At the end of June, Jon had a business trip to Shanghai where he participated in Autodesk's Asia Pacific Major Accounts Conference. Care decided to tag along as a tourist so that she and Jon could spend a few more days in Hong Kong on the return.  During our sabbatical two years prior we both felt as if we had not spent enough time exploring Hong Kong so this was an opportunity to do so.





On June 26th we arrived in Shanghai after 16 hours of non-stop flying. The air was warm and muggy but we were immediately whisked off to the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Pudong where we would be staying for the next 4 days. Pudong New Area located on the eastern bank of the Huangpu River is over 1.5 times larger than urban Shanghai. The high rise area directly across from the Bund is the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone where the Shanghai Stock Exchange is located. This newly developed and fast growing area of the world is comprised of high rises and financial organizations.  The Hyatt situated in the JinMao Financial Tower (largest building in China) is located beginning on the 54th floor and rises to the 87th.  We were swiftly deposited on the 76th floor in a steel and glass room equipped with the latest in electronics and lighting. Our first evening we stayed in the tower and had dinner on-site.

While Jon practiced his presentation on Thursday, Care jumped in a cab and sped off to re-acquaint herself with downtown Shanghai.  Leaving the cab at the corner of the Bund and the Peace Hotel, the morning was spent walking Nanking Road, walking through Renmin Park, exploring the Shanghai Art Museum (former racecourse club building), reviewing the architecture of the Performing Art Center, Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center, Shanghai Museum and many of the new structures. 

Below is the Shanghai Opera House.

The Shanghai Museum is a beautiful building on the outside as it is on the interior.  A set of sculptures are situated at an entry where they can guard the building.

 

The clouds and rain often obscure the JinMao building from the horizon.  Likewise the guests in the hotel find themselves with nothing more than clouds to view from their room windows.  This was the case on Friday when rain, clouds and wind moved steadily past our building for the entire day.  Care spent the morning shopping in some of the world's largest department stores in Pudong for a GSM phone.  Once she popped the chip into the new Nokia she was receiving phone mail from all the local carriers throughout the trip.

Afternoon, Jon presented the BID vision to the major accounts customers.  That evening was the gala dinner for the event.  The dinner was a traditional multi-course Chinese meal including entertainment of the many masked performer and the spinning plate acrobatic female troupe. 



 

Saturday Jon joined Care in seeing some of the sights in Shanghai.  Starting out with lunch in the Swiss Hotel on Nanking Road, we then spent time in the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center. In addition to historical pictures and maps of Shanghai the Center provides much insight into the plan for Shanghai's growth. The map is area around Fangbang Road at the time of the Ming Dynasty.



 

On the upper floors of the Center exists a full scale model of Shanghai in twenty years.  It is a massive project which borders on reality and sheer propaganda. 



Above the model represents Pudong and below is the Bund and a view of the Huangpu River bending at Suzhou Creek. 




We later strolled through the Flower and Bird market but it was rather quiet.  The main attraction was the cricket vendors. Also the bonsai, turtle and fish markets were drawing buyers.





After a loop around the Bund where we took pictures of the old colonial buildings as well as a few pictures of the Pudong waterfront before heading in that direction.  Note the Jinmao building is hidden in the clouds.

We decided to explore the grounds around the Oriental Pearl TV Tower before returning to our hotel. The Tower is the tallest building in Asia and 3rd largest in world- 1245 feet. Unfortunately it was lost in the clouds so it was hardly worth a ride to the observation desks or the top.

Later we had drinks on the 83 floor and dinner on the top floor of the Jinmao building. Sunday we headed for Hong Kong.