Shanghai: June 12: Heading to Xi'an

I flew to Xi'an in the evening for a two-day trip.

To ensure I didn't get caught in quarantine on the way to Xi'an, I didn't do anything this day: no exercise, nothing to raise my body temperature.

I took a few pictures this day.

For lunch, Di Yin and I went to Jia Jia Tang Bao, a small shop that specializes in xiao long bao (Shanghai soup dumplings). Our dumplings, which contained liquid and either pork or pork-and-crab, were good. They were moist, though not extensively soupy inside. The wrappers were thin and the dumplings were light in general. I'd thought our three baskets would be too heavy, too fatty, too much, but this was not the case. Also, unlike many xiao long bao, these could be eaten in one bite, partially because they're smaller than most and partially because the soup wasn't scaldingly hot. (There was no need for a small bite at the top to release the steam.)

While we ate, Di Yin talked with an extremely friendly Shanghai man sitting at our table. He was exceptionally interested in America. We dispelled some of his myths, and he told us about the nice benefits of Shanghai: health care, perpetual unemployment benefits, etc. When we dispelled his belief that the U.S. government pays for child care through age five, he asked where does all the U.S. money go? Di Yin answered, "Uh... private wealth?"

Also while we ate, one of the chefs kept pacing around the small (eight table) restaurant, inspecting how we were eating the dumplings. I felt as if I was being tested.

In the late afternoon, I headed off to Xi'an! To get to the airport, I took the metro to the maglev. The high-speed maglev, which travels 40 feet above the ground, passes above poverty/blight then, seconds later, a well-maintained eight-lane highway: quite a contrast. The only time I realized how fast we were traveling--200 mph--was when we raced man-made objects at close range, not when we passed trees and streams. (The train's sound, a simple hum, was not a clue.) The cars on the highway looked like they were motionless; that was the clue.

My flight was uneventful. There was no quarantine inspection (i.e., no guys with infrared lasers to detect body temperature). :)

After meeting up with my tour group and my friend, D, on the same tour, we headed to our hotel, a four-star place called the Grand Mercure.