Mike In China

The following night we went and saw the Shanghai acrobats. They were very good and the show was reminded me a lot of Cirque De Solie. The only bad part was the other Chinese people watching the show. The entire audience was beyond ridiculously rude. Talking loudly the ENTIRE show, taking flash pictures even though there were multiple warnings and signs not to, never clapped for anything. It was very depressing. It made you feel bad for the performers. It must be a cultural thing but I can't imagine how no one has picked up on the fact that you shouldn't be talking loudly while someone is performing. Ridiculous. The rest of the time that Mom was in Shanghai we spent seeing the Bund and Nanjing Road. Mom had some little problems adjusting to the time change and I had a few last errands to run with my job so it was pretty relaxed. That is, up until the big grand finale of Shanghai! Mom and I met up with one of my friends, Michelle and we went to dinner at a nice Chinese restaurant that she knew of by her apartment. It was nice because as I've mentioned before Michelle can speak and read Chinese pretty well so that really helped in finding good food at a good restaurant. After dinner we did the one thing I think Mom was really excited about doing in Shanghai, we went to a KTV (karaoke) Bar. Michelle's roommate Chi met us there and so the four of us had our own little room and sang our hearts out for a couple of hours. Highlights include my mom signing "My Humps" by the Black Eyed Peas and then teaching Chi and Michelle the choreography for "Stop in the Name of Love" that her, Gail and Teri used to do. Chi and Michelle thought it was pretty funny and definitely had a great time (as did my mom and I). Unfortunately I didn't have my camera that night and so all the pictures that were taken are on my mom's camera (and I understand she might have already deleted them on accident) so I don't know if those will ever be seen! I even took some video of my singing "My Humps!" The next morning we had to wake up very early to take a taxi to the airport and then fly down to the Yunnan province of China. Our first stop was in Kunming. We were met at the airport by our tour guide and personal driver for the city. They took us to our hotel and the tour guide told us about the city and answered all the random questions Mom had about everything. Because we had been up so late packing and then had to get up so early to leave I had barely slept and immediately about arriving at the hotel decided that I needed a nap. I took a nap while Mom walked down to the lake and nearby park. She came back tired and wanting to take a nap just as I woke up and was ready to go! So basically we switched spots and she napped and I walked down to the park. Mom said she thought the park was dirty and depressing. I agree parts of it were a little dirty, but that was also because they were draining parts of the lake to clean it, but in no way did I think it was depressing. Maybe it was because we went at different times, but when I was there the park was filled with people walking around listening to tons of different local people just sitting in the park playing local music for people to listen. It was a lot of fun to see the different little bands people had and listen to the music while walking around the park looking at all the people and little Chinese buildings. That night for dinner our guide picked us back up and took us to dinner at some kind of dinner theater where we were served a FEAST of traditional dishes. We were told we were going to eat the local "Crossing Bridge Rice Noodle" and when we got there we simply had a bowl of noodles and I thought, no way is this going to fill me up. But then the dishes kept coming, and coming and coming. All the food was very good and it was great to try to local food. While we were eating there was some kind of strange show going on about the local cultures but we didn't pay all too much attention because we were going to a better show after dinner. The show we went to after dinner was recommended to us by our tour guide. The vast majority of Chinese people are of the Han ethnic group but there are something around 46 (I can't remember for sure) other ethnic groups in China and something around 42 of them live in the Yunnan province. The show we went to was a showcase of the music, dance, and traditional costumes of some of these other minority groups. The show was amazing. A lot of drumming and dancing. It was very well choreographed and very interesting to see. Our tour guide actually told us that the main cast is now on tour and is going to be doing the majority of their shows somewhere on Broadway. The only bad part about the show was once again a rude Chinese audience. This time we had a couple sitting next to us that talked over the music and singing of the show the whole time. And we were in the FIFTH ROW?! At one point the man even took out his CELLPHONE and made a telephone call!?! I was trying to give them rude looks and even gave a couple of shhh's during the show but they were completely oblivious. After the show we went back to the hotel and went to bed because the next morning we had to wake up and fly to Dali.