One of my favorite pilots and good friend from my former airline, Gary, stopped by for hugs and hellos before we boarded for our flight.
In addition to the Arrival card we had to fill out for Immigration into China, we also had to fill out the "Health Declaration" card, which is part of the Chinese response to the
aporkalypse. I like this question: "Have you had close contact with pig within the past 1 week?"
(Oh, the jokes I could insert here...!)
On arrival into Shanghai, these guys (or gals, who could tell?) came onboard the aircraft with a thermometer. (Well, I
think it was a thermometer!) They pointed the gun thingee at your forehead and it displayed a series of four dots on your skin. Lasting a mere 2 seconds for each person, they cleared our airplane quite quickly.
We found our driver relatively quickly and headed to our
apartment near downtown. Two bedrooms, two bath, with a cooked-to-order breakfast buffet and Internet for about $65 a night each. Not bad--huh?
We actually had the three bedroom apartment--where the smaller bedroom was made into a computer room. Some websites were blocked, apparently by the government. I was unable to access my blog to post anything--I sent my sister an e-mail so she could post the last post for me. Yeah, I know, I am probably a threat to the Chinese government...
(rolleyes!)
The other dissident website I was unable to access there was Verizon Wireless. Go figure!
There were street vendors everywhere--many of them selling fresh fruit. This man had fresh cherries and these delicious, juicy, sweet, tart, strawberry tasting things:
We shopped a lot at the Pearl Market, and met Laura, who has a shop there. Laura makes some beautiful pieces, and welcomes airline crews in her shop. She even has an airplane picture hanging up in her shop! We were there two days in a row and the place was packed with Flight Attendants and Pilots buying, designing and just catching up with their friends in her shop.
