Back in Shanghai

Back in Shanghai after our out-of-town Shanghai Vacations excursion, but not without visiting the Fabric Market. There were stalls selling everything from watches to silk dresses to bags. Of the three, guess which ones are genuine. In between our Shanghai Tours trip to Zhou Zhuang and our shopping spree, we were happy to just be around for Gabriel's graduation and confirmation. We readily assumed our roles as unofficial photographers and cheerfully snapped away. We were all so proud of Gabriel. I think I should start calling him that now..... As a big fan of ice cream, this is really a good way for me to end a great dinner. On our last night travel in Shanghai, we visited the Bund but unfortunately, the promenade was closed to the public. Most china travel tourists crowded this bridge where one can take photos of the skyline across the river . Those neon-lighted buildings are the same buildings we passed in the Pudong area, and look so awesome all lighted up at night. From this very short photo op stop by the bridge, we proceeded to the People's Square. As we strolled around, we found another outlet of Olympic souvenirs (2008) and bought a few as souvenirs. Mon got this commemorative coin , along with some Olympic shirts. Not to forget, we earlier passed by Carrefour to shop for some Chinese delicacies like dried and preserved fruits to take home. You can imagine the range of preserved fruits here. Trust the Chinese not to leave anything to waste! We spent the remainder of our last night packing our bags. Each one of us has a new suitcase to take home, all filled with silk scarves, silk shirts , Beijing olympic souvenir items and foodstuff. We all woke up early for our farewell breakfast together. Mon and May have mid-morning flights back to San Francisco, while I am traveling with the Guerrero family back to Manila in the afternoon. As planned, we took the Mag Lev to the airport in Pudong. We struggled with our roller bags and suitcases up the escalators, through the gates, into the train, out of the train, all the way in front of the check-in counter. But no one is complaining. It felt almost sad to break up, having enjoyed nearly 2 weeks of traveling around Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai, and then meeting up and leaving our good friends who served as our hosts here in Shanghai. But I am confident we will be doing this a lot more times, perhaps a lot more often. We'll see.