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Thanks to Sean for blogging about Yahoo! Toolbar as the cool thing of the day! I appreciate how we might make IE6 just bearable for you, as I know it wasn't easy for you to even think about not using Firefox. How about some thoughts about Yahoo! Toolbar for Firefox?
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More photos from Shanghai - set 4 of 5.
Over the next couple days we were in the flow of being in Shanghai. Places began to feel familiar, and I had some bearings on where things were.
One night after dinner, we met up with Amy and her family and friends and took a private chartered cruise along the Yangtze at night. The views of both Pudong and Pushi were light fantastic, but photos didn't turn out well from the moving boat.
The next day we went to check out Shin Tien Di - "New Heaven and Earth". They've done an amazing job renovating old European buildings and alleys into a posh cafe and night club scene. It's a little like Old Town Pasadena but without any streets for cars. As you might guess, this area is mostly frequented by tourists and foreign residents. Looks like a hip place for scandal.
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It was a beautiful Saturday, and we took a drive to Berkeley so I could say good-bye to Cody's Books which is closing its doors on July 10. And the last book I'll ever buy there? ... Zorro, by Isabel Allende, one of my favorite authors because of The House of Spirits.
We also strolled down my memory lane to have cheesesteaks at IB's Hoagies. I forgot they didn't have any place to sit with strollers, so we carried our lunch over to Sproul Plaza.
Lastly we stopped by Cafe Intermezzo where I persuaded them to sell me a loaf of their delicious multi-grain bread. I had to tell them I came all the way from San Jose before they would part with what they called "contraband". And it's exactly as you Cal alumni remember it if you cut the slices thick.
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Cindy took Jaden to school today -- actually more like day care -- at St. Elizabeth's Day Home. While all the other kids sat down to lunch, Jaden ran around by himself and didn't eat. A smart little two year old girl observed that, "Maybe he doesn't want any lunch?"
Hopefully Jaden will take to this new routine and his new classmates. We actually tried last August in the one-year old class, but he got really sick after just two days, and I didn't see any of the kids interacting with one another except for biting.
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Even more Shanghai photos - set 3 of 5.
Over the next four days, we went to a really big restaurant, the Bund, Shang-Yang market, the Shanghai Sea Aquarium and generally hung out and ate a lot.
Really big restaurant doesn't begin to describe Lu Far in Pudong. Operationally, it reminded me of a cruise ship. With hundreds of tables on the main floor, there are numerous stations for the wait staff as well as a giant bar just for them to pick up drinks. There's also over a hundred private rooms, and in the corridors another giant bar so that those waiters don't have to walk to the other giant bar. The food was good, but not as impressive as the operations. They don't have menus either. Instead, all the ingredients for the dishes are laid out and someone follows you and takes your order as you point at what you want. And if you want seafood, they have a large room full of tanks for you to pick out your dinner. Fish aren't friends here, they're food! (Seen Nemo?)
New Heights at the top of three on the Bund was absolutely delicious. (Please thank your parents for the recommendation Pete!) Chinese-European fusion, and expensive compared to everywhere else we'd been (about $60 US dollars for Cindy and me). But it would have been more than that for a similar quality meal in the Bay Area. The view was also spectacular even though it was overcast the day we went.
We didn't take any pictures at Shang-Yang market. Imagine a bunch of stalls tightly packed together, and then thousands of people trying to squeeze through while yelling prices and profanities at each other. It's actually not much different than most other flea market type places in Asia, except that this one specialized in counterfeit clothing, handbags, watches, accessories, DVDs, etc. However, it's perhaps the last of its kind in terms of scale. At the end of June, the entire market will be shut down to make way for something newer and fancier and more legitimate. I think they've finally realized they can make a lot more money legally. Too bad for Korea, where all the better quality goods in Shang-Yang come from.
The aquarium and the area around the tower is a tourist hotspot. We didn't go to any other attractions except for a nice meal in the mall across the circular intersection. The aquarium itself was quite nice and much larger than the one at Monterey Bay. But they didn't have any sunfish. I really hate sunfish, but I can't stop looking at them.
Last comment here is that I ate a lot. Every night someone was treating us to a fabulous dinner featuring something wonderful in China and Shanghai. And in between my mom would cook up the most delicious meals from whatever they brought back fresh from the local daily market. On the flight back, I was six pounds heavier than on the flight to Shanghai.
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For Jaden's 2nd movie ever, we went to see Over the Hedge -- again from the producers of the Ice Age(s) and Madagascar.
Jaden didn't seem to interact as much at Over the Hedge as he did at Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. At least not with the movie, of course he shouted "mommy" and "daddy" out loud when he was bored and wanted our attention. But he was really cute sitting in Mommy's lap eating his popcorn one kernal at a time. Unfortunately, half the bag was consumed before the beginning credits were even finished. Next time I'm going to buy the popcorn after the movie starts.
As for me, Over the Hedge was very entertaining. Top class celebrity voice actors and impressive animation, but the funniest parts are in the details that Jaden wouldn't appreciate -- like the crazy homeowner's association president, the objects within the surroundings and the critters' perspective on humans.
The story is as simple as you'd imagine. Just watch the trailer, as there aren't any plot deviations from the commercials. But at least all the scenes contribute to telling that simple story, as opposed to the random animated insanity that accompanies Manny and friends in Ice Age 2 as they just try to reach the other end of the valley.
Final recommendation: go see Over the Hedge. I still like Madagascar better, but it might be closer if I saw Over the Hedge 90 more times.
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More Shanghai photos - set 2 of 5.
These were all from our first day (Sat). We went to some great touristy spots -- old time canal town out in the burbs and a temple in the heart of the city. The kids didn't do so well in the car, which prompted grandpa to cancel any mini-trip plans we may have tried later in the week. ;-)
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We just got back from Shanghai on Thursday morning. I've got five sets of photos to upload, and here's the first one: Shanghai - Set 1 of 5
Our Internet connection in Shanghai was really slow, and I couldn't access my blog anyways. www.dukeya.com is blocked by the Chinese government!
I'll upload more pictures soon.
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