Our last full day in China was mostly a free one. Running buddy, Caitlin and I decided to go for a big goal and run from our hotel to the Bund and back. I think the trip was around 5+ miles, but it felt a lot longer in the 90+ degree heat! It was fun to run down the iconic Nanjing Road and all the way to the river. Both Caitlin and Tim from our group are leaving for the States tomorrow while the rest of us head to Hong Kong. It's been fun to have a running and adventure buddy here, and I wish her best of luck in the Chicago Marathon in a few months!
After the run and breakfast, our group met all together at a coffee shop for our forth and final debrief session. We have one of these in each city we visit, and it's a time for us to talk about what we've learned and ask questions about the lectures. It's often a very rich discussion.
The rest of the day was free, and so we all headed off in different directions. By this time Caitlin and I had figured out that we travel pretty well together, so we decided to hang together for the day. We visited the Jing'an Temple which is just a few blocks away from our hotel. It is right in the middle of these tall, modern buildings, so it was a typically Chinese mix of new and old. The temple also boasts a 15 ton silver Buddha!
Yesterday, our guide Elene told us that there is a good sushi place near the temple in a food court. We quickly found that after visiting the temple. We really had intentions of eating sushi...until we passed the creperie selling mango/yogurt/whipped cream crepes. After the crepes, we then found peanut butter sandwiches for sale, and any thoughts of eastern food flew away. Oh peanut butter, how I have missed you!
Emboldened by our day with Elene yesterday, Caitlin and I decided to ride the metro across town to revisit the China Art Museum. We ran out of time when we were there a few days ago, and we wanted to see the first floor exhibits that we had missed. The metro here in Shanghai is safe, clean, and extremely easy to navigate. We spent an hour or so at the museum and then returned to our hotel.
I spent the afternoon relaxing and packing in my room before our final farewell banquet. Since Tim, Caitlin, and our Chinese guide, Kim, are not traveling on with us, it was an evening of celebrating our time together.
Tomorrow we are leaving Shanghai in style. We will ride the Maglev Train to the airport! It travels a marathon, 26 miles, in 7 minutes! According to Wikipedia, the top commercial operational speed is 268 mph, faster than any other commercial passenger train and faster than the top speed of any formula 1 racing car! Cool, huh? I guess it can actually go faster, but it's too expensive to operate at it's top speed. Go figure.
Here are some photos from the day!
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| A corridor at the Jing'an Temple |
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| I thought these sculptures on the banisters looked like steamed buns! |
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| The old and the new right on top of each other. |
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| Happy Buddha |
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| This is the 15 ton silver Buddha. |
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| Lions at the temple |
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| Fancy chair--no I am not missing an arm. |
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| This is one of the enormous elevators at the Chinese Art Musuem. |
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| Peggy (L), our coordinator from Beijing, and Kim (R), our Chinese guide |
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