We spent the morning at the Jade Buddha Temple and the Bund in Shanghai, where I took a picture of Marilyn; then we rested before one of our best travel nights ever.

You take chances when you travel — if you truly love traveling. Sometimes there’re problems. (To read about one of those you should read Melinda’s Blog. I link to it on my Facebook Page and my Facebook Russell’s Stories Page. She’s a good writer, so you should check out her stories.)

Expats Know Shanghai

Sometimes, though, when you take a chance you hit a home run. She hired a night-time eating and drinking tour of Shanghai led by expats that she found on YouTube: it was last night.

We met our British expat guide on a street corner in a neighborhood about which we knew nothing — we didn’t even really know where we were. The cab just stopped and we got out. Seven other people showed up: expats from Great Britain, Ireland and Australia.

We walked through beautiful old neighborhoods that soon won’t exist, going from cafe to bar to cafe. Our first stop was for soup dumplings and beer. It was nirvana.

We walked through parks full of middle-aged locals dancing in unison or square dancing — at least their version of it. I’d seen that on TV, but didn’t expect to see it in person.

We stopped at a tiny bar that brewed its own beer and we drank cheese beer. (Travel tip: it’s not very good).

At one stop we had lamb, and at yet another we had fried dumplings and snake. (If you want to see video of the snake, you can go to my Facebook Stories page and watch the video).

Eating, Drinking, Making Friends

So we ate great food and experienced Shanghai, but the best part was eating and drinking with the expats who live in Shanghai now.

We talked about their lives, how they lived in Shanghai, and where else they’d lived.

There were two women from Ireland who spoke with beautiful old Irish accents, and who used lilting words and phrases: I thought I was dreaming.

I was in sensory overload all night. That whole 27 hour flight was worth it for this night alone.