Final Days

I can't believe how quickly the last few weeks in China have just flown by. Matt completed his last day of internship about the middle of December which also coinciding with Justus's visit to Shanghai and then Hong Kong. With only a few whole days in Shanghai and lots of clothes tailoring and food eating to be done, Justus and I wasted little time zooming around on the buses, subways and taxis to many of the well known places in Shanghai. To get a real taste of China, we boarded a train from Shanghai's south railway station for a 20 hour journey to Shenzhen, the special economic zone on the border of Hong Kong. Arriving by 6 am the next morning, we passed through customs and immigration and jumped the HK railray to Tai Wo, in Tai Po where my mom's family live. By mid week, we went into the HK island and visited the HK art gallery, toured Lantau island and the big sitting buddha, Stanley beach, Cheng Chao island, and had many excellent meals with family. We returned to Shanghai on Christmas day and with only three days left, Matt and I filled our time packing, visiting the aquarium, last minute shopping, and having an amazing Sichuan dinner that included Bian lian, the face changing opera. The morning of our departure was cold, overcast, and rainy. And although it hasn't rained for at least a couple months, I was sad to leave on such a dreary looking day. We enjoyed our time in Shanghai and learned so many things about the people and culture of the city. While I'm not so keen on jumping right back into school, I am so happy to be back in Austin. I've really learned to appreciate the little things that I didn't realize I took for granted like cleaner air, clean water, and less noise. I will miss the cheap produce, fresh noodles and dumplings, and the easy to use public transportation. I definitely would like to return to China and Shanghai one day. I'm sure with all the new construction, it will be a different city every time we visit.

View last days pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=adrienne.kam&target=ALBUM&id=5285526469958920321&authkey=ZJx83FlcX0M&feat=email