Ray spent the weekend in Shanghai and was able to get out and do some sightseeing and geocaching. He was in a hotel in a different part of town that he had been in the past, a little bit further east of where he had stayed in the past. Saturday afternoon he walked over to find a couple of nearby caches and tour this part of town. One was near a local school and he stopped to watch some people playing cricket on the school’s fields. There is a fairly large expat community in this area, with lots of families out and about enjoying the day. On the way back to the hotel he stopped for dinner at a local bar and grill. Smoking is still allowed in the restaurants in Shanghai, so that was different from back home. The food was good (a cheese steak sandwich) but the desire to hang around was dampened by the smoky environment.
They had some very interesting stoplights near the hotel. Instead of individual red, yellow and green lights, it had a single rectangular LED light array that would change length based on the time remaining until the light changed. The green light would shrink from the top down, while the red light would shrink from the bottom up. The yellow lights here are also activated as the lights change from red to green, giving drivers a heads up on when to go.
Sunday, he got up to head into town. After taking a cab to the subway station, he purchased a transit card so that he would not have to buy individual ride cards to give more flexibility and save time with the multiple starts and stops he was planning. The first stop was down by the Oriental Pearl Tower. Although it was not sunny outside, the air was relatively clear so it was easy to see all the tall landmarks from a ways away. One of the caches brought him past the Jin Mao tower and a giant U shaped sculpture representing a a magnet that pulls everyone to Shanghai. There is lots of construction in the area as Shanghai is getting ready for the World Expo next summer. Many of the sidewalks or made from pavers so when they do repairs they can remove the pavers, make their repairs and put the sidewalks back down with minimal disruption. He also found a small neighborhood park in which the locals were doing their morning exercises. An interesting thatched roof was built into/onto some old tree trunks to give a nice shaded area.
From there, he headed to People’s Square park to count torches that are built around a pool for a virtual cache. In the park, many people were out enjoying the morning. In one area, guys were exercising with spinning tops on strings. They were able to go around their back and between their legs with the top and keep it spinning. Their must have been some air channels in the tops as they were whistling and changed pitch as the speed of rotation changed.
After another subway ride, the next stop was Zhongshan Park. This park had a jumper and some rides for kids and adults. One interesting ride was a tandem bike that straddled a single rail about 20 feet above the ground. It was direct drive so that when people stopped pedaling, the bike stopped. I was watching one mother and daughter, and the mother seemed pretty apprehensive as she made the first pedal strokes off the loading platform. They also had paddle boats and even a small motor boat that you could drive through a small moat. It looked like they would hit the stoned lined channel fairly often. It is so nice to see the local parks so full of people and families enjoying themselves.
As he was heading back to the hotel, Ray noticed that his map had an advertisement for the Shanghai Lupu Bridge Climb, across the longest arch bridge in the world . So he made a detour to the station listed and walked about half a mile to the entrance to the bridge climb. From there, he took the elevator up 13 floors to the bridge deck level. A short walk to the start of the arched portion, and then it was up, up and away. No special gear is required for climbing the bridge as they have added a wide staircase with handrails up and over the arch on both sides. The cost of the walk has also been reduced until the end of the year to 38RMB (US $5.5) compared to the regular price of 90RMB. 
It is about a 180’ rise with 367 steps to the top. Once on top, you have some great views of the Shanghai skyline along with a view of the site of the upcoming World Expo. The Expo is only 6 months away, and it looks like there is still a lot of construction to complete. (http://www.lupubridge.com/lp/about_en.php)The last stop of the day was the Science and Technology Museum, which is also home to a local market selling everything from shoes, watches, clothing, and luggage. No prices are fixed and half the fun is making the deal, although the process can be long and drawn out.
As he emerged from the subway one last time to head to the hotel, it had begun to rain, the only rain of the day. This changed his plan about walking to the hotel. As he got in a cab he realized he did not have an address card from the hotel. The room card had the name, but no address. The first cab drive said he did not know where it was, so he had to get out and try to find another cab. This time he looked up the address on his phone and showed the driver. Luckily he had also scouted out the direction of the hotel since it is a tall building, he spotted it and knew the general direction. Well the second cab driver was going to head back north rather than south. So between some hand signals he was able to guide him back to the hotel. As he went in the door, he grabbed an address card and put it in his wallet (which he normally does, but had neglected to do this time).
Since it was still raining a little, Ray walked across the street from the hotel to a Scottish restaurant. There is a large choice of foreign foods available throughout Shanghai as it is truly an international city
The subway is a very economical transportation mode here in Shanghai. His whole transportation cost for using the subway (6 individual trips of about 30 miles total) was 21RMB (about US $3). The total number of caches found was 5 with 2 not found. Ray figured he must have walked around 6-8 miles all told, getting a good amount of exercise along the way and enjoying the sites and sounds of Shanghai.
