Day One

We started our first day in Shanghai with a traditional American breakfast in our hotel restaurant. The food was delicious, and just what we all needed to start off the excursion of the day. We all caught the bus at 9AM and were off to begin our exploration of Shanghai.

Our first stop was at the Shanghai Urban Development Center.

Here we met up with our tour guide named Even, she showed us through the exhibits of the center.

Even started off the tour with a history lesson on the City of Shanghai. She described how the city developed and many of the reasons behind the development.

Next we moved upstairs where they had a model of the plan for Shanghai's future. The model span across the entire 3rd floor of the center. There were two floors from which you could view the model.

From the first floor you could be closer to see the detail of the plans. Cliff, Stephanie, Bridget, Kristen and Adam stop for a picture in front of the Shanghai model.

Once moving up to the next floor, our tour guide was able to show us the different areas of the city through a light show. As she discussed different areas the model would illuminate, making it easier for us to see exactly what she was describing.

Next we moved onto the exhibit about the Shanghai and Pudong Airports. The illuminated floor was a map that displayed where the airplanes fly to and from.

Dr. Riley discusses the Shanghai International Airport model with Cliff and Chris. This model was made much like the large city model we viewed before. Even was able to discuss the plans for the growth of the airport, by using this model.

Caitlin, Brandy, Codi, Rob, and Danielle pose for a picture in front of the airport model with one of our Chinese tour guides.

Before leaving the Urban development center the girls and some of the guys stop for a picture in front of some Shanghai skyscrapers.

The Urban Development Center is dedicated to improving the way of life in Shanghai. During our tour of the center we saw a number of future projections, including a virtual 360* video tour. The center is based on the idea "Better City Better Life" this statement was displayed throughout the building.

After touring the Urban Development Center we walked down the street and met on the corner. Here Dr. Chow described the "promenade" type street we were about to explore called Najing Road.

At this time we were given an hour to window shop on Najing Road. This was a test of our Chinese, as we encountered a number of sales men and women attempting to sell products off the street.

During this time a few of the students tried some of the local fresh fruits; types of produce that is not available in the United States.

The streets were very busy, but we all managed to find our way back around noon, just in time to start off towards our restaurant for lunch.

After a ten minute walk we arrived at our authentic Chinese restaurant, Lao Zheng Xing. Here we were fed like royalty with an abundance of 15 dishes, and a number of appetizers.

We split off into four tables in order to follow Chinese tradition.

After stuffing ourselves with food, we made a quick stop for a group picture, then it was off to our next stop.

Bridget and Kristen pose with the gold lion outside a Chinese hotel in Shanghai

Our next stop was a tour of the beautiful Yu Garden. We had two tour guides to take us through the elaborate maze of garden. We were told that the gardens themselves dated back only 400 years, while many of the statues were over 800 years old.

Bridget, Kristen and I stopped for a picture by in the Yu Garden.

After a long day of walking Chris, Jacob, Jimmy and Cliff take a seat, while they take in the scenery of the gardens.

Mark, Evelyn, Rob, and Jackie enjoying the time sitting by the pond.

Nikola discussing the fish of that garden with our Shanghai tour guide. The coy fish our good luck in the Chinese culture.

Part of the group taking a minute off their feet.

Jacob, Danielle, and Bridget stop for a picture in the ornate doorway.

Codi takes the opportunity to catch her surroundings on film.

The Chinese architecture is such a site to see. The tour

through the garden was the highlight of the day's trip.

As we made our way through the crowd back to the bus, this boat was in a pond just outside the garden walls. We left the garden with one more stop on the itinerary.

Final stop of the day was the Bailan West Mall, where we have two West Virginia University Alumnae working behind the scenes. One of the women is the President of the mall. This mall was designed by an American company, and is one of the largest of its kind in China.

The Alumna gave us a presentation on the background of the Mall. After this we were given a tour through the shops, and then back on the bus. It was 6 PM and the group was exhausted as jet lag began to catch up. The students headed back to the hotel to take naps, get cleaned up and then head out in Shanghai to find dinner.