Hey all.  Today I got up and ran a few errands in the morning (store and money exchange).  I bought a delicious local apple for breakfast.  Anyways after the errands I starting wandering the streets looking for a place to buy a train ticket to Beijing (I am leaving for Beijing on Sunday).  I was lost and another nice local started to help me.  His name was Bill.  This guy works for an American company so that is how he learned English.  So Bill walked around with me for like 10/15 minutes trying to help me.  He finally took me to the subway station (he even paid for part of my ticket as I did not have enough money in coins) and got me pointed in the right direction.  Thanks to him I made it to the Shanghai Railway station and bought my ticket to Beijing.  Bill told me that he helped me out because he went to the US a few years ago and he knows how it feels to be lost in a foreign place.  When he said that I felt bad because in the US many of us ignore others especially foreigners when out in public.  The subway was packed with tons of people, but at least it was air conditioned.  After buying my ticket I managed to get back to my hostel without getting lost.  Yeah me!  Right before I got back to my hostel I stopped and bought what I thought was a steamed dumpling, but it ended up being a steamed bun.  It was also delicious.  I think tonight I am going downtown and walk along the river front to see the city all lit up in neon lights.

Here is a picture I took of some buildings around the people's square area.  The city skyline you see in the background goes on like that for what seems to be miles.  It is a huge city with lots and lots of tall buildings and tons of people.



This picture is of a typical side street on my way back to the hostel from the subway.