This is the last entry of my Shanghai journal. I know it seems strange to talk about Shanghai when we had such a major catastrophe in the eastern States, but I think even in times of difficulties life has to go on. My heart goes out to all those suffering from the effects of Hurricane […]

There are four ‘symbols’ of China: the Yangtze River, The Great Wall, The Forbidden City and Yellow Mountain. It was originally called Black mountain because of the colour of the rocks, but the name was changed to Yellow Mountain Huang Shan (Huang=yellow, Shan=mountain) in honour of the Emperor. If you’ve ever seen those painted scrolls […]

Sun Yat Sen is the father of modern China. I had no idea. He died in 1925 and they decided to raise a mausoleum for him on top of Purple Mountain in Nanjing. At the time China had about 39.2 million people, so the guy who designed the memorial got the bright idea there should […]

We went to see the Confuscious Temple. It was in a very touristy district, lots of foreigners and when I stepped off the bus I saw a Chinese woman who was wearing what could only be hijab! She was so cute! And I felt incredibly homesick. And despite all my qualms at being photographed by […]

Before I transcribe my next installment of my Shanghai journal, I just want to say HAAAA! The Yankees got SWEPT! Blown away! By the Detroit Tigers in four games! Oh how I laughed when that smug-faced A-Rod grounded out in the ninth inning! He’d worked the count 3 and 1, he knew he could only […]

During my trip, I took along a notebook, like I did during Hajj, and filled it with my thoughts. Here’s the first entry: I’m writing this from the Nanjing Hilton which must mean it’s Tuesday, I think. (Oct.9th) Shanghai has a population of about 23 million. In a city! The whole country of Canada is […]

And to quote good ole Bugs Bunny: “Oh the places I’ve been and the things I’ve seen!” More of that later… On the last day, getting ready to come back, my husband turned to me and asked, “So what did you learn from these ten days?” Hmm. The biggest thing I learned is the definition […]

A month ago my father asked me if I was excited yet about going to Shanghai for ten days, and I  just gave him a perplexed look. My parents have been all over the world. They basically drove every place in North America that a car can go. And when they got on in years […]

I once heard a writer describe life as a writer as being kind of bipolar in terms of sociability. You need SECLUSION in order to write, to delve deep enough to actually write anything worth while, but you need SOCIETY and SOCIAL STIMULATION to have something to write about. I know I’ve often felt it. […]