Being the Worst Shanghai Tour Guide: A How To

After a successful family visit, my next set of visitors were on their way! I was so excited for Alex & Lesley's visit. It finally completes the tri-fecta: Lesley & I visited Alex when she lived in Tanzania, Alex & I visited Thailand when Lesley was there, and now they were headed to Shanghai to see me! :)

I love having visitors but of course there's a little bit of stress because you want to show your guests the best time and I wanted to my besties to fall in love with Shanghai, just as I have. That's why I'm not sure how everything went so wrong...

Here's my personal How To Guide on being the Worst Shanghai Tour Guide (plus the saving graces...)

Step 1: Perform a Rain Dance before their arrivals to ensure that it rains every single day. And I do mean EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

[saving grace was the cool & unique photos of The Bund in the rain]

Step 2: Provide your friends with detailed directions on how to get to your place from the airport. Then once they arrive, don't answer the door so that they have to seek help from total strangers. (Yep, that happened. I'm totally mortified that happened, but luckily Alex was a resourceful trooper about the whole debacle!)

Step 3: Suggest a visit up to the Jinmao Tower for panoramic views of the city. On a day when it's "Unclear Visibility" 

[at least the interior was cool.]

Step 4: Take them to People's Park. Too late to see the exercising and too early to see the dancing. 

[Luckily, there were these pink lotuses were in bloom.]

Step 5: Suggest heading to the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum! On the one day of the week it's closed...

Step 6: Suggest a day trip to a city outside Shanghai:
   Step 6.1: Arrive at the train station to buy tickets to Suzhou. Without your Passports. Which are required for ticket purchasing and boarding. [Luckily, they also accept US Driver's Licenses... Who knew?]
   Step 6.2: Make your first stop at the Suzhou Silk Factory, that you've been talking up since their arrival. Wait... this isn't the Silk Factory... this is the Silk Museum... oops! 
   Step 6.3: Take them to a cute spot for lunch. Which is unfortunately far away from the train station and last stop in Suzhou. And get us stuck in the pouring rain. So that we have to pile into a rickshaw, which then proceeds to rip us off (significantly) upon our arrival at the garden... (And I know better!!!)
   Step 6.4: The garden actually is covered, so no problem with the rain here, right? ... Wrong! How about suggesting that everyone climb up the rocks to check out some views, at which point the thunder starts and the rain becomes buckets making the rocks so slippery it's nearly impossible to get down and back to shelter. 

[at least these Silk Museum loomers were fascinating! note the upper & lower workers]

[luckily I have the BEST friends! who can laugh with me throughout all the mishaps... in a rickshaw... in a thunderstorm :) ]

More on the good parts of their visit soon!

Who's wants to come visit?!?! Hehe!