Last night we had dinner at M on the Bund. Excellent food and a panoramic view. Unfortunately, it has been very hazy in Shanghai, so it is difficult to see very far. Afterwards, about half of the group elected to wander around the Bund on their own. We were tired so took the bus back to the hotel.
Today we went to Fuxin Park and then did some shopping. DS found Nirvana - a place that sells Nintendo DS and Gameboy games. Very cheap compared to home. My main question was - will they work? Out of 4 games purchased, two work well and are in Engligh.
The other two are in some form of Spanish/English with Chinese grammar.
Well, ds is still very happy and doesn't really care.
It was very hot here and it did rain lightly today. DS complained of a sore throat and I had difficulty breathing at one point. There is lots of public smoking here. The air in Shanghai is significantly better INSIDE than out. Tomorrow, we will pre-medicate with Claritin.
We had a spectacular lunch at the Grand Hyatt. This afternoon we had off. Fred tried to take us to have laundry done, but even the local laundry was expensive, so many of us just carried the laundry back to the hotel. This is the first hotel that I have looked at the laundry prices. Laundry was not available in Guilin, but it was at the Peninsula. Here, at the Hilton, a pair of shorts is about $5 and a t-shirt is $6. Since most of my laundry is my children's clothes, I could almost buy new for that price. I did some laundry in the sink. We shall see if it dries.
The Hilton has a nice breakfast buffet, but it is a much busier hotel than the Peninsula. It does have a nice pool which I had to drag dd out of after more than an hour. There is a bakery in the lobby which looks great. We may try that after dinner. We ordered room service from a very extensive menu. The prices are not too bad for hotel room service - $14 for spaghetti, $7 for French Onion soup. After my long hot trip carrying many pounds of laundry, I am taking this option rather than trying one of the many restaurants nearby.
I have not been spending much money, so haven't had to hit the ATM frequently. There is a handy ATM on B2 of the Peninsula hotel and another one in the lobby of the Shanghai Hilton. No ATM in Guilin.
So far, both of our inter-China flights have been on China Southern Airlines. Yesterday, the plane pulled away from the gate when there were still about 10-15 people in the aisle getting to their seats.
Luckily, they got seated before we started moving too quickly. We've had the same movie on both flights. It's a really bizarre movie too. Also both 2 hour flights had full meal service.
ABD also gave us box lunches to carry on the flights. We really haven't suffered from a lack of food on this trip! The hotels provide bottled water in the rooms. The guides also hand out water on the buses. You can't even brush your teeth with the local water.
Tomorrow we are going to the Science and Technology museum. It's supposed to be the largest one in Asia.
The electricity is not "good" here. When my laptop is plugged in (using a transformer), the screen dims and brightens in a 5 second cycle.
. Note to self: disconnect the cell phone battery before going to bed. 
If I told you everything, you wouldn't need to come on the trip, now would you? I need to leave some Disney magic. 
