Our last days in Shanghai

We somehow made it out of Shanghai without a major car accident, just one clipped mirror, and dozens of near misses. On our last day I was crossing a one way street and as it was clear of oncoming traffic I stepped out into the street only to be nearly creamed by a big motorbike coming from the other direction. Apparently, only cars need to heed the one way direction. Bikes, motorcycles, scooters and electric bikes can basically do whatever the hell they want to do. And pedestrians beware, you have absolutely no right of way, anywhere. The government actually said so. So, we are feeling fortunate to be leaving Shanghai with all limbs intact.

I made a few last trips to the markets, some successful and some not so successful. After seeing Justin's beautiful clothes I decided to go have a few things made myself. I went back to Justin's tailor and in retrospect I should have found a ladies tailor. My clothes did not turn out quite as nicely as Justin's. I also went to the pearl market, wear you can buy pearls amongst zillions of other things. I'm not particularly crazy about pearls, but since Elle's birthday is coming up and her birthstone is pearl, I decided to have a look. I had heard that pearls are very inexpensive in China as they are cultivated here, but I still was not prepared for the incredibly low prices for genuine pearls. Needless to say, I walked away with a few things. There are millions of pearls in the market, all colors, shapes and qualities. You can buy pearls loose, already made into jewelry, or design your own pieces and they will make it right there while you wait. I was in a pearl frenzy after awhile. Alas, I had to leave to get home to Liam (and daddy!)

Our last evening we had dinner with Mark and Laurie and Stella at a delicious neighborhood Chinese restaurant. I am going to miss authentic Chinese food. Interestingly noted, Mark told us that there are no fortune cookies to be found anywhere China. They are purely an American-Chinese invention.

Mark very sweetly arranged for his driver and car to take us to the airport, and Mark came over to see us off. We headed out of the city, crossed the bridge into Pudong, and drove past all the beautiful Expo buildings. After we had been driving for about 45 minutes, I had an epiphany... we were driving to the wrong airport! Hong Qiao Airport, where we flew in, was in the complete other direction and was only about 15 minutes from our condo. After much wild gesturing and various ways of saying "Mark" that we thought sounded Chinese, we finally got the driver to call Mark. He assured us that we were fine. Hong Qiao was a domestic airport, all international flights were out of Pudong. Still, I was insistent, I has written down Hong Qiao. After much discussion and temperatures beginning to rise in the car, Mark called the airline directly. I was correct. Hong Qiao had just this month begun to fly international flights because of the Expo. We turned around immediately, but it appeared we would be too late to make our flight. Mark called the airport and they said the check- in closed promptly one hour before departure. We told our driver, faster please! (we somehow got the one slow and cautious driver in all of China that morning) Incredibly, we made it to the aiport with just 5 minutes to spare. I hopped out to run and check us in and as I did, I ran smack into Mark! He came all the way to the airport to try and make things smoother for us. What a guy! In the end, we made our flight and even had a few minutes to spend our last Yuan.

We will miss all our friends in Shanghai, it was so much fun to re-connect, and knowing someone who lives in a city you are visiting always enriches the experiene. We are grateful to them in so many ways. And we will miss Shanghai itself, what a cool city!

Our flight to Tokyo was uneventful and again the kids were angels. One more flight to go...

The difference between the Japanese and the Chinese was evident even on the airplane. The Japanese are much more formal, quieter, more observant of rules, a little more hygenic...

Driving into Tokyo I was having deja vu. And I can not believe it's been 21 years since I've been here. The bit of Japanese that I learned is coming back to me quickly though and I feel much better equipped to move around this country than I did in China. Japan feels very different than China. It's cleaner, more organized, more civil, and more stiff but in a kind way. We've already experience Japanese kindliness by many strangers.

Our place is small, but exceedingly clean and well laid out. We are in Nakano, on the fringe of the craziness. We are the only gaijin I've seen so far in this neighborhood, but I love that. It feels like the real Tokyo. We had an excellent dinner last night and Elle entertained the locals with a bit of Japanese. It's cold and rainy, but otherwise, all is well.