I slept good in my own bed but had an early call for a tour in Shanghai. As some of you know I have been here before so my tour of choice this time was the new. Shanghai has changed just in two years. More slums have been cleared and new buildings are everywhere. They also are hosting the 2010 World Exposition starting in May. New tunnels under the river are replacing bridges which prevent the larger cruise ships from entering the main port. The Amsterdam is small enough that we were at the cruise terminal and had a fantastic view of the new city across from the bund.

Took a ride on the Maglev (magnetic levitation) Train and got up to a speed of 43l KPH. This photo of Tom (one of our leaders) was taken in the train) and the blue fellow is the logo for the 2010 World Expo and he is everywhere. We then got on an elevator that went over 200KPH up to the top of the 6th tallest building in the world. The observation deck was enclosed in glass and I had no problem with my phobia but I could not look down to the 55th floor (lobby of the Hilton Hotel). Our guide took this photo so I could see what it looked like. Shanghai is becoming a beautiful city with a fantastic skyline.

That night, of course, the boys had a cake baked and sang their Indonesian version of Happy Birthday. Not everyone gets a special cake but I did. I finally talked Dowd into taking the leftover cake to his mess to share with his friends. There was another birthday celebration a few tables away and it turns out Peter (the significant other of my friend Carol) was also born on April lst.

Shanghai is now the 2nd largest city in China but ahead of Beijing which is 3rd. I don’t remember the city which is larger as I had not heard of it. Apparently it is an industrial and manufacturing city with unlimited space so it has taken off and become the number one largest in size and population.