The sea has turned a brown muddy color as move up the river. We tiptoe along crowded by boats and ships on all sides. The Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower appear in the distance. An hour later after weaving our way through all of China's shipping/export industry (or what seems like it) the towers loom above us. We disembarked and made our way through customs-- a remarkably easy procedure. I have heard rumors that the Chinese are trying to make tourism easier and everything I have experienced seems to support that theory. We take a taxi (incredibly cheap) to our hostel. The roads are wild but lack the lawlessness of Vietnam.

The heat is sweltering. We take the subway (beautiful and clean) downtown and end up in the Mariott for a drink in their observation deck. Shanghai is amazing, it just goes on and on forever in every direction. We met a friend from Japan in Shanghai and a group of his friends take us out to dinner at a Brazilian BBQ place. I am impressed with how international and diverse Shanghai is.