Westover Family's Chinese Adventure: Shanghai

Yesterday the whole family went to Shanghai. Hopefully it was the first of many travels through China. We had an early train and the whole family was up at 6 to leave at 7 for our 8:19 train. We has our tickets purchased online but had to show them our passports to pick them up. So when we got to the train station we saw two huge lines at the ticket window. We jumped in line and I quickly looked at my phone to see how we were doing with time. We had gotten to the train station plenty early so I wasn't too worried. The line actually moved very quickly. Their system is built to get a lot of Chinese people through the line very quickly. It was working and within a few minutes we were at the window. That's when the speed and efficiency we previously experienced came to a grinding halt. Their system is not built for a family of 8 with foreign passports. The guy behind the counter knew what to do, but it just took a lot of time. He had to pull up our reservation numbers (four of them, two for adults and two for kids each way) and then match the passports to the reservation numbers and then enter the passport numbers into systems and then print the tickets. We waited in the line for about 5-10 minutes to get to the front of the line and then it took about 10-15 minutes to process the entire ticket order. I always hate when I pick the wrong line and there is someone up there slowing the whole line down. Now I was that guy!!!. There were multiple people coming up and asking if they could get their tickets because their trains were about the leave. However, because the agent was in the middle of our transaction he couldn't help them and so he would just point them over to the next line. They would then jump to front of that line and slow it down a bit. So not only did I bring one line to a standstill, I also slowed the other line down as well. After all the reservations were entered he printed off all the tickets and happily handed them to us. He was not phased at all by the line or the customers. He was there to print tickets and he would do that all day until he was off and then go home. He was not there to do anything else but print tickets. He didn't let anything around him upset or bother him.

We got our tickets went upstairs to the security and waiting area, grabbed a quick KFC breakfast to eat on the train then got on the train. We made it without rushing too much. Hopefully others made their trains as well. The train is a fast train from Nanjing to Shanghai. With no stops it takes about an hour. We had 4-5 stops so it took almost two hours. The train travels at about 185 MPH at it's top speed. It is really convenient to take the train. It is a four hour drive in a car, so the train is much nicer. When we arrived in Shanghai there is a subway station right at the train station so we jumped on the metro and 5 stops and one transfer later we got off in Lujiazui. Lujiazui is in the heart of Pudong (east of Huangpu river). When I first started travelling to Shanghai our office was in the Aurora building in Lujiazui. In the past few years so much has changed. Buildings that were just foundations are now complete and buildings that were just a dirt lot are not almost done. It is great to see all the new buildings. That area of Shanghai is the financial center of Shangai.
First thing on the agenda was lunch after we arrived. I originally planned to take the family to Blue Frog. It was a pretty popular place with Westerners and the kids look forward to some good Western food on the weekends. Blug Frog however was gone, so next choice was Elements Fresh. For those of you from Utah Elements Fresh is similar to Blue Lemon. We went to the Super Brand Mall to eat but quickly discovered that Elements Fresh was closed for a remodel. In the end I am really glad that neither of those places worked out because we ended up at Din Tai Fung dumplings. They are some of the best dumplings in the world. Their Xiaolongbao dumplings are so delicious. The dumpling has a small amount of broth in it. You poke a hole in the dumpling, drink the broth and then eat the dumpling. It is so good. The kids were really disappointed they weren't getting Western food until they ate their Xiaolongbao. Then they were hooked. I ordered a sampling of many different types of dumplings and almost every dumpling was eaten. It was such a good meal. We also had our own private room overlooking the Huangpu river. It was a great lunch. To all my former Shanghai colleagues reading this the dumplings still taste as good as ever.

After lunch we made our way over to the Pearl TV Tower. I have admired the tower many times but never made the trip to the top. The start of the tour felt like hurry up and wait. You buy your tickets and then you wait to go through security. Then after security you wait to get in the elevator. Then as you go up you wait to get in the next elevator. After 2-3 elevator rides we were at the very top viewing area. At the top viewing area you are 1148 ft up in the air. It's a pretty awesome view of Shanghai. I think the best area is the second level. It is 863 above the ground. The best part about it is that part of the floor is clear plexi-glass. So you are looking straight down to the ground. I was freaked out. All of the kids were running and jumping on the glass. I could barely get one foot out there. Even Marissa was walking around on it, and she is nervous about everything. I started walking out and my goal was to grab the handrail about six feet away. I took two steps, baby steps, and just froze. This 9-10 year old chinese boy saw me. He was standing next to the hand rail I was trying to get to. He reached out his hand for me to grab. He has this sweet look like, Don't worry. I'll help you. I grabbed his hand and slowly took the steps to reach the handrail. I made it!! Even if it took the help of a young Chinese boy I still made it. Looking down was an amazing view. It was so cool. We took quite a few pictures. Alauna was also pretty nervous but she did really well. I'm not sure why I was so scared to walk out on the glass. By the end, I was able to walk around to the exit on the glass. I am still a little freaked out now thinking about it.

There are a lot of tourist attractions in that area of Shanghai, but I think one of the most photographed attractions of the day was the Westover Family, especially Declan. We would just be walking along and people would take our picture. Some would do it secretly, and some would come right out put their camera two feet in front of my kids faces and snap a picture. I couple of times I returned the favor and stuck my camera in their face and took a picture. My favorite was when the parents would have their kids pose with our kids. If we were stopped people would grab their kids and walk them over and have them stand next to one of the boys and start snapping away. The best one was a set of parents that grabbed their son and had him stand by Trevon. They snapped a picture and then told them to shake hands. It was like a international symbol of peace. It was funny and cute. The kids were all good sports about it. Towards the end of the day Declan was doing a super big cheesy smile when people would take his picture. I think when we go back to the US he will be disappointed when people stop taking his picture.

We finished off the day at the Shangrila Cafe Yi dinner buffet. It was so good. It has to be one of the best buffets in the world. They have an amazing assortment of food. Typically with buffets you get great assortment of food but the quality is not always great. At this buffet the food is all top quality. I filled up with Indian, Mexican, Italian, Sushi, Pizza, Fruit, and some amazing desserts. They made fresh Nan bread there on and the kids loved watching them make it in the big clay oven. I love the kids getting exposed to different kinds of foods and cultures. Mikayla has learned to love Indian food minus the spice. I think everyone loved the crepes. They made them fresh for you and they were so good. They had every kind of dessert imaginable. Their mango ice cream was so flavorful. I loved the mango ice cream. Declan loved the marshmallows and the chocolate fountain. At the end of dinner they give you a small box (Tiana was disappointed by the size) that you can fill with gummy candies. The kids loved that. The buffet is amazing. If there are not already reasons enough to come to China, like visiting us isn't reason enough, then going to the Shangrila buffet might be reason enough.

We had a great day as a family. We laughed, we cried, we ate, we drank lots of bottled water, we then found the bathroom and most of all we had a great time as a family. Which is the most important thing anyway.