Shanghai and Suzhou

Night skyline along Huangpu River which runs across Shanghai.  The river cruise lasts for 45 minutes and is a must when you visit Shanghai (night time is more beautiful).

The tallest building in Asia (with a hole on top -  It reminded me of Chunmoon mountain in Zhangjiajie).  Shanghai has over 3000 buildings of 30 stories or higher.  It was a huge & modern metropolitan area; its skyline filled with high rises representing companies from all over the world .

No photo was allowed inside the provisional Korean Govt. building,  so I took a picture from one of its windows.  As you can see,  it is in a poor section of Shanghai.  The guide said the building will most likely be demolished for 2010 World Expo at Shanghai.

In front of the Provisional Korean government building used around 1920's during Japanese occupation of Korea.  The building was small and was in the middle of an undeveloped area of Shanghai.  The visit reminded us once again of the tremendous sufferings of Koreans by the Japanese.

A view inside the "Humble Administrator's Garden".  It is considered one of the top gardens in China and is located in Suzhou.  There was nothing humble about this garden; the size and beauty it truly makes it a  garden for all seasons.  It's even listed in the book "1000 Places to See Before You Die".










While at Huangshan, it may have been because I slept in the cold and damp hotel room or maybe because I took a luke warm shower not knowing that the hotel only turns on the hot water during certain hours, but when I got up the next morning, I had developed a sore throat and had a slight body chill. Both Joanne and I suffered from scratchy throats and dry coughs, not only from all the air pollution (the sky never looked blue; it was tan to brown in color almost all the time),  but also from constantly inhaling second hand smoke.  I certainly felt less than 100% after Huangshan. We still had one more day to spend at Suzhou and another night at Shanghai as part of our 13 day tour but we sure were glad to be heading back to Korea.