Jan 24, 2011

 After we visited the golden monkeys we drove back, down and down along the old road out of the mountains, winding alongside a new super highway being built straight over the valleys and through the mountains at 100 locations concurrently (The Chinese really are in a hurry to modernize). Our next highlight was the climb up Wudangshan, a mountain sacred to Taoism. We really slogged it out, up and up, thousands of steps, for hours, climbing through a gorgeous forest until we reached the temple at the top. Nearly killed me, but our lithe and attractive young guide strode up with relative ease (she does it often!). My last stop was the World Fair in Shanghai - a city hugely expanded outward and upward since 1987.
I was especially impressed by the Chinese pavilion, with its emphasis on green energy and wonderful children's art, and the extremely clever Canadian pavilion with its amazing movies.