Shanghai - Waterways and Acrobats

We started our first morning in Shanghai with a departure from the group as the Huth family headed down to Zhujiajiao (say that three times as fast as you can).  Zhujiajiao is the Venice of China.  Not quite as grand but a worthwhile visit nonetheless.  It can be rather touristy except on weekday mornings in the rain which happened to be the case when we visited.

We arrived in this town just a hair on the clueless side and had all kinds of folks trying to sell us moto-rickshaw rides presumably to the attraction.  We turned them down even though the price dropped to $1.50.  The funny thing about the pricing here, on a rainy weekday morning, is that it drops very far, very fast.  The next character we met was a 10 year old that said that he was an official guide and actually 31 years of age and that he only looks like child.  Strange, but true?

This was a neat little town in an officially communistic country that had fully embraced the capitalistic tourism trade, but if you kept your eyes on the canals and not the shops you could get a little sense for the history of this 4th century town.

When we were in Venice last year we crossed over and under the famed Rialto bridge and in Zhujiajiao we had lunch at a riverside table by the Chinese version.

The return trip was a bit of an ask, guess, pray action.  Ask what the right bus is, guess at what they really said, and pray that you made the correct choice.  Once I saw the bus destination listed in the upper windshield I knew we were all set.  By the way, this bus driver must be incented for timeliness.  We had some super traffic jam on the way back, which we understand is typical, and he would ride the shoulders wherever they existed and then cut right in at the last second.  'Cut' might be too generous a descriptor, 'bus as battering ram' might be more accurate.  He set many horns a honking.

I should mention that as exciting as bus travel may be, you need to exercise more care when getting of a bus then when in transit.  The motos do not slow down when the bus door opens, and it you do not treat stepping of the bus like stepping into traffic you may pay for it as we almost did several times.  The kids like to jump off the buses, not advised in China.

Let that night we had a little miscommunication on the way to dinner and an acrobatics show.  Suffice it to say that we spent 2 hours getting from Point A to Point A and then another 45 minute getting to the show.  90 minutes of that time was spent in a fast walk to jog pace.  We were pushed and shoved and did a little ourselves as we passed though Chinas largest and most packed subway station, Peoples Square, 3 times during rush hour.  It was packed, hot, pushy, brutal!  But we made it with minutes to spare and that all just added up to another great story.  Here is little Riley, subway sardine, who has taken more elbows to the noggin in China then half the population possesses.

Dinner was sacrificed and the kids suffered through popcorn and Oreos while we took in the show.  As an aside, apart from Chinese food, I think we ate more Oreos, Pringles and soft serve ice cream on this trip then we have in the past 5 years.

We have been watching DVD recordings of Cirque du Solei shows for a while now and have not pulled the trigger to actually see a show mostly due to price.  In the motherland of acrobatics, the show was about $20 a head, a great deal.  The theater held maybe 200 seats and we scored some primo spots.

No pictures were allowed, so here are some words.  I was most impressed with the plate spinners.  This was a troupe of women who would spin 4 plates on 3 foot sticks in each hand.  Amazing in itself.  I was blown away when one woman balanced her head on the head of another women all the while spinning.  Then she dismounted, not missing a beat. HERE is a you tube clip that I found.  You have to tip your head sideways and you don't see the dismount, but you get the idea.

The bike show was a lot of fun.  HERE is twelve women on a single bike.

It is amazing the level of precision that we are able to bring our God given bodies to.  At one point I was just overwhelmed with the level of perfection and beauty in their execution and thought what a God we have in whose image we are created.

Tonight we said goodbye to our Chinese guide Zoe.

Stills in 2013 Shanghai.