Shanghai is a beautiful city, but is it ever crazy. We caught a shuttle in and it took over an hour to get through traffic. We had 2 crew members come with us, Ashley and Orest are both from India, and they knew all the hot spots to go. Ashley is about 6'2 and weighs about 250 pounds so he was my bodyguard. Orest was my negotiator. I got a nice cover for our IPad for 20 bucks, would have paid about 75 for it at home. If you want something specific and they do have it in the store you are in they will take you to their "aunts" store. I was dragged by a very small Asian woman by the elbow, very tightly until we reached the small store. These stores are about 10 x 10 and have more stuff in them then we an fit it our house. I was taken into the back room and then into another back room before they showed me what I wanted. Then came the negotiations. The rule of thumb is to cut their price in 4. However this can take some time and given how patient I am at the best of times I am a bad negotiator......queue Ashley and Orest. The funniest part is that they took over the negotiations and the shopkeeper asked if I was their mother....yes, the 5 foot, white blonde chick is the mother of these 2 East Indian fella's. We were successful in cutting down the price by 4 times. We walked through the market and each stall had the same stuff, but these shopkeepers are relentless. You are best to look directly at the ground because if you make any sort of eye contact you are a goner!!!!!
We went for a nice authentic Chinese lunch...the menus are a riot. We stayed with normal food just to be on the safe side. After lunch we hit a couple more shops and walked for miles but our time was short so we did not go to the 2nd largest building in the world:(. Kev and I have agreed that we are definitely coming back to Asia and spending the time we need to see everything we want to. Basically Shanghai is a shopping town so that is what we did.
The cab drivers here are crazy, cranky and like to rip off Westerners. Our first cab driver did not want to pick us up but was told by the boss he had to take us. This resulted in him taking us on a wild goose chase throughout the streets of Shanghai.
We saw a hypnotist show and it was hilarious. Kevin was bugging me to go onstage but I just wanted to watch. We enjoyed it so much. One fella was an absolute riot, we were crying when the show was over.
2 sea days of beautiful weather. Nothing much fun happened, I think all the wacko people got off the ship in Beijing....there is a really odd threesome of Russians, really unattractive older man and 2 very young, robust girls.....one who has so much Botox in her lips I am unsure how she eats. Kevin and I have been trying to figure them out. He thinks he is their daddy, I say he is their "Sugar Daddy".
Last night the hypnotist was back on stage. All afternoon Kevin was bugging me to go on stage, I was reluctant but decided to go must for a lark.....we an hour later I left the stage and apparently was the star of the show. Kevin had a smile from ear to ear and that made it all worthwhile. I am going to see if If I can get a video of it so I can see how much of an ass I made of myself. The worst part was all the people on the ship laughing as I walked by.
Quiet night after that, I am not sure how I will return to work when we get back as Kevin and I have a habit of sleeping until 10 am on sea days. Perhaps I will have to work from noon - 4 instead.
Until next time
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