so beautiful! The only downsides are some of the staff are beyond curmudgeonly, and you can only do some things once, and some rides only go every 20 minutes. But still we did so much! We met some Chinese Americans and Ben followed them around and did all the rides with them. The boy, Isaah, is 9, so they were thick as thieves. We stayed 6 hours and ended with the Ferris Wheel.
Paul took the metro out to the outskirts of town, then an Uber, to go to a place where they filmed movies with old-time Shanghai buildings and streetcars. Ben and I went to “Junketeria” which our neighbors named. It’s across from the Yuyuan Gardens shopping area and is chock full of jewelry, underwear, scrub brushes, mosquito repellant, knock-off legos, souvenirs and whatever else might want. I got some nice souvenirs.
I also got to go to Tian Zi Fang which is the cutest little shopping and eating area. They took old housing of Shukiman style and turned it into this really cute shopping area of winding alleys. See my photos!
Only 2 weeks left. We will meet Ding Yaping for dinner, Sunny for lunch. I will meet Dr. Ma again for lunch and try to meet Gavin, next year’s visitor, before I go. We want to see Shelley and Sophy once more. They are very busy now, as is Lisa He and her family.
