THURSDAY! (at least we think it's Thursday).  Hey folks, our two days of flying have finally ended and we're in SHANGHAI, CHINA!  The last leg of our various flights was 14 hours over the North Pole from Chicago on Wednesday, but the International Dateline (which is not a bunch of Filipino girls talking dirty for a buck a minute!) makes it late Thursday here.  The trip over was not too bad, but the last time we had to sit in seats that were too small and eat pureed goo with plastic utensils we were 2 years old and sitting in high chairs.  Look, we can't complain too much because American Airlines flew us over here for free, but it is ironic that a bankrupt corporation is giving away their mediocre service and inedible food for free to people like us. (We bet after that candid assessment we're gonna need another airline to sponsor our flight home!).

Anyway, we landed at Shanghai's "Pudong" (yes we know what that sounds like!) Airport around 2pm (local time) today and after a few hours of "discussions" with the immigration officials we were allowed to enter the country.   To get from the airport to the city we had our choice of bus, taxi or MAGLEV.  Since we had no f'ing idea what a "MAGLEV" was we choose to take it (why not - our sponsor Budweiser is paying!).  Who knew that it was a train with no wheels (it rides on a magnetic field) and travels at 250 miles per hour! (NOT KIDDING!).  The 25 mile trip took just 8 minutes - WHEW!  Let's just say that at that speed it was a bit difficult to take in the passing scenery and the G-forces on acceleration caused Kevin to lose the rest of his airline lunch.

The MAGLEV dumped us in the center of Shanghai and we wanted to see a bit of the city before dark, so we bought subway tickets and rode around for a few hours.  Okay, here's a helpful hint - did you know that subways are all underground?  We didn't see a damn thing!  When we finally figured that out and got back above ground we were near what they call "People's Square."  It was getting late so we found a hotel (remember we're doing this whole trip without advance reservations) for $16 dollars a night  (NOT KIDDING!) and collapsed in our "shared" room (more on this topic tomorrow).  By the way, they don't use dollars here so the room sounds more expensive when we say it cost 100 Yuan.  We really haven't see much of China yet, but our first overwhelming impression is that most of the people here are Chinese...

      
This was on the plane's TV screen at takeoff.                 We got the best seats on the plane - just look at the view!

      
Stacy couldn't believe we had to stand in this line!      Over Kevin's head that's 480 kilometers per hour -  MAGLEV!

      
The "Pearl of the Orient," SHANGHAI, BABY!                                        Traffic jam in front of our hotel - NOT KIDDING!