In China, when a holiday is scheduled, such as May Day, you have to make up for the time missed during the holiday. Due to the May Day holiday, Saturday was a regular work day. Mark had 4 classes. He had arranged for me to speak to them. I told them about life in America; my impressions of China; and let them ask questions. They seemed fairly interested in what I had to say.
We rode a bus to People�s Square. Mark and I ate lunch at a KFC in People�s Square. We went with Mark�s friend Ruth, and another friend of Ruth�s. The portions of Chicken are very small. However it seemed to fill me up. We decided to go shopping along Nanjing Road. After a while Mark and I lost contact with Ruth and her friend. They seemed to be more interested in looking at clothing. I got a few neckties and teapots at about a $1 each.
Mark and I decided to go to the top of the Oriental Pearl Tower. We took a subway to the Pudong part of Shanghai where the tower is located. We decided to go to the second section of tower. It cost 50 Yuan. I paid for Mark�s part. After we got into the tower we had to go through security. They told us to lay our bags on the x-ray machine. Mark tried to explain that the teapots in the bag were delicate, but the security personnel didn�t seem to listen. After he set the bag containing the teapots on the x-ray machine, we heard a loud thud as they were coming out. We later found that one of the teapots had been cracked when it landed on the table where the x-ray machine was. Why there was so much security for the Pearl Tower, I�ll never know.
We rode the elevator up to the 2nd level. The tour guide gave her spiel in Chinese and in English. The Chinese version seemed much longer and much more detailed than the English version.
At the top of the tower you could get a good view of Shanghai. The view was a bit obscured by the smog of Shanghai. It seems environmentalism has not yet hit China yet. We walked around and looked at the view. If there had not been smog, you could have seen all of Shanghai.
I purchased some postcards at the gift shop. Mark said that postcards were difficult to find in Shanghai.
There was an area which you could actually go outside and look at the view. We walked around for a few minutes before going down the elevator again.
I purchased some AA batteries for my digital camera at a store at the base of the tower. We then went to Nanjing Road for a bit more shopping. We got caught up in a massive rainstorm. Everyone was waiting outside of the stores waiting for the rain to dissipate. At one time or another I noticed a Chinese soccer uniform in one of the stores. I thought this would be a great souvenir for myself. I looked at the department store where it was displayed, but I was unable to find it. I set a goal for myself to try to find one before leaving Shanghai.
I was pretty worn out by the time we went back to the guesthouse, so I went back to my room for a some sleep. I did go up to Mark�s room and knocked on the door. Mark was in the middle of an important phone call. After about an hour, Mark came to wake me up to discuss plans for Sunday. He gave me the choice of visiting a city which had a lot of gardens or a city with canals like Venice. I choose the city with canals (Zhou Zhaung) since I had already seen a few gardens while in Shanghai before. We were set to go with Ruth who had originally accompanied us to Pizza Inn.
One of Mark�s former students, Eva, stopped by. She had remembered me from visiting last year. She had left me a bookmark as a present the day before. I told her we were going to Zhou Zhaung and that she was welcomed to come along. She said she would think about it and get back with us. After a few minutes she said she would go with us.