Shanghai At Last

Well I officially can't read a scrap of Chinese, and it seems that all the words on the computers, all the folders, all the buttons (everything) is written in chinese... meaning if I go to this webpage... one that I created in english... I cannot read anything other than the words I wrote... so understandibly, last time I was trying to publish something I wrote, I deleted a few entries thinking the delete button was the publish button. yikes. Wont make that mistake again.

Unable to recover the lost post I am going to try and recreate it:

The start of our trip began with the most plesant 14 hour plane flight you could ever ask for... I mean we literally had seats that automatically reclined into beds! Thank you so much Mr. and Mrs. Checchi. We were pampered in first class, given an arsenal of food, drinks, snacks, etc. and plenty of movies (Robots and Million Dollar baby were the two we settled on). With a short layover in Tokoyo and another 4 hours to Shanghai our first leg of travel was completed with ease.

At first glance Shanghai is an impressive city with skyscrapers littering the skyline like densely packed porcupine quills. Kate describes it as a fusion of New York and Paris dropped conveniently in the middle of China, giving it an oriental twist. There is more shopping in Shanghai that I've seen in LA and SF combined, and they have it all. If you can't find a particular brand, style, or item in Shanghai you didn't look hard enough, or it doesn't exist. In relation to the rest of China, Shanghai boasts the highest per capita income at just around the equivalent of $1,500 USD / year, and although a seemingly low amount, their comparative wealth shows in their buildings, architecturel, and parks, and permiates into other aspects of their lives (or at least the tourist areas).

We took a cab straght to our place, the YMCA hotel, and yes it is fun to stay at the YMCA. and slept the night away.