Looking up to see Fahua Pagoda in the historical city of Jiading.
Originally constructed during the reign of Emperor Kaixi (1205-1207) during the Song Dynasty. Seven Stories tall it has wooden stairs to the top which gives a birds-eye view of the city.
At night the lights make it even more special.
No desert to be found anywhere near here as we are smack dab in the middle of a very large city. In other words – We made it to Shanghai! Despite a setback on our original travel day we did finally arrive, without further incident, on the next flight to China. Shanghai, being on the southeastern coast of China, is hot and sticky but we are having a good time.
My son, Joshua, who lives here, met us at the airport and got us to our respective accommodations before we crashed for the evening. After all, jet lag does take a toll. For this trip we are staying north of Shanghai in the Jiading district. It’s kind of like a suburb of Shanghai. My teenage boys – Patrick and Ben are staying at the apartment with Joshua and his Japanese wife, Ema, while my mom (Granny) and I are tucked away in a quaint little hotel in a historic part of the city. We have been keeping it low key since we arrived – soaking up the local culture and becoming familiar with our surroundings. It’s been lovely.
Scooters are a way of life and it is amazing how creative people can get with transporting things and extra people.
These children were so cute – following me and practicing their English “hellos”. I couldn’t resist taking their picture and they couldn’t resist hamming it up.
McDonalds
The sun is rising while I sit, looking out my hotel window, with a view of San Francisco Bay, watching as planes land and take-off. It’s peaceful and I am relaxed and rested after a good night’s sleep. A far cry from the forbidden stress of a crazy travel day yesterday.
Ever heard that saying, “red in the morning, sailors take warning. Red at night, sailors delight.” For us yesterday it was fitting except I would change ‘sailors’ to ‘travelers’. When we left the house promptly at 6:00 am I commented on how intensely red the sky was and hoped it wasn’t a sign of the day to come.
It was.
Long story short – for the first leg of our travel we took two separate flights from Dallas to San Francisco. Don’t ask – it’s just the way it was. For me and my sixteen year old, Patrick, it was a breeze. For my mom, aka Granny, and my fourteen year old, Ben, it wasn’t. While our flights were only 30 minutes apart for a variety of reasons we left right on time but they left 2 hours late.
In the end, Patrick got to have a little adventure – taking an international flight all on his own while navigating security on this end and customs and immigration in China. I can’t wait to hear the details when we finally catch up.
I stayed behind for Granny and Ben and the adrenaline flowed as we attempted to get them off quickly, claim their bags, run from the domestic terminal to the international and get bags rechecked for our next flight.
No such luck and we had to rebook to try again today.
While the day brought it’s fair share of stress we encountered a multitude of angels. San Francisco peeps rock and we have met several wonderful people who did what they could to help us. It made the stress of the situation a little more bearable.
Today is a new day and it will be a good one. And, hopefully the next time I write it will be from our final destination in China!
安全旅行 和这一伟大的日子 safe travels and make it a great day in Mandarin (I think.) 🙂
Traveling is a favorite pastime and the beach always makes for a fun trip.
This summer I’ll be flying over the waves and not actually playing in them so, I will make my own water adventures in our swimming pool.
My Crazy Graced Life 