We spent the first of the week long Chinese holiday with our tall, brisk walking, text messaging German friend Ralf. The team was a bit bleary-eyed after a night in the French Concession that ended with most of us dancing on the table until 3 a.m. The day started off in relative serenity at the Shanghai Municipal City Urban Planning Center (highlight: seeing a small scale model of the city shows how massive it really is) followed by a peaceful stroll through the People's Square to the Shanghai Art Museum and a relaxing lunch on the patio of a Moroccan restaurant. Little did we know what the afternoon had in store. Chaos!
Ralf suggested we meet on the zig zag bridge at YuYuan Garden for good luck, an idea shared by 1.7 million of our closest friends. And we mean close. We Westerners were unprepared for the May Day crowd and can now clearly understand the basis of the 'one child policy'.
We went to the other touristy spot -- The Bund -- and saw 1.3 million of our other closest friends. People followed us, trying to sneak a photo, 'hello, hello, hello'. Turbo Ralf took us to Nanjing Road to see the pretty lights and dine at his favorite Hong Kongian restaurant.
Other noteworthy highlights:
-Kecia being handed two babies for a photo op with a foreigner.
-Ryan being attacked by the shoe shine guy.
-Nothing exciting happened to Megan, I mean Melanie, I mean Megan. Actually, there was something memorable: the taxi drive home that was like being in a video game, getting lost, swearving, ducking below the seat to avoid the 'view'.
-Amy noticing the Pearl again and again and it keeps getting better.
-Patricia being put through the ringer of humanity. She's learning how to become pushy!
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