No, not the end just yet…  I have one more to post that will mostly be pictures…  The last few days in Shanghai were fairly uneventful.  Cleaning up a few things at work, making sure we bought the last few things, packing, and a farewell dinner.  Oh, yeah.  The farewell dinner.  One thing about China – you can definitely get some things to eat that would be, um, let’s say ‘uncommon’ in the US.  Knowing we’d have this final dinner, the rest of the family avoided more of these unusual foods for when we would have locals ordering for us and, thus, would have someone to tell them what they were eating.  For this dinner, we had jellyfish (it’s crunchy), eel (everyone liked this one), tripe (mixed reviews), intestine (again mixed), pig tongue (winner), squirrel fish (winner), fermented tofu (not a winner), and a host of other foods.  Ketti took to calling China LOAF, or Land Of Amazing Food.  Noah was big on the soup dumplings and he also loved the soup dumplings.  Oh, and the soup dumplings were OK, too.  I’m kidding (not really), but the family did me proud by trying everything that was put out on the table.

I’m gonna admit one more time that being the center of attention isn’t really all that bad and, OK, I do sometimes like it.  There weren’t quite as many requests for pictures in Beijing and Xi’an as I got in Shanghai, but there were still a few.  In total, I have about 150 or so pictures of me with random people.  For every one I got, there were 5-10 taken of me.  It really was surreal and comical at times how people would pretend to take pictures of other things and swing their cameras towards me or boldly just point and shoot.  The volume of pictures that I do have, however, I think as much as anything is a testament to the warmth and openness of the Chinese people.  Or maybe just a nod to my circus-freakishness…  I’ve put together a video of 100 of the pictures that I have – you can see them here:  https://1drv.ms/i/s!An8ia3LmeI2WgcF4u_ElkXqyhiycqw.  I manage to get them all in just about 41 seconds. One picture I didn’t get…  Most times when I would go out, I would wear my Mizzou stuff, you know, just in case.  Because of it, I met 4 other people from Missouri and one Beaker.  On learning this person was from KU, I said “I’m 8 weeks into my trip and you are the first Jayhawk I’ve seen.  Thanks for ruining China!”  Her reply?  “Anything to f*ck with a Tiger!”  OK, I laughed at that one.

I happen to have a few pictures from that last week, as well as a few others that for various reasons didn’t make it into a previous post, so click on the first one to enter the gallery… Zia jian!

Ketti is probably right because she kept calling this building the Lotus building. To me, it just looked like a big pineapple. I do have to say, however, that I loved the architecture in Shanghai. A good mix of old with new and not too many of the boxy, glass skyscrapers. Most of the tall buildings had some sort of personality to them – a uniqueness that kept the skyline interesting.
This was another angle of one of my favorite pictures, taken just outside Yu Yuan Gardens.
And we can’t forget what sent all of us over there – Office 365. This is an advertisement in a Tokyo train station.
I put up a Photosynth of this view, but not the panorama. Of the places around Shanghai, Hangzhou was probably one of my favorite stops. This is from the top of Leifung Tower.
This one didn’t make the original cut to my Hangzhou post. I took this picture a dozen times before I finally held the camera still enough so the statue wasn’t all blurry. Note to self: Next time bring a collapsible tripod.
Flowers were everywhere in China. As I mentioned in the post about Beijing, it was covered in roses when we where there. In addition to the bike grill, there was usually someone selling flowers at my subway stop. I’ve always liked calla lilies and wanted to bring them home, but I had no vase, so all I could do was take home a picture…
As modern a city as Shanghai is, brooms seemed to be stuck in the Tang dynasty. Bamboo brooms were everywhere. I guess I shouldn’t tease, because the city was very clean. It was explained to me that the reason they use this style of broom is to keep the dust down – the idea isn’t so much to get things perfectly clean as it is to move leaves, rocks, and other things while not kicking up lots of dust. There’s enough stuff in the air without adding a bunch of dust…
A new budding career? This is one of my shirts I picked up at the tailor…
A couple of my Mandarin lessons were done at my apartment… I had a glass top coffee table and I put a towel underneath which turned it into a whiteboard…
Jimmy is not impressed. I didn’t think the small guy in the foreground would be able to pedal me (and Ketti) around. Turns out, there is a small electric motor on these things that helps keep things moving. So it’s a hybrid pedicab.
I didn’t have much in the way of issues with being cramped into things during my stay. Tokyo was more challenging from a “Will Jimmy fit?” perspective than China. This gallery, however, did pose a few cranial challenges. I’m not bending over to look at something – my head is touching the ceiling…
We avoided any sort of food issues until the last days. After tracing our intake, we tracked it back to this guy and the most amazing tasting peanut cakes to ever make me ill that I have ever had.
Ketti at the Temple of Heaven…
And one of Noah…
Noah actually engaging in conversation and not listening to music or playing games on his phone. An historic occasion that required photographic evidence. At Wild Goose Pagoda, Xi’an.
Noah and Ketti at the Microsoft office…
I was asked by the leadership team in Shanghai to deliver a presentation about how to work well with Westerners. Of course, I had to wear my new tailored suit, but since this was at the end of the day, my shirt had gotten a bit frumpy. Oh, well. The fish was a present to me and is now hanging in the house. It’s a symbol of unity and fidelity, which was appropriate given my speech and the color red to ward off evil spirits. Ain’t nobody got time for evil spirits.
This is John Huang. He was my main babysitter while in China – showing me the ropes, keeping me away from the noodle counter in the cafeteria and in general a very good new friend.
Doesn’t Ever Leave The Airport. This is what happens after standing in line for as long as we did. I had to prove to Noah that he was still my baby and I could carry him if I wanted to… I do have to say that Delta made things a little better for us. I wrote them a letter with suggestions for improving their customer experience and they gave us a $200 coupon for a later flight. Sweet!
Anytime I give Ketti my phone, I always get it back with at least 5 pictures like this. At least I’m in this one. Usually, it’s a bunch of selfie’s with Ketti making odd faces and flashing a peace sign…