On Tuesday morning, we had a little time before catching the afternoon flight to Guilin, so I explored the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition.

It's an unrelentingly optimistic view on Shanghai's growth, which glosses over the dark side of such sprawl. But it's hard not to impressed by the sheer scale of the various projects intended to guide that growth, including revamps of the airport, pier, and transportation systems. The most impressive exhibit is the scale model of the city, which takes up an entire floor of the Exhibition. The room lights even dim every 10 minutes to simulate an evening view of Shanghai, whose intricate skyscrapers and bridges seem to glow with the ambition of its city planners.

Mom went back to rest at the hotel, while Annie and I explored the French Concession district. This was the area that the French controlled during the colonial period, which has gone through several renovations and which has arrived at a fashionable blend of modern commerce and historic architecture. We visited the Shikumen Open House, which preserves one of the distinctive houses from that period. The furnishings were a reminder how much both East and West influenced Shanghai's culture during that time.

At my friend Terry's recommendation, we visited Sun Yat-Sen's former residence, and got a glimpse of this revered figure's role in China's history.

Haagen-Dazs break! Expensive (Y60), but you can get China-fied updates of basic shakes that you can't get in the States. This was our apricot and mango shake, with rosemary!

The evening was a bit of an adventure. We set out to eat dinner at a restaurant near our hotel named Factory, which was recommended by Lonely Planet. Turns out that you cannot completely trust a four-year old tour book, because Factory no longer existed. The doorman outside the industrial-looking complex where Factory should have been assured us, however, that there was a very good restaurant on the third floor that we should try. He was right.

From the gleaming glass and fire entrance, we were concerned that we had stumbled upon some place way outside our price range. But, while several items on the menu were priced from Y400-500, we found a number of reasonably priced cold and vegetarian dishes. We managed to cobble together a very tasty meal for Y121 (approx. $20 for three people . . . not bad at all).

We made a mad dash for the last cruise along the Huangpu River, which offered amazing views of both the sparkling modernity of the Pudong district and the elegant history of the Bund.

After dropping Mom back at the hotel, my sister and I attempted to get a drink at the bar atop the tallest building in Shanghai. Alas, it closed with the entire building at 11pm, a strange practice for a bar. But we managed to snap some neat pictures of the gorgeous building. You can't tell from this profile shot, but the building is shaped like a bottle opener, with observation decks lining the top and bottom of the opener.

On Monday, we drove past the soaring residential towers in the center of Shanghai to the outskirts of the city, where we spent the morning exploring Zhujiajiao, one of the historic "water towns" in the area. That's our tour guide Sunny, with Mom and Annie.

One of the traditions is to release fish into the canal, which allows you to make a wish. Here is Mom wishing for my and my sister's health and happiness.

We stopped at the house and gardens of a former impresario in this area, which was a more compressed version of the grounds at Yuyuan Garden. It contained a beautiful horse-shaped rock from the same lake that the three stones in Yuyuan Garden.

We finished with late lunch at Jia Jiao Hong Lou, a restaurant at the entrance (not far from one of the ubiquitous KFC's that seems to have conquered the fast food imagination of the Chinese). After Sunny explained our collective food parameters (some vegetarian dishes, not too much salt or spice), the very competent waitress thought for a second, developed a game plan, and explained that she would just start sending out food that she thought we would enjoy. She did a great job. My favorite dish was salt and pepper shrimp, which was perfectly seasoned and impossibly tender under the crackle crunch of the shell.

The gluten puffs and egg with local fish was also tasty. After lunch, we were sent on our way by the owner's adorable dog.

After lunch, we drove across the river to the Bund, a stretch of historical buildings that are a remnant of Europe's historic presence in Shanghai. The restoration of the Bund was completed in March 2010, and includes a raised walking area along the water where you can view the skyscrapers in the Pudong district.

In the evening, we decided to try some of the local street food near our hotel. You couldn't beat the price (US$5 for dinner for three). Mom, however, pointed out that you could beat the cleanliness.

Next stop was the Pearl Oriental TV Tower, one of the tallest television towers in the world. The views from up top, especially from the glass bottom walkway, were stunning. The tower is in the Pudong district, the commercial heart of Shanghai across the Huangpo River from the famous Bund.

Lunch at Seagull Palace redeemed the awful breakfast at the food court. The tastiest dish was fish meatballs, which I have always had savory but which were surprisingly sweet and sour.

Mom and I were picked up by our Shanghai tour guide, a bubbly young woman with a stylish purse and glasses named Sunny. After picking up Annie at the hotel where she had been staying, we were whisked off to Yuyuan Garden, a historic Chinese garden in the center of town. We ate breakfast at the bustling food court at the entrance of the garden.

Looks great, right? Too bad it tasted like shit. We didn't finish any of the items, which is saying a lot considering we were hungry from our travels and considering, well, the way our family normally eats. Here's hoping that the rest of our meals in China are better.

The garden itself was full of winding paths and bridges over ponds. One of the neater features were three mounted stones from a famous lake in China, whose chemical properties pocked the stones in it.

After dinner, we were dropped off at the train station in Beijing, which is not where you want to idle for three hours waiting for an overnight bullet train. Upside: toilet bowls for those with disabilities who cannot use the squat toilets that are more prevalent in the country. Downside: no air conditioning, which meant sweltering heat and wilting moms.

When our train finally arrived, we were grateful to get out of the heat. I thought the bullet train and its sleeper cells were decent versions of the elegant trains that we used to get around Germany last summer. Mom is not as used to train travel, and was less impressed. But we agreed that the best part of the trip was meeting our roommates (cellmates?), two young women from Beijing named Susan and Lulu.

Susan, on the left, was particularly kind. When she heard Mom worrying about sleeping on the bunk bed, she brought out a bottle of lavender essential oil that she suggested dropping on our wrists and on the pillowcase. Both the fragrance and the gesture of kindness had the immediate effect of calming Mom down. And when Susan heard that Mom's knees and legs were hurting from the long, cramped plane ride, she gently lifted Mom's feet onto her legs, rolled up her pant legs, applied an ointment, and tenderly massaged Mom's knees, calves, and feet. It was an act of surprising intimacy yet matter-of-factness. I can't imagine many strangers in the US offering to do the same thing, or my mom allowing many strangers in the US to do so. It transgresses Western norms about personal boundaries, not to mention those about touching others' feet. Yet Susan's act seemed to flow naturally from her respect for elders and sense of filial devotion. We learned that Susan had studied Eastern medicine and acupressure in order to help her aging mother and father. And she thought nothing of caring for an elderly stranger on the train the way she would an older family member.

The next morning, Susan and Lulu wrote down places in Beijing that we could visit in the evenings when we were done with the tour. And they waited with us at the train station, to make sure the tour guide found us! What a lovely introduction to the hospitality of the Chinese.

After being picked up from Beijing Airport, we went to dinner at a local cafe en route to the train station. It looked modern and hip, not unlike any number of late-night cafes that you could find in SGV, and was appropriately named Youth Restaurant.

The menu was impressive, with several items that you just can't order in the United States.

Both mom and I were impressed with the food itself. The nicest surprise was a dish of cold fern root noodles, which neither of us had tried before. It had the texture of soba noodles, in a delirious salty-vinegary broth with chopped chilies, scallions, and peanuts.

The breakfast buffet at our hotel is a blend of East and West, mixing hot soy milk, congee, and noodles with a bacon, sausage, and an omelet bar. This cruller, traditionally eaten with sweetened soy milk, was labeled "Deep Fried Puffy." Which, coincidentally, is my online screen name.