Day 5Our final full day with the event was arranged by the organizers to show the teams some of the attractions of Shanghai.
Starting at 8am, we boarded our bus at our hotel in Qingpu and headed into Shanghai where we encountered the standard busy traffic into town. Our first stop was the Oriental Pearl Tower, the third tallest tower in the world. Our tour took us up 263m to the Sightseeing Floor, where we got a 360 degree view of Shanghai as well as a chance to walk on the glass floor on the outdoor observation deck.
After enjoying the sights and getting the usual "glass floor" pictures, the teams were then shuttled to a nearby hotel for lunch consisting of typical cuisine from Shanghai. For the afternoon, we were then taken to the Yuyuan Gardens. Unfortunately we did not have time to enter the gardens themselves, but wandered around the markets surrounding them. It seems awfully odd walking around what looks like a Chinese temple but seeing Burger King, Dairy Queen, and Starbuck's in addition to the seemingly endless shops selling souvenirs.
We did find the jumbo xiaolongbao but it wasn't exactly what we expected. It's actually soup served in "bun", hence the straw. In the evening, the organizers provided us tickets to an outside art festival concert that celebrated the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Held in Mandarin, the majority of the team did not comprehend what was happening but enjoyed the music and dance. There seemed to be two music artists (I'm not sure who they are since none of us follow Chinese music) as well as a musical number with a little girl singing while waving the Chinese flag. The concert event capped it off when they ended with a musical number involving the Expo 2010 mascot, Haibao.
Today everyone will be splitting up and going their separate ways. Some will be heading home to Vancouver. Some will be moving to a hotel closer to the heart of Shanghai, while others are going to Beijing and Singapore. Hopefully some of them will post up their own thoughts or pictures from this event.
