Shanghai Journal Day1

We arrived in Shanghai to a wall of heat and a smell of something like musty, slightly composted vegetables (hmm with a hint of manure) quite interesting (I like it anyway). It takes about sixty seconds for your clothes to stick to you. The bus ride in from the Pudong Airport (which is enormous) was trippy and once you hit Shanghai and cross the bridge all you can see are cranes for loading ships - they look like enormous crabs all along the river on both sides. The roads are nuts - horns mandatory - buses, bicycles, mopeds, and cars all sharing space.

First meal was in a restaurant not unlike a Calgary Chinese food place. Big round tables with lazy susan in the centre. Jasmine tea, salty peanuts, small salad (or condiment) of soy bean, chopped leafy greans and a little bit of pickle- very tasty. The tofu dishes are my favourites - creamy textured soft tofu with chillies and garlic. Greens, looked like the greens from springs onions, but not oniony. Taro root in a big soft cake broiled with panko flakes (a little heavy and stodgy), beef with sugar snap peas (yum) and chilies, shrimp in thick translucent sauce with, hmmm, melon(?), lemon chicken, barbecued squid with oyster sauce, two noodle dishes, followed by sliced melon for dessert. I'll need to learn about Chinese veggies and spices. On the whole not a departure from what we get at home and all good...

This morning the breakfast buffet was a mix of Western and Chinese food - The smoked trout was great, loads of dumplings with different fillings, congee, cereals, bacon, sausage, pancakes, mutton stew {huh?}, smoked salmon, toast, fruit etc. you get the idea. Nothing seemed to strange, though a woman at our table this morning, trying something new, made a strange noise then spat something out promptly followed by a rinse of orange juice.

We wandered the streets, drank two litres of water before a lunch of noodles and fried pea sprouts served with a broth- delicious. The subway is the best way to get around - fast, cheap and air conditioned. It's going to be short days outside - the crowds aren't so bad, but the heat and humidity is exhausting.