Not to worry, the final paragraph in this update will help explain today's wierd title - I'm fine and relaxed in Shaghai as you can see next....

Please click on the link below to take you to the lastest entry of my Horizons Unlimited web page:
Today I spent the day being a tourist at Yuan Gardens (aka Yu Gardens). If the Bund is where all the foreigners go, then Yuan is where most Chinese seem to spend the day if the crowds were any indication. But before immersing ourselves in culture, we immersed ourselves in caffine as any good Seattlelite should:

[My best friend, and best man, Ted Aoyagi, and I, getting immersed in the Seattle version of a "Tall One" before our tour of Yuan Gardens.]

Unlike some of their brethren in the West, these Buddhists monks seem to have their priorities straight, and were relaxing at the table next to us. They insisted on having their picture taken with me.

[Obviously, not afraid to have their picture published....]

We then exchanged cards, and in return for mine, I received this:

[A good luck card with the teachings of Buddha etched on the back. Only a "small" donation was required in return. I will admit that their card was much more impressive than mine. Given that the "24K" gold seems to be rusting on the back, I think they got the better end of the deal (since, they got that nice "donation", which would buy the whole group lattes for the next few days!). I was assured that placing this charm in my wallet would cause great wealth to flow into it. More on this as it occurs (but, I wouldn't hold your breath).]

And, although the two indoor images above look like a corporate Starbucks anywhere in the world, the external packaging here is certainly not the same:

Rather than giving a tour narrative, I'll let the pictures speak for themsevles. Yuan Gardens is pretty cool, if you can ignore the fact that everything except the actual structures and plants seem to be for sale:

And, a final image for the day. After the peace and harmony of the Gardens, these trinkets seemed a bit out of place. I guess we should cheer the fact that they wound-up used in a manner entirely unintended by the original manufacturer, although the theme is depressingly the same:

GLOBERIDERS TOUR DAY NO: -2
TOTAL DRIVEN MILEAGE TO DATE: 0
TOTAL AIR MILEAGE TO DATE: 7,343 miles
TOTAL GASOLINE USED TO DATE: 0
TOTAL NO. OF AA BATTERIES USED TO DATE: 8