Looks Like We Made It....

After a two-hour delay in Savannah, we barely made our flight from Chicago to Shanghai. All in all, it was a relatively pleasant 13+ hour flight. When we landed, we were greeted by a crew of HazMat officials who boarded the plane in full HazMat regalia. One by one, they pointed an infrared flashlight at our foreheads to check for fever. We all held our breath while the HazMat folks went to work, for we knew that if one person on the plane had an elevated temperature, we might have had to spend our first week in a Chinese quarantine.

Upon further reflection, Cathy and I believe that some folks simply assume that we have the swine flu.

We hit the ground running immediately after landing. We are all amazed by the amount of construction in Shanghai. The famous Bund is simply covered in scaffolding. Speaking of which, much of the scaffolding is bamboo, not steel.

After a bit of touring, we went to a banquet-style dinner. That's where everyone began to realize how exhausted we all were. Chinese cuisine is living up to its reputation as one of the finest cuisines in all the world. At the restaurant, the staff just keeps bringing us dishes and dishes of terrific stuff. Cathy's favorites were the squirrel fish, pumpkin puffs and the yummy greens. I love the squirrel fish as well. I also enjoyed the asparagus stir-fry and the terrific chicken-peanut-chili dish.

Although some folks, myself included, did eat sample a frog dish, they didn't look like these poor fellows. ------->

We're staying at the HengSheng Peninsula Hotel, just off the Bund. It's very modern with a minimalist, but still comfortable design.

Sleep came easily for all of us. More later....