Mira and Milan's Excellent Adventure: Shanghai

Stop number 4 started on day #7 of our trip.

We left Lhasa at 3:30 in the afternoon, a day earlier than the original plan. 2 Nights in Lhasa was enough... and we were tired of the cold... Yes, our threshold for cold has severely dropped after being exposed to the beautiful Bangalore weather for the last 2 winters....

The flight did not get us into Shanghai until almost 10pm... We were tired.... A good nights rest was what we needed!

Day 8 we started with a day of sightseeing. First stop was the top of the Jin Mao tower. This used to be the tallest building in the world until 2007, when right next to it they built the Shanghai World Financial Center. This is the building that looks like a bottle opener. Now the Burj in Dubai surpasses them all..... The views were amazing.

After this we went to Yuyaun Garden. It is essentially a cute little garden in the middle of the 'old' city. It was established in 1559 and is considered one of the most elaborate gardens in town... in my opinion it was OK... nothing too fab... There was a shopping area that was around the garden where we were able to pick up some things... this was fun!!

Then we went to the Shanghai Museum. At this point, we were museumed-out! We opted to forgo our prepaid tickets and just chill out and enjoy the fresh air. It was considerably warmer than Tibet, the Cherry Blossoms were in bloom. It was like spring back in Mich.... Next it was a boat cruise on the Huangpu River... this was a nice way to see the skyline...

Then it was a nice dinner and off to see the Shanghai Acrobatic show. Dinner was very good... nice Chinese food and then the show was really amazing... trapeze artists, jugglers, amazing flexibility and control... A great way to end a very packed day!

Day 9 - we were on our own today, since this was the 'extra-day' we got from leaving Tibet a day early. We decided to use this day to do some shopping. It was off to the knock off market... ohhh we were all so excited. We left with many goodies.... North Face jackets, Channel and Prada Purses, Designer Sunglasses, Converse High tops, backpacks, pashminas..... it was so fun. We took a break from shopping and had McDonalds for lunch... come on, you knew we had to squeeze that in!! After a day of shopping, we went to hotel and rested. We went to dinner with some friends that were kind of on the same tour as us... A nice pizza dinner....

Day 10 - A quick trip to do some more shopping.... a few last minute things that we thought of and then we had to head to the airport.....Yes, we on our way back home... at this point we were ready!!

The flight left from Shanghai at 5pm about an hour late. We had a 2 hour connection in Kuala Lampur, so we were not worried. But something happened en route... typically they are supposed to make up time in flight... but we were further delayed.... We arrived in KL at the same time our flight was due to take off, they held the plane for us, and we had to sprint to our gate to catch our connection! It was crazy... Milan was crying because he was left behind.... Needless to say, we made it!! Once we got on the plane we saw class mates of Mira and Milan!! They were sitting right by us....

And this wraps up Shanghai!!