Shanghai

We recently took the high speed train from Beijing to Shanghai.  Jeff had a couple days worth of meetings there, so we decided to go with him.  The high speed train reaches about 310 km/hr and is just up and running since the last part of June I believe.  They are still working out kinks with time reliability.  It is supposed to be 4 hours 50 minutes to and from each city, but on the way down there it took us 7 1/2 hours.  The kids did great and loved it, but we were a little hungry.  I had packed sandwiches  and snacks in our backpacks because we didn't know exactly what kind of food to expect.   PB&J only lasts in the tummy about 5 hours so we were all pretty hungry.

Here are some pictures of the countryside.  It was gorgeous.  There were also areas that made me give thanks to God for the resources I have.  What amazed me was how there were no tractors, no combines, no big machinery.  They plant, till, harvest their land all by hand.  Of course, each farmer has considerably less land than an American farmer.  The picture below shows some farmers in their fields.  The little specks are actually their bodies.

We had a great time in Shanghai, it is a very beautiful city.  It is more westernized than Beijing with more international people.  We were ready to get back to our new home though and ended our stay with a river boat cruise.  We met some people from Taiwan who were very interesting to talk with.