Barbara came to visit us for the Chinese New Year holiday and arrived into Shanghai on Chinese New Year's eve. She saw spectacular fireworks as she was landing into Pudong Airport from Tokyo. We got to see fireworks as well as we were driving to pick her up. I must say, the noise level in our new neighborhood isn't as intense as it was last year when we were right smack in the middle of downtown. The fact that we were able to sleep is a good thing. Last year, it lasted 10 straight days from morning to dawn. We were pretty happy about that.Since Barbara was here last year, there wasn't a need to go sight seeing. We did go shopping and got some pretty good bargains. I even had a chance to take Barbara to a place called Leather City about 1.5 hours away from Shanghai. To say this place was large, is putting it mildly. It was HUGE. Three city blocks wide and about 6 city blocks long. We walked in and we were overwhelmed. I had a goal to find a bag that I had seen someone with. We did the search by looking into some shops and finally found it. Some negotiating and we walked out with the bags and that was it for us. We lasted a total of 1.5 hours. Mr. Miao thought we overpaid for the bags but...I didn't care anymore. I needed to get out. I'm not the professional shopper that I once was. I do not have the patience anymore to wander around looking at things.
We made the mistake of going to Yu Yuan yesterday in search for the last of the souvenirs she wanted. It was absolutely packed. At one point, while trying to get to Starbucks, we had to cross the yard by where the Nine Turning Bridges is located. We didn't have to walk. You were carried by the crowd. It was pretty intense. Again, a testament to the population here in China.
