A China Farewell

I had written a long farewell post about leaving China when our internet crashed and I lost the post. *sigh*

I did recreate some of it here with a few favourite photos - most of them in this post not even taken by me! The remainder of our Shanghai adventures are in the post before this one, the photographs posted by my wonderful friend, Jane, who did so much to make this blog the wonderful record that it is.

And so the last post...

First, our wonderful guide and friend, MaRui. It was exciting planning the trip with her and the entire trip went smoothly because of her care and attention to detail. Not only was she with us on each adventure, she would spend time translating documents in our hotel rooms, researching places to go, and facilitating contacts with people and places throughout the country. Saying goodbye to MaRui tomorrow (even if only until next time!) will be the hardest part of leaving China.

Travelling with my extended family has been a gift. My daughters of course, but to have my parents and my sister, brother-in-law and nieces (one who is 6, and one 17) with us for this special 15 days has added a comfort and joy that cannot be replaced.

And my friends - old and new...how much fun to laugh with those we like and respect and enjoy day in and day out. We are so lucky.

We miss all of you at home and look forward to seeing you and filling in more about our adventures.

But China - we love this country and people. We will be back - MaRui is waiting for us!

More Photos of Shanghai

The 3 days in Shanghai passed in a whirlwind and there was not even time to properly blog. Therefore this is mainly a photo journal of our adventures in this most modern of cities. Many of us felt at times that we could have been in any city in the world, and yet every now and then we would stumble into a lovely garden or building and suddenly we were back in China.

Here follows a snapshot of our days...

Our cruise along the river in warm sunshine...

On to the YuYuan gardens for a few moments of peace and to look again the art gallery...

A visit to the Lupu Bridge...climbing up the exterior stairway was exciting! Unfortunately the fog hid some of the view.

Our amazing hotel.
Pizza dinner in the "royal suite!"

Followed by an absolutely amazing show by the Shanghai Acrobats

Dad enjoying a quiet moment.

One of my favourite photos that Damian took.

The view from the hotel...

Last day in Shanghai...saying goodbye to Kim, Damian and Sophie. :(

A quick visit to the Shanghai Aquarium...very cool!

Then heading to the airport ourselves...

Somebody scored a coffee!

Back in Canada...weary but still standing!

The final taxi ride...what a wonderful journey home.

In-Between Post

Our friends who went to Beijing while we were in Hong Kong shared a couple of pics with us and I thought you might all like to see them too - they had snow - I mean SNOW - while there. So for many of us, this will be a different look than we are used to!

(Thanks to Joe Tucci for the photos.)