19

Shanghai, Saturday night:
After the races earlier in the day, we had to pack up and travel back to the big city. One would think the hotel where the race officials put up the teams would be near the race. One would be wrong. However, in the evening, they did arrange for busses to take us over to the Bund (which kind of has a Times Square quality with all the lights at night). Here's that Oriental Pearl tower and the other buildings across the river all lit up (an extended exposure shot). Okay, enough of this; it really wasn't that exciting an evening. Let's move on.

18

Jiaxing, Saturday morning:
I'm not sure why they schedule the 3,600-meter race after the banquet, but they did. (Yes, 3,600 meters is roughly 20 minutes of paddling without stopping.) Undaunted, we pulled ourselves together and came in 7th. Afterward at the closing ceremonies, with all the boats floating next to each other, we traded jerseys, talked with the other teams (as best we could considering the language differences); for the paddling back to the docks some of our paddlers (including me) switched boats with the team from Lin Dai (that's why, for example, the right side stroker doesn't look like Alain.) It was a good time. (The light in the a.m. is better for photos from the docks.)