China: perhaps the second time's a charm?

oh China.  It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  I tried. I really did (ok, maybe I didnt).  China was a whirlwind week of the spectacular and the... not so spectacular. 

First off, the ferry from Osaka to Shang-hai.  If you ever have the opportunity to do this, DO IT.  it was great! But get a private room, its worth it.  We shared ours with a father/son pair from nowhere else but New York!  Small world!!  These guys, along with an eccentric, free-spirited French Canadian woman who is just to die for, made the boat ride go by in a flash!  Tons of great conversations, travel stories, life stories, and more were shared. Inspiring.

Shang-hai: Amazing!  I think I have a tendency to love the French-influenced Asian cities the best.  maybe its the food? the architecture? not sure.  But Shang-hai was great. We missed the 2010 World Expo by days, which was fine because we reaped all the benefits (cleaned up city! crazy blue gumby icon guy!  lots of really neat buildings to stare at!) without all the crowds.  We loved the futuristic bridge we had to cross to get from the hostel to the main subway.  I loved all the architecture! You would see an old-world colonial building right next to a space-age glass skyscraper.  it was fantastic.  Shang-hai mostly consisted of 2 days of walking and gawking, getting lost in an underground mall for ages, trying to see Alice in Wonderland in 3-D (at last!) but failing due to... AVATAR!! (ARRGHHH!!), the Shang-hai museum, and bakeries.

On to Beijing.  Which I really wont say much about, except...  the Great Wall of China was awesome.  Totally not what I expected, but in a good way.  zip-lining off the wall was an unforgettable experience.  and we found a great Vietnamese coffee shop near our (under construction!) hostel with one of the best cups of coffee I have ever had in my life (right up there with the kopi luwak).  And the Forbidden City was pretty cool.  And there were lots of funny warning signs/symbols.  There, that was pretty positive, wasnt it?

Last Stop: Hong Kong.