China: Shanghai

We were barely in Shanghai, less than 72 hours for a cousin's wedding. It has been quite a few years since the last wedding in Shanghai. This one is rather special. The bride is a favorite cousin and is 37 years old. I had almost given hope of her ever getting married. It was a truly joyous occasion for all the families.

















China has been relaxing visa rules to attract tourists. We went on the free 240-hour transit visa. While that might be the intention of central government, China continues to feel unwelcoming:

• The Great Firewall is more formidable than ever. None of the free VPNs I tried worked on my phone, though I could get through using my eSIM. It was easier to get through two years ago. Psychologically I felt cut off from the modern world.
• All airport "free wifi" requires phone or passport registration. There is no anonymous surfing.
• At Shanghai Hongqiao Airport I couldn't send verification to my US number, and there was no passport registration machine inside security. I asked a few passengers at the gate to get me a code using their phone number and was turned down. People have no trust and they are cowered by government surveillance. I was horrified - the US could be heading this way.

We rode the High Speed Train from Hangzhou to Shanghai. Smooth.




The wedding was at the very 5-star Anandi Hotel. First below is the view to Suzhou Creek from our 10th floor room. And see also a similar sunrise view. Not to forget the amazing restaurant.






We made a short stop at our old haunts on Nanjing Xi Lu: to visit Jo Ma (an Aunt on SL's mother's side), to eat vegetarian at Jing'an Temple, and take a photo of the Art Deco Eddington House apartments.

China: Hangzhou

From Brasilia, we flew 9 hours to Lisbon; then, after a 5-hour layover, 13 hours to Hangzhou, just a one hour train ride away from Shanghai. Hangzhou, home to 12.5 million people, is the birthplace of my maternal grandfather, capital of Southern Song dynasty 1138 to 1276, home of Alibaba, DeepSeek, Geely(auto), and other tech companies. I have loved going to Hangzhou since I was a child. We took the opportunity to hang out in Hangzhou for a few days while we worked on getting over jetlag. We were joined by our friends the Jin Sisters (below).



It had been 10 years since we were in Hangzhou last. Much has changed in Hangzhou. Other than the lake area and tea terraces, we could hardly recognize anything. We repeated some old things and tried some new things. On a rainy day, the three ladies went shopping for wedding outfits for John and Sun-Ling at the wholesale clothes market (see below). I realized much of the clothing I see around the world, in stores and markets, could have come from here. There are thousands of stores in dozens of multistory malls. I had never been dizzier before.



Sunrise on the airplane from Lisbon, Portugal to Hangzhou. The Great Wall is somewhere down below.


The Hangzhou airport is looking pretty spiffy!


Bike sharing is popular around Hangzhou.






We ate some tasty vegan and vegetarian food in Hangzhou; at night market stalls, and at sit down restaurants.










West Lake at sunset did not disappoint.




One day we walked in the tea plantations up in the hills. Great views down to West Lake! And a ridge walk!








The iconic Zhejiang World Trade Center which we remembered from our last visit in 2015.


On back to back evenings we rode the "water buses" around. 3RMB per ride; less than 50 cents US.












One day we walked about halfway around West Lake, first walking up to Baochu Pagoda for views of the lake. Then down onto the Su Causeway. Thanks to Jin Yi for the first photo below.


















In the older part of Hangzhou we checked out the Phoenix Mosque, the old scissors store (SL's family in Hangzhou owned a scissors store in the past), the house with five wells, and more.










Bonus photos. First below is the barbershop where I got a haircut.