Started the morning out with a group breakfast at the hotel. At the buffet were a variety of pastry-type items, fried rice, sausages, and ... chicken feet. I had to try the chicken feet, because how often do you get to say that you had them for breakfast? Before we left on our tour bus, our Chinese leader, Jenny, had me leave the baby blankets Bess made at the hotel desk for Lady Gao to pick up. Bess (and sisters from church) made baby blankets that are being donated to an orphanage here in Shanghai. All of the people in our group, when they hear what the box I was toting around the airport was for, thought that it was something special. One of the adult ladies, when hearing that Bess made them exclaimed "Wow, that woman is a saint!" I also think that she is pretty special, and feel terrible to leave her alone with the children for two weeks, so please give her a call later today (or sometime soon) and often.
Our tour today was at a city about an hour and a half outside of Shanghai called Zhouzhuang. It made me think of what Venice would be like with canals and bridges. It would have been a nice tour, except the heat and humidity made it very uncomfortable. Oh well, a few pictures are below. As part of the pre-Olympic warm up, team USA basketball is taking on Australia here in Shanghai tonight. A large number of our group are going, but at $130.00 (US) a pop, I have elected to spend my time (and money) elsewhere. We are taking a train across the Chinese countryside to Beijing tomorrow.
3 comments:
You're tour guide must be good-looking, smart, and witty with a great name like that! :)
So how did the chicken feet taste? I would want to try the local foods........but there is a limit! Sounds like a fun start to the Olympic experience!
Ha ha. The chicken feet were surprisingly spicy ... my mouth was burning for a while afterwards!
i hope i NEVER get to say i had chicken feet for breakfast! even if i had the chance, i don't think i would take it. just spicy? nothing different about the texture? no crusty, pointy, or leather-y feel to it?
anyway, great pictures. cool canals! i remember the chinese country side being unbelievably green and lush. a big difference from the dry, dusty cities. i also remember riding coach in the train which meant we didn't actually get a seat and people had their animals right there with them! hopefully yours was better.
it looks like a ton of fun already.
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