Day of remembering...

Hope all of you are having a pleasant Memorial day. It has been some beautiful weather lately in Shanghai, hot (around 80F everyday) and blue skies. I'm still very glad to be in China, but was knocked down for two days with some random illness. I'm back and kicking now, so there are sights to see.

People are always asking about the food. Well, I'm continuing in the example set by my friend LaChelle and not eating at any American restaurants. This is not tough, but the presence of McDonald's and KFC of all things is unreal. I've become a dumpling hound and the only hard part is guessing what's inside. I'm not a fan of the sweet fillings, but being the true North Dakotan that I am, I love the meat filled ones. My first few days in Shanghai were different because I didn't even use chopstick. We ate at this amazing little Punjabi place where I was the closest to spontaneous combustion as I have ever been in my life. I have a very low tolerance for spicy food, so the fact that there was unlimited beer with my meal was put to good use.

If you think the constuction where you are is obscene, you have not seen anything. The new development area of Shanghai, called Pudong (east of the river Pu). Shanghai is bound and determined to make itself the world's biggest and best at everything it can. I visited the Oriental Pearl tower which is the world's third largest tower. If you ever visit this tower do not, I repeat, do not go to the space cable at the top unless you meet the following conditions:
1. You have eaten lunch.
2. You really want to spend 45 minutes in line for a 5 minute walk.
3. May have been a offensive lineman to prevent Chinese people from cutting in front of you in line.

Now don't get me wrong, the view is amazing, but I did not realize how few elevators there are for the amount of people visiting. I was also under the mistaken assumption that I would be out quickly to eat lunch. It was the longest 3 hours possibly of my life.