Steel and plywood

After a hotel breakfast, which I swear was more of a lunch/dinner than breakfast food, we decided on having peanut butter and bakery rolls instead. Boarded bus for Bao Steel. The company is the 3rd largest steel company in the world (after Japan and Korea). Capacity is now at 14 million tons per year with eventual planned expansion to 40-50 million tons. It was great to see the piping red hot iron ore at the beginning stages and follow it on skywalks to the end. It was about a 10 minute walk on the platforms and we wore hard hats. The steel kept getting thinner and longer. It would roll down the line as water poured on it and then periodically it ran backwards. The final steps (after much flattening) was when the hot steel was coiled into large bundles as an insane amount of water was dumped over the machines to keep them cooled down. We weren’t sure about their safety levels since the general manager only said their death rate was low and they recycled 100% of waste, which is not possible. We stopped at the Yellow River, which was indeed quite yellow from barge traffic and industrial pollution from factories such as this one.

Went back downtown near The Bund and had an hour to kill on the ‘boardwalk’ of The Bund. Adam and Megan made quite the team, haggling prices for some novelty gifts. Lots of people selling roller skates also, which you strap onto your shoes. Then, we went to the Astor Hotel, the building of the first stock exchange in Shanghai after 1949. Attended a presentation by Air Products Asia, which sells different gases they extract from the air and then purify. And, given the air quality here, I’d imagine it costs much more to purify the air here than at Air Products HQ (USA). We also heard from one employee, who spoke about his life as an ex-pat. This was followed by a reception hosted by Air Products on the rooftop of Bund No. 3, overlooking the river. Walked to a French restaurant, T sens, on the river and had a Bloody Mary and a white fish on potatoes and rice. Was 1/3 of a fish for $25…a bit pricey, but we had gorgeous views of the river and a gentle breeze. Some stayed to go out to Bar Rouge (nightclub), but I was worn out, so took a cab with several others back to the hotel.

Called home at 10:30pm (9:30am Central) after I figured out how to place an international call from our hotel room. The front desk at the hotel knows me quite well since I’ve been playing “Cranium” with them, charades, drawing pictures, etc. Did some laundry in the hotel sink.

On the first night in Shanghai, I thought my bed was incredibly hard and told Adam it felt like plywood, because, it turns out, it WAS plywood!!! The mattress was on upside down and indeed had plywood on one side. We flipped the bed and re-made it. Our room is pretty decent compared to other rooms, since we have a corner room with large windows overlooking a street intersection.