Getting acclimated to Shanghai in Summer

Tues, July 21

Mike

The heat is too much; we are just going at half pace. Curtis stayed at the hotel to get in a swim. I went out to Ohel Moshe Synagogue and took the "expensive" tour. The synagogue wasn't much (built in 1927), but from 1939 to 1945 when the Japanese ghettoized the Jews in Shanghai, it was the center of a neighborhood of 25000. In 1949, all foreigners were expelled, and that was that for the Jewish community of Shanghai.

I got over there by walking 1+ km to the Metro and going two stops. On the way, I stopped in a magazine shop and found a map of Shanghai with all of the bus info (in Chinese, of course). So on the way back I took the 22 bus three stops. The bus stops are so far apart that sometimes it is a huge inconvenience to even try to take the bus.

I got back to the hotel at 11. Curtis finished his swim at 11:45. We finally got moving at 12:30. Took a bus to People's Square, and then walked several blocks to Shanghai Book Store. What an amazing place. The store fills 7 huge floors. We wandered through several of the floors - finally found Harry Potter on floor 6 - Youth Reading. Volume 1 (Sorcerer’s Stone) was behind an employee's door. It is really thin (only 190 pages) but I am assured it is complete, so I am bringing it back for the collection.

By now it is 2:30 PM. We are exhausted, but are walking back to the hotel. We got sustenance for the walk by buying two 50 cent hot dogs. Curtis also found a small 70c (4.5Y) bottle of rotgut bai jiu (white spirits). Halfway there we found an Internet cafe, where we now find ourselves.

It was sunny this AM, with blue skies. Now it is completely overcast. Maybe the prediction of rain tonight and all day tomorrow is really going to happen. Too Bad, So Sad.