We attended the big event which is set up in a large tent in the driveway of our hotel….

A strange combination of Chinese people, German expats and other visitors!

Crazy!!

My scrumptious dumplings!

I decided to do a tour my first day – nothing like jumping in with jet lag!

So I went on a great tour with Tracy and Michael – tour guides I have been with before. What a great day!

We started with a walk through a migrant worker village, had a nice lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant and then a tea trek.

The migrant tour showed us local business people – how they work and how they live. We visited a blanket maker, a baker (and tried his cake), a wine/liquor maker and a seamstress. We also tasted some “street food”.

During our tea trek we tasted white tea, green tea, black tea (which is actually called red tea) and dark tea. Did you know all these types of tea come from the same tea plant??? The different teas result from different cooking techniques.

And to make life interesting during our tea sampling a massive rain storm occurred which flooded all the streets of Shanghai and made my 45 minute trip back to the hotel a 2 1/2 hour adventure!

Great to be back!

The new space is great and the food was amazing!

And yes that is pork belly sushi!