Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Tour day 13 of 15. Shanghai with Tony. Breakfast buffet at InterContinental Shanghai. Dad wasn't feeling well in the night so he chose to stay at the hotel today, comfortable with being on his own. From the buffet we got him white bread and water and gave him care instructions: drink a little water every 10 minutes, eat white bread when possible, do not sleep for long stretches so that you can drink water. If he gets bored he says he has his crossword puzzles. At 8:30 am we boarded the bus for a two-hour drive to Suzhou to visit Tongli town, a town with scenic canals. Weather today is a high of 95 degrees Fahrenheit, partly cloudy, no rain. Along the way we passed a fire adjacent to the roadway, and we guessed that it was trash. At one of the toll booths we encountered a delay of unusual cause; the car ahead of us was stuck for several minutes. We continued. Many toll booths along the drive. The rest of today's entry is mostly-raw notes inserted long afterwards: city moat, silk spinning mills, mulberry leaves, 1/8 of the width of a human hair and 14 times stronger than stainless steel, gardens. Lunch: sesame roll with char siu, shau mai, xia loong bao, egg drop soup with corn, greens, sauteed cauliflower, watermelon, melon, steamed white rice, sweet and sour pork. Master of Nets garden. Drove 40 mins to visit Tongli Scenic Area. Drove about 2 hours back to Shanghai. Dinner at Xian Qiang Fang, again richly decorated in an old-school style. Highlights include: sesame-coated walnut prawns, waxberries, panko-encrusted chicken cutlet with ketchup, chow mein with vegetables, mushroom medley.