Shanghai Nights, 7 Years in Tibet

Hey Ya'll,
Sitting here in the hotel business center in Shanghai! This is one kickin' city. Of the three we've been to so far, this is by far the most developed in the western sense. We've been able to see the work of different governments to build "concessions" or quarters here. There is a British quarter, French Quarter, Russian Quarter, etc. The Americans were offered a part of Shanghai to build in, but they never did it in time. Eventually it became part of the British Quarter... as ze French say, "Stupid Americans" (or as the chinese say, Stupid Maiguo) :). The city has an incredible number of skyscrapers though: some of the coolest I've seen to date in the world. I took tons of pictures, so you'll get to see them all.
Today we went to a think tank here in the city, and later we'll be meeting with people from the American Consulate. The meeting this morning was informative, and we were again offered a lot of differing perspectives on China's development. I'm sure the meeting this afternoon will be interesting to again see the American side of things.
Overall, the trip has been going very well. Today is the first time it's rained, but it's considerably cooler (thank God). I've been trying to get my stomach right again... it's been off now for about 4 days (I can't wait to get reaclimated to American food). It seems like I'm faring better than some of the people on the trip though--people really aren't using good common sense. Drinking too much, walking with open toed shoes (the streets are ungodly dirty here)... we've had about 5 or 6 people go to the hospital since we've been in China (but none have been sent home). The worst that happened to me was the banged up shin when I slipped on part of the city wall in Xi'an... no biggie, but I've got a nice little egg on my shin still. Oh well... battle wounds from China :).
Hope you're all doing well, can't wait to be surrounded by Americans in just under a week (At least we say excuse me!). Before that, however, Tibet here I come...
xnatex

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