Mark's Writings - September in Shanghai

I am back in Shanghai, after a marvelous vacation in Minnesota.  I was not able to drag Susan back with me and she will be staying in Minnesota this year.  Susan just started a new job in Minneapolis, at a private infertility clinic.  It seems like a great job, all weekdays, with very infrequent weekends, every Wednesday off.  The clinic is located just a couple of miles from our condo at Otis. 

I took this picture from my apartment window.  Very rare, clear night in Shanghai.   

I went to a national forest on Chongming island on a Saturday in September to do some biking. I invited my friend Greg from Michigan to join me. He has a folding bike, and I take my wheels off and stuff it in the trunk. We've done this a few times and it always draws a crowd of on-lookers to see how to get two bikes inside my VW Passot. When we got there, they didn't allow you to bring your own bikes, so we rented real Chinese bikes, for the equivalent of about $2.  I would have paid them $4 to ride my own !   Greg is a serous photographer, and a bit of a comedian as you can see in the picture below I took while we were at the national forest. The Chinese are very good at making fake things, right ! The bamboo is real.

The Chongming national forest was quite a nice break from Shanghai.  It is about and hour drive north of Shanghai, across an incredibly long bridge to an island out in the middle of the Yangtze River.  The distance and the admission price are enough to keep out the common Chinese...which leaves VERY few other people.  The forest is a 20+ year environmental recovery project.  Like a sudden man-made forest.  Actually, quite well done.  The forest is crisscrossed with asphalt bike trails and made for about 2 hours of riding to cover every trail. 

Just like Minnesota, except in MN, the water is Blue ! 

I'm still an engineer, and I love a huge suspension bridge, and this one is a monster:

On another weekend in September, I joined a 3M'er from St.Paul to climb the tallest building in China. It's the one that looks like a bottle opener.  On the tour, you you end up in that very top part, looking straight down through the glass floor.  Pretty cool.