In China
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Friday-Saturday, November 26-27, 2010 We are writing this post late on Saturday evening from the city of Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi. This is where we will meet Grace at 3pm on Monday ( 2am Florida time, 7am England time). It is pretty far north here and much cooler than Shanghai, the low tonight will be below freezing. The journey up here was very smooth and we are glad to finally be in the province where Grace was born. Our guide “Tracy” met us at the airport and it turns out she if from Yuncheng, the city where Grace was from. Here is an update on the last couple of days. Late on Thursday evening Jacqui had arranged for the three of us to have a midnight bike tour of Shanghai. Mike was apprehensive about riding a bike in all the crazy Shanghai traffic, but our guide knew all the quieter streets and by the time we started out at 9 pm things were less crazy than the daytime traffic. We had a wonderful three hours of riding all around the city, we especially enjoyed the old town as we rode through tiny alleyways that had been unchanged in years. It was also fun to cycle alongside the river on the Bund. We certainly slept well that night. On Friday we had a leisurely morning and then headed out to visit a Muslim area of Shanghai known for its excellent street food. We briefly visited the Mosque during Friday prayers and then found a stall to sit and enjoy lunch. It was a great experience and we were surprised to see how many of the local Muslims looked pretty Eastern European. Later that afternoon we took time to walk over to a shopping area we had visited when we were in Shanghai in 2008. At that time there had been lots of construction and it was great to see how everything had turned out. Mike really enjoyed a quick look around the technology market. So today we took our flight from Shanghai to Taiyuan. We were the only non-Chinese on the plane but didn’t feel too out of place. Our guide Tracy met us at the airport and took us over to our hotel the Shanxi Grand. This city is full of construction with tower blocks being built in every direction you look, Tracy told us 3 million people live here, so just a small city by Chinese standards. We are now less than 48 hours from meeting Grace and it feels very real not least because our room came with a crib already setup! Tomorrow we visit the very historic and beautiful city of Pingyao, this is a UNESCO world heritage site and was used for the filming of a famous Chinese movie called the Red Lanterns. It should be a great trip if we can cope with the cold. Thanks for all the guestbook comments we love reading them each day. Mike and Margaret

Starting the midnight bike ride On the Bund at midnight Street Food at the Muslim market Toddler time at the local park

Leaving Shanghai for Taiyuan


Flying over Grace's Province, Shanxi


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