Today started with a bus ride from Hangzhou to Shanghai. We passed through the city, the countryside, and then Shanghai, Shanghai, Shanghai. It’s a really, really big city. We stepped off the bus and everyone looked upward. We were at the Jing Mao Tower of 88 floors. Every building in our sight was an upward stare, beautiful architecture, very modern, very different, and quite a something to see. We headed toward the elevator, which made its climb at an incredible speed to get us to the 88th observation floor in seconds. We were able to see the city from a bird’s eye view. The weather was overcast, but on a “clear day” Barbara Striestand would have been belting out her famous song! We walked around the observation floor for quite some time before returning to the bus.
We headed for the Shanghai Tech Museum seeing fantastic buildings all around us. We had lunch in the food court and then set off to explore. The museum had eleven huge exhibits. We walked in a rainforest, spent time in a spider’s habitat, went to a butterfly world, observed land animals from elephants to warthogs, and went to a robot exhibit. There was a robot, which was able to take a rubrix cube (given to it by one of the students) and “fix” it. There was a robot that could pick out the right color purse on a conveyer belt from speech recognition: English or Chinese. There was another robot that could play a good game of Go. The experience was educational and fun.
By 5:00 we were on our way to dinner, our last dinner together. Two tables were set up, again with a lazy Susan. We had curried chicken and potatoes, broth and seaweed, a chicken dish, a beef dish, rice, vegetables, a couple of egg dishes, tea, and a lot of lively conversation. Knock, knock jokes and detective riddles prevailed. After a short drive, we were at our hotel shuffling our bags and getting our keys. We are in the Jingan area.
The children are now all tucked in for the night, and we will be waking up at 6:00 am to pack, have breakfast, and take the bus to the airport which may be an hour away. Our flight is United 858. Many of us are looking forward to seeing Hugo and I Bought a Zoo on the flight home. See you Friday morning!
*In 2020, the International School of the Peninsula (ISTP) formally changed its name to Silicon Valley International School (INTL) to better reflect its bilingual programs, location, and international values.
