Shanghai, China May 12-20, 2007

Shanghai has over 15 million people residing in this city; the largest in China. It is located in the country where the Yangtze River flows into the sea. In the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), it was part of the Chu State. During the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279), it had developed into a burgeoning commercial harbor. Towards the end of the Yuan Dynasty (1206 - 1368), an elderly lady, Huang Daopo, studied the spinning and weaving techniques at Hainan Island and brought these new technologies home to Shanghai. Thus cotton spinning and weaving boosted and modernized the city's economy. During the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), Shanghai became the largest cotton textile center in China, and in 1685 the Qing government set up a customs office there. After the Opium War broke out between China & Britain in 1840, Shanghai was forced to open a commercial port to foreign countries and concessions were set up by several colonialists. Courtesy of http://www.chineseculture.about.com

OK! So by now each of you reading are wondering how in the heck I managed to tag along with Dave on this trip. H-E-B is NOT opening a store in China; no matter how often you ask. Dave works in non-retail procurement and his team of buyers negotiates deals with various vendors throughout the US & Internationally. This trip to China was sponsored through a vendor; Bunzl with US corporate offices out of St. Louis, MO. Bunzl is affiliated with PrimeSource; another company in China that deals with merchants, shipping of product, quality control, etc. So; the around the bout answer is that Bunzl sponsored Dave's trip to China and I got to go! Fortunately for Dave, any airline travel over 8 hours allows him to fly in business class accommodations. I'm not bragging by any means but trust me. I've made that 13 hr and 46 minute commute in coach previously and it ain't fun! Dave found this awesome deal with Ameniti Luxury Travel Club affiliated with United Airlines http://www.ameniti.com/ For a $300 yearly membership fee you can purchase a round trip ticket to any destination and obtain a companion pass for free! The only costs we incurred for my ticket was the taxes so I flew with Dave for $78. What a deal.... BAD NEWS! Unfortunately Ameniti has shut its doors and is no longer taking on any new members.

We left San Antonio on Saturday May 12 at 6:30 am. We connected in Chicago and flew nonstop from Chicago to Shanghai. Like I said earlier; it was a 13 hour and 46 minute flight; whew! When we arrived on Sunday we were greeted at the airport by our host from PrimeSource and our host from Bunzl arrived just minutes afterwards on an American Airlines flight. We drove into town; approximately a 45-minute drive and checked in to the Hilton Shanghai. http://www.shanghai.hilton.com/ We unpacked and had dinner that evening in one of the hotel restaurants. We tried to stay up as late as we could to acclimate but at 9:30 pm or so we hit the wall.

On Monday we toured various resin; plastic bag factories. We stopped for lunch in She Shan Shanghai. We dined at the Le Meridien Hotel; now part of the Starwood Hotels & Resorts family. The hotel is located in the heart of the National Tourist Resort of She Shan. This town offers breathtaking views of of the Yuehu Lake and majestic mountain ranges. We could see the She Shan Cathedral, one of the oldest remaining cathedrals built in 1871 as well as the She Shan Observatory. The She Shan Cathedral is is a Catholic church. The name comes from its location on the western peak of She Shan; a hill located in the Songjiang District; to the west of Shanghai's metropolitan area. It's the largest Christian church building in East Asia and was at one time the destination of pilgrims from across Asia.

After lunch we toured a few more factories then proceeded to tour the PrimeSource offices and have a presentation offered by them. That evening we dined on the Bund. The Bund is one of the most recognizable architectural symbols of Shanghai. "Bund" derives from an Anglo-Indian word for an embankment along a muddy waterfront and that is what it was in the beginning when the first British company opened an office there in 1846. Located on the west bank of a bend (running north and south at this point) in the Huangpu River and just south of Suzhou Creek, the Bund became the site of some of the earliest foreign settlements after Shanghai was opened as one of five "Treaty Ports" in the Treaty of Nanjing that ended the Opium War in 1842. Because of it's proximity to the Yangtze River the path into Central China, Shanghai grew rapidly as the economic center of foreign interests. We ate at New Heights Restaurant which is located on the top floor of Three on the Bund. It had an outside deck offering outstanding views of Pudong and the Pearl TV Tower, the Huang Pu River and the Bund. Their cuisine was Western/Asian fusion and practically all of us had steak. The remaining two had fish and pasta.

Pudong & the Pearl TV Tower is one of the most recognizable structures on the Shanghai skyline. Pudong is a district of Shanghai and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower is the tallest tower in Asia and the third tallest; self supporting tower in the world!

After dinner and drinks we called it another evening. Tomorrow they're off to tour more factories but I am taking a pass. I will spend the afternoon hunting for bargains. With the Internet connectivity I am unable to include photos on this post but will add them when I return home. Till tomorrow....

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