May, Auntie Momo and the kids arrived in Shanghai after much anticipation on Thursday, August 3rd. We had a wonderful meal that evening to welcome them to Shanghai at Shintori, an upscale Japanese restaurant in the heart of the French Concession area. We walked around the French Concession area that evening and the area reminded me alot of the Soho area in New York that I miss very much.
We started off our marathon sightseeing on Friday with a trip to Jing An Temple and then proceeded to walk about 5 miles on Nanjing Road with the kids in the blazing sun and humidity to the Shanghai Museum. The kids had a great time at the Museum and were fascinated with the ceramics, chops, calligraphy, jade and other artifacts. We then headed downtown to the Xintiandi area and had a wonderful meal at Zen that evening where May's Grandmother was visiting family members in Shanghai as well. We had a mini-reunion with Grandma since we last saw her in the States for Thanksgiving at May's house.
Saturday, we took the kids over to the Pudong side of Shanghai and visited the Shanghai Science Museum. They had a great time there and then we went over to Century Park where the kids were feeding the fish in the lake. We headed over to a Korean Barbeque restaurant for dinner that night and experienced our first charcoal cooked barbeque. We topped the evening off with a visit to Jin Miao Tower to view the skyline of Shanghai and it was really beautiful to see the city all lit up.
Sunday, we met with one of May's friends- Dave who is here on business in Shanghai and he took us over to Yu Yuan and we proceeded to shop (quite a bit) and the kids were getting a bit unruly. We headed over to the Marriott Hongqiao and had a wonderful buffet luncheon and the kids each picked up some animals made from palm leaves. Dave took us over for dinner that night to a Sichuan retaurant (extremely hot!) that had a Chinese Mask Fan Show that was absolutely fascinating! The kids really enjoyed the show. The dancer would dance with fans and then wave the fan over his face and his mask would change. We were pretty up close to him and we still can't figure out how he did it. Though Matthew is really trying to figure out how it's done.
Monday, May and I took the kids for a cruise on the Huangpu River and then headed over to the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall. We headed over to People's Park and had dinner at this fantastic restaurant- South Beauty 881.
Tuesday, May's last day in Shanghai . We headed back to Yu Yuan to shop for last minute gifts for May to bring back. The kids were much better behaved this time and we returned home to help May pack. May and the kids left this evening to return to Hong Kong and Matthew and I are hoping to be able to go to Hong Kong tomorrow evening.
Matthew has a slight problem in getting his residence visa issued. We received a call last week asking for proof that Matthew is our child. Normally, I do have a copy of Matthew's birth certificate with me. However, with the move, everything got put onto the container that was supposed to arrive in Shanghai on August 6th but has been delayed due to the typhoons that are causing problems in the Hong Kong area. We are not sure when the container will arrive and May is the only person who can help me get a copy of his birth certificate and she's been here with me and will not be returing to the States until the end of the month. Therefore, until the container arrives or until May sends a copy of his birth certificate, Matthew's residence visa is on hold. This causes a slight problem if I want to travel with Matthew to Hong Kong since he entered China on a single entry visa. He can leave China but, he can't return. Unless I can take him to Hong Kong and apply for another single entry visa in order to get him back into the country in time to start school. If that's possible, that would be great.
So.....I am supposed to go back to the Residence Visa office tomorrow and "present" myself in order to pick up my passport. I am hoping that my little quick fix solution will work. If my solution is possible, Matthew and I will be running for a plane tomorrow night to Hong Kong. If we can't, Matthew and I will have to remain in China until we can get the residence visa situation resolved.
