10/20/2025 – Bullets
After enjoying a leisurely evening by meandering to get a meal, then strolling through the local area, the next day was a jolt to our system. Herded together like a kindergarten class on a field trip, we were soon ensconced on the bus for the trip to the train station. Again, similar to school children, we followed the “teacher” from the bus door and were deposited into the train station where we waited for our next instructions. Dutifully we followed our “teacher Cathy” to the next stop, and so on and so on. Finally she directed us to our seats on the bullet train where, like “good” little children, we started seat swapping to sit next to our besties. Kathy got a window seat while Dave was wedged in between Kathy and Myra. Dave, like a typical adolescent boy, started teasing Myra. Some things never change. The views outside the train changed rapidly from city views, to country, to industrial, and then again to city and in no time at all – okay about six hours – we were in Shanghai waiting for out next “teacher”, Louis, to greet us at the next stop. We had nothing on the schedule for the rest of the day except for dinner. We opted to see what kind of dinner we could find at the mall while others stayed at the hotel. After a bunch of pantomiming with the wait staff, we finally settled on spicy king pao chicken for Kathy and sweet and sour chicken for Dave. This could become our new favorite spot. On the way out we couldn’t help but stop at the local bakery to try some pastries (which, while excellent, could have used a bit more sweetness in the cream fillings).