highs and laws

I'll start with the laws. There seems to be a law for everything here. Did you know it's illegal to swim in a public pool without a bathing cap? It is. The people here are very smart and they usually find loop holes in the laws so the government makes another law. I'm not sure if there is a loop hole in the bathing cap law - we didn't go swimming.

This morning we started off high above the city. We rode the Jin Mao Tower elevator up 88 stories to see the stunning views of the city. We visited a silk rug factory which was interesting. It's an intricate art form and expensive to buy. Some of the carpets take 13 months to weave. We poked around the Shanghai museum - lots of interesting old masks, ceramics, bronze pieces, furniture, etc.

For our last bit of time in Shanghai, we made a brief stop at Nanjing Road. It is a very cool shopping area with lots of people to watch. I wish we could have stayed longer. We did find a Starbucks and got a Shanghai mug.

We are now in Suzhou at the most amazing hotel - Suzhou Pan Pacific. I'll have to explore in the morning before we check out. Tonight we went out for a bit and stumbled on a couple great bakeries and the oddest hair contraption we've ever seen. It looked like a torture device from the Middle Ages. We learned that Suzhou girls have the reputation of being the prettiest so they must take their beauty parlour time seriously! Actually we found out one reason they have the reputation is because they put sugar in meat when they cook it and thus are considered sweet. I won't get started on the food yet. I'll save that for another day.