China Trip Blog Day 5: Goodbye Shanghai; Hello Hangzhou

A quiet Sunday began with breakfast before checking out at the Radisson.  A twenty minute bus ride took us to 'old Shanghai," the site of the Yu Garden and adjacent market.  The fifteen players, three coaches, trainer, tour leader Steve Wang, and yours truly toured these 500-year-old gardens in the heart of the city west of the river.  The players then experienced their first attempt at bartering.  If you pay more than 25% of the listed price, your negotiating skills need work.  Pearl earrings here can be had for $10- not the original asking price of $40 for a pair.  Few Nebraska football games are as crowded as that Yu market on a Sunday morning.

From the bus we saw the Pudong financial district east of the Huangpu River.

Twenty years ago this was farmland.  In 2000, we saw about six skyscrapers standing there. Today the Pudong district is much like Wall Street, full of fifty-plus story office building and now dozens of tall residential towers. The pace of infrastructure development east of the Huangpu is breathtaking. This country, especially this city, is in a hurry. 

The weather in Shanghai seems always dominated by the gray above.  Perhaps it's a mixture of smog and clouds, but the thick gray, off-white sky rarely allows the sun to shine through.  Sometimes, as on Saturday, the gray sky brings some rain. The temperatures have been about 65 fahrenheit and humid, signs that mid-summer must be sticky.

We've now left Shanghai for Hangzhou, a city of merely six to ten million: six million if you believe the Lonely Planet guide; ten million if you believe our tour guide, Susan.  We're staying now in the Zhejiang University foreign student dorm surrounded by many English speaking college students from the United States and elsewhere. Fond memories of dormitory life are flooding back in the minds of those of us over 22. Zhejiang University has an affiliation with UNL and has been a terrific host.

Tomorrow the players wash their gear in the dorm's washing machines at 7:30 a.m. before practicing at 9 a.m., playing the Hangzhou Pro Team at 1 p.m., playing the University team at 4:30 p.m., and then attending a banquet for the Huskers in the evening.