Shanghai to Yichang

Tuesday October 15, 2013
This morning we visited the Shanghai Museum.

 There were some interesting artifacts and we were almost done our wandering when we heard someone say, "Bill and Anita?". We turned around and it was Janet Dunn from Combermere. She had no idea we were in China and we had no idea she was touring there. Small world. Even a disembodied hand is pointing at us.

 At lunch we went to a Mongolian grill restaurant where Anita entertained the staff by juggling plates of food. At least she wasn't on a table this time. After lunch we visited a rug and clothing factory specializing in cashmere items.

 Later in the afternoon we wandered around in the old part of Shanghai. There were lots of interesting old buildings. We bought T-shirts but didn't have the patience to negotiate properly, although we've had lots of experience doing that. We paid a little more than we should have but at least it got us back into the reality of negotiation in Asia.

After dinner we went to an Acrobatics Show. We couldn't take any pictures but this was another highlight of the trip. The acrobats performed routines reminiscent of Cirque de Soleil. Although most of the show was quite low tech, at the end, 2 motorcyclists entered a big steel cage globe and raced around each other. Then they stopped, assistants opened a trap door with a ramp, and another motorcyclist joined them for a few minutes of racing around in circles and spirals. Then a 3rd joined, then a 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and I think 9th. By the last few we were saying, "Oh no", as each one entered. It was an exciting finale.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
On Wednesday morning, we reluctantly checked out of our hotel. It was so nice we didn't want to leave. We traveled back out to the Shanghai airport and flew on another modern jet to Wuhan, another fair sized Chinese city of which we had been previously unaware. After landing at the beautiful, modern Wuhan airport (again, typical), we traveled 4 hours by bus to Yichang.
On the way we had a short rest stop at a big service station / convenience store along the highway. This was a more typical Chinese washroom: steel trough for the men, squat toilets for the women, no water, no soap, no towels. In the store, there was a boiling water dispenser for making instant noodles and tea, so many of us used that to wash our hands. Hot.
After dinner in a restaurant, in the evening we embarked on our cruise ship at Yichang. By this point in the trip, everyone was tired and many people (including both of us) had the "Sinorama cough". In such close quarters all the time, any virus spreads rapidly.
Our cabin looked great and we remained moored at the dock for most of the night. We were looking forward to our Yangtze river cruise for 4 nights.