Wednesday, often called Hump Day, marked the last day in  Beijing and our first day in Shanghai. We squeezed in one more bit of sightseeing Wednesday morning in Beijing. We went to the Hutong area, one of Beijing's last and oldest neighborhoods. A hutong is traditionally described as a quadrangle of houses with the main house in the North. North is a very important concept to the Chinese and many historic areas are on a North-South line. When the Communists took over, they changed the main emphasis to East-West. They built a broad, multi-lane road that runs for 30 miles on an East-West axis. In fact, Raffles Hotel sits on that boulevard. While the government felt the change was important, people still held to the North-South concept. The government has relented and when they built the two main structures for the 2008 Olympics, the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube, they built them on a North-South line. The government now claims to be the custodian of the traditional China.

Our visit to the hutong began was a leisurely stroll through a market area and we were guided by Lijia Zhang, noted author and lecturer. Our next activity was a ride through the hutong area in rickshaws. We stopped along the way to admire the scenery and we spent some time in a park where our senses were bombarded by so many interesting sights and sounds--senior citizens exercizing, a man practicing calligraphy on the ground using a long brush and water, heated games of table tennis, grandparents and grandchildren playing together, and myriad of bicycles parked while people visited.

After a stop at the Westin Beijing to "test their plumbing" (one does NOT want to use the public restrooms, if possible!), we headed to the domestic terminal at the airport. We were escorted through the maze of people and queues and found our way to our gate for our flight to Shanghai. One last bit of elan, Imperial Tours had ordered each of us a takeout lunch of chicken and caesar salad to be delivered to the airport from one of their favorite delis.

The flight was uneventful (a good thing) and when we landed in Shanghai, we were greeted by our hosts for the second part of our journey, Patrick MacLeod and Gerald Hatherly and the staff of A&K. Once on our way in our motorcoaches, our guide gave us a brief history of Shanghai, often called "Paris of the East." I love Shanghai! Michael and I have talked about renting a place for a month at some future day so we can fully embrace this city. 

We exited the motorcoach and were surrounded by applause from the staff of the Ritz Carlton Pudong, who lined the way inside. They provided a lovely aperitif, we picked up our custom-made black velvet Mao jackets with brightly colored lining and headed to our rooms. My girlfriend, Sam, audibly gasped as we entered our room. "Oh my God," she said, "this is wonderful!" The girl has good taste because recently Conde Nast Traveler rated the Ritz Carlton Pudong as the best hotel in the world! 

Quick wardrobe change again and, voila, time to go to Flare, the loft-style restaurant and night club on the 58th floor. Food, food and more food--all of various Asian countries--was provided and we were entertained by a trio of female violinists playing pulsating and lively music. 

Next stop was back to our suites and the oh so comfy Ritz Carlton beds. We are most definitely in Shanghai!

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Another 8 AM star to what became a long day.  We left Phakding and headed north along the banks of the Dudh Kosi (Milk River), crossing back and forth on suspension bridges five times.  We pass Ghat Village and entered the Sagramatha National Park and shortly thereafter stopped for lunch beside the river.  There was a steady stream of Sherpas carrying almost anything you can imagine including doors, beams, and lumber for a house construction.  After lunch we crossed the river for the last time and began a long climb (gaining a total of 2700 feet of altitude by the time we reached our destination.

The climb itself began with switchbacks and after reaching the ridge line we traverse this for another 2.5 miles and came to Namche.  We hiked through Namche to Namche Bazaar and a wonderful hotel called Panorama Lodge – with hot showers, and electric blankets to keep us warm, and another hot meal from our cook!

A few words about our Sherpa team: our head Sherpa – called a Shirdar – summited Everest 7 times; our cook and cooked for 19 climbing teams at Everest Base Camp – so we are in very experienced hands!

There was on unexpected occurrence.  Around 6:45 pm the hotel shook a bit, paused and then started really shaking.  We all look at each other and then made a bolt for the door along with a couple of other groups and all the staff.  I got outside and stood in a light drizzle for about 10 minutes waiting for my heart to stop racing – I never experienced an earthquake.  Turns out the quake measured 6.9 and was centered in Northern India.  It apparently caused mudslides in India and killed several people.

We went back inside and finished dinner and around 30 minutes later 30 children arrived and came into the hotel from the local boarding school, very frighten from the quake and the hotel put mattresses down on the floor and the kids spent the night here with us at Panorama Lodge.

The next day – Monday – we rested in Namche Bazaar enjoying the village, surrounding mountains even though clouds were low and constantly moving through we were able to get quick glimpses of Lhotse and Lhotse Star – two mountains at 8500 and 8350 meters high respectively which are east of Everest. In fact Lhotse shares a saddle with Everest.

We also visited a Sherpa memorial and a Buddhist monastery.  In the afternoon I rested a bit and then caught up on emails and of course what you are now reading. 

More soon!