Tour of Canal Town of Zhujiajiao and more shopping

Another fabulous breakfast at the Hua Ting Hotel. On the bus ride to Zhujiajiao, several of the musicians were interviewed.

Several told of their worst food experiences in China... David and several others admitted to trying the duck tongue last night. Kelsey spoke of the strange bamboo shoots , also from last nights meal... they were crunchy, but still chewy and hard to swallow. Erica said it was the snails... most people just swallowed them whole, but she chewed

If they had plenty of money to buy whatever they would want they ad seen here, Katherine said more clothes and cultural things like musical instruments. Veronica said she would buy a beautiful strand of champagne colored pearls.

Jessica Gillette says Hi to Mom. She says her favorite part of the trip was the Great Wall, to finally be on top of it.

Patrick said his mom was worried reading the blog about his knife target experience. He told us he wasn't at all worried until they put the balloon between his legs...

Alyssa told us that her family is all from Hong Kong. She was surprised that the entire country was not more like what we are seeing in Shanghai, For her it was surprising that in Beijing there were so many low and run down buildings among all the big new buildings. She really likes all the greenery in Shanghai.

Kevin, AKA Budda, joined the group at Mr. Smith's request just 2 weeks before the tour. He is a college student form Concord who plays French Horn. Though he knew only Mr. Smith at first he has enjoyed getting to know all the musicians. He fears he may not see anyone again after the trip...

When we got off the bus, we gathered and walked across a concrete bridge into the village section of the town. We wandered down the small alleys and popped into shops where we found the same soveniers we had encountered everywhere else in China and a few interesting items unique to the village such as antiques and local crafts. Zhujiajiao is like the city of Venice, Italy but on a much smaller scale. Narrow alleys, canals throughout with gondolas, called sampans for transportation and delivery. We rode these sampans back to the main bridge.

Lunch was a Mongolian barbecue at a restaurant back in Shanghai. The students went to the Silk carpet factory and the shadow tour group hit the markets of Old Town once again.

Dinner at the hotel buffet was a welcome relief for those who were adventurous enough to try the duck tongue, snails and bamboo shoots the previous night...

Following dinner, the students and as many of the adults who chose to, boarded a single bus and went to the commercial street known as Nanjing Road... Bright lights, lots of neon, plenty of pushy street vendors, and lots of expensive shops.

We are winding down, planning the events of our final full day, and feeling a bit like we are ready to come back home.
Good night for now!