Shanghai'd

Movie theatre and trip.

Last night, Laurel and I went to the dian ying yuan for the first time in China. Our Chinese tutor, Kitty invited us to see the new Zhang Ziyi movie, "Ye Yan" (or "The Banquet") with her. If you like Crouching Tiger, Hero, Flying Daggers, etc, etc ... basically every Chinese movie that has gone mainstream in the US, you'll probably like this one too. It followed the standard formula, but was still very entertaining, with good action scenes and beautiful scenery. Fortunately there was English subtitles (which I found a little odd for a Chinese movie showing in China), but still much appreciated.

Tomorrow we leave for 2 weeks lu xing to Kashgar (or Kashi) in Xinjiang Province, the western-most province in China, bordering Tibet, Mongolia, and the "Stans" (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan). Should be a great chance to get away from the Chinese National Holiday crowds in Shanghai and do some hiking and exploring.

Trip report with pictures to follow in a few weeks.