Shanghai, China - May 5th to 18th

The Nanhui Holiday Inn Express - our hotel was located right next to the old refuge
The Old Nanhui Refuge - a view of the old refuge from our hotel...
Nanhui Marine Park - part of the old refuge has been turned into a park...
Marine Park Sculpture - the main feature of the park is this huge welded pipe sculpture with two larger than life size bronze human statues...
The Bronze Statues - ...here a closeup of the statues
The World Compass - the other more subtle feature of the park is a compass layout showing the locations of cities around the world relative to the park's location
The World Compass - ...here is a closeup of the marker for America's New York City
Causeway to Xiaoyangshan Island - the causeway from Nanhui out to the island is over 10 miles (17 kilometers) long...
An Old Building Column Pretending to Be a Tree - ...one afternoon we drove from the Nanhui Refuge out over the long causeway to Xiaoyangshan Island. We hiked up a path and realized that there were the remains of buildings built into the rocky hillside...
The Old Bunker - ...here I am at the entrance to an old bunker...
The Old Bunker - ...and here is the entry way to the old bunker...we did not go in!
Doorway onto Upstairs Hotel Deck - this sign should have been enough for Mary to know that the door would lock behind her
Land Reclamation - everywhere we went there was construction activity, much of it associated with coastal land reclamation...note the heat waves rising from the open ground that distort the image
Wind Turbines - China has many, many acres of wind turbines producing electricity as they take the lead in green energy...
Solar Panels - ...often including fields of solar panels between the wind turbines
Along the Road - we never knew what we would see as we drove around...here a farmer has tied up one of his herd at a bridge crossing...
Along the Road in Shanghai - ...a 3-D billboard for Porsche!
Fish Net Supports - fishermen hang nets on these supports to trap fish during the changing of the tides
Lifeboat - this is a lifeboat from a freighter or tanker...I would love to know the story behind this, and why it was just left along the sea wall
Mary and Liu Shopping - there was a rest area near the Dafeng mudflats...we stopped there often before and after birding the mudflats...here Mary and Liu are shopping at a roadside vendor...photo taken by DongMing Lee
Public Toilet Sink - we thought it was interesting that the sink was made by an American plumbing company
Typical Public Toilet - actually, squatting down to go to the bathroom is very natural...the trick is standing back up! Usually there was at least one western "sitting" toilet in the public restrooms, and all our hotel rooms had them as well. 8^)
Coffee! - Mary found an American brand name coffee in the grocery store, although it was already mixed with a little creamer and sugar...
Instant Cream and Sugar - ...but we drink our coffee with lots of cream and sugar, so Mary picked up these extras as well
Sunkist US Oranges - we were quite surprised to find that the delicious oranges we bought in the grocery store were actually from America
Street Life - this is the view from our hotel in Dafeng...everywhere we went the streets were bustling with people and items for sale
Housing - we saw many apartment buildings like these as we drove through the towns and cities...it was a constant reminder that China is the most populous country in the world, although we never felt crowded anywhere we went
Night Life - life on the streets continues into the night
Time to Say Goodbye - Perilla, a university senior about to graduate, was our second translator...here she and Mary take a selfie on the last day of our trip
Shanghai Pudong Airport - Erik at the Shanghai Pudong Airport check-in counter for our flight home...note the interesting design of the roof trusses