Shanghai-Day 4 & 4.5

We went to check out M50, the cool arts district in Shanghai were artists show in old warehouses. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the galleries and only a few were open, so pictures are limited:

Next we headed over to the French Concession. We had seen the outskirts a few days before and I wasn't terribly excited about it, but it turned out to be super cool.
Here is some meat hanging from a tree to dry. Right next to the laundry.
Unidentifiable scraps of meat:

The next day we only had a few hours before our flight left. We headed over to a nearby temple to check it out but admission was crazy expensive and they had already turned half of it into a shopping mall. We did, however, find a cool rock climbing wall for me to show off my mad athletic skillz.


Inside a drawer in our hotel was a book of Chairman Mao quotes, Chinese checkers, and monopoly: china edition. excellent.
We headed out for a quick stop in Hong Kong before on to Thailand!

Shanghai-Day 3

We had a lazy start to the day but once we headed out we stumbled upon some old friends from Guilin:

We finally found Yang's Fried Dumplings, right on the corner of our hotel! They definitely lived up to their reputation for best soup dumpling-we returned to eat them again before we left. Best food you'll get in Shanghai. And dirt cheap, too.

We wandered back over to People's Park and after a cold reception at the Museum of Contemporary Art and a stop by the Expo Museum we stumbled into this fellow, writing unknown messages with a water soaked brushed. I am especially fond of him.
Despite warnings from the hotel staff that it was far too complex, Jac and I managed to hop a LOCAL bus all the way to a fishing village outside the city. Famous for their unique bridges, it was packed with people selling and buying food and souvenirs. Still really great.







When I first used to visit Lauren and Jac in New York (circa 2002 and the 6th grade), I dreamed of buying up the little turtles in China town and setting them free to live in the wild, open country of Central Park. Lauren and Jacquie were less enthusiastic about the idea and it never did come to fruition. Little did they know how destined I was for China back then. They sold fish and turtles on the bridge for tourists to buy and set free in the river. By doing so you save the animals life and earn yourself a bit of good luck.

Shanghai-Day 2

These are a little out of order, apologies. We finally found the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel. It is hilarious and a must do. It takes you from the Bund to the Pudong side in a little train car. While you travel, lights flash and an overhead voice comes on to explain what you are seeing, shouting things like: HEAVEN and HELL! NASCENT MAGMA!

We headed over to Old Town, which I was so excited about. It turns out they rebuilt all the old buildings (A favorite of Shanghai architectural style is to tear down a building and then rebuild it exactly how it existed before..) and it was absolutely packed with tourists. In some places we could hardly move. There was supposed to be a beautiful garden, but unfortunately it was closed for the new year.

We did get some fun street food out of it, though. Here's Jacquie with a drinkable soup dumpling and me with some fried crab.

In our search for Yang's Fried Dumpling's shop we stumbled into the first of many, many construction sites. As you may or may not know, Shanghai is hosting the World Expo this spring. So, as Beijing did for the Olympics, they are trying to clean up the city as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this doesn't just mean forcing it to rain to clear up the air quality. People are being evicted by the neighborhood and old residential buildings demolished. This was by far the most interesting part of Shanghai to me, so you'll forgive the excess of pictures.

Here you can see some of the eviction notices on the doors.






On our way to and from the nearest construction site we were accosted by dragon/lion dancers! They flew out of a nearby shop right into our lap. The old man leading them was handing out red pockets (a traditional gift for children and the unwed during Chinese Lunar New Year) containing 2 (possibly fake) yuen. He handed me one (likely thinking me a child) and patted my cheek.

The dancers paraded into shops, startling shop keepers and customers alike.

Shanghai-Day 1

We flew out of Guilin after only a day to have a bit of a lengthier stay in Shanghai.

We wandered from our gorgous hotel to People's Park (see below). We stoped to try and figure out a game plan of where to head and in the meantime two little girls sat next to us. I glanced up to see their father with a camera so I appologized and moved to hop out of their picture. They all jumped up to stop me and urge me back into place. Then I realized that they had been trying to covertly grab a picture with me (a perfect stranger). Upon discovery they gave up the game and enthusiastically wrapped their arms around us for a picture. It was definitely not the last time we ended up in a stranger's pictures.

After that we headed up to the 33rd floor of some building to have a look at the city and grab a drink.

I got the yummiest coffee milkshake!
We watched the lights come on and then hoped a train to the Pudong side to see the skyscrapers and find the Bund Sightseeing tunnel.

We couldn't find the tunnel, but we did stumble into this! People setting off dozens of paper lanterns.
In the excitement, I failed to immediately realize how dangerous they were and what a terrible idea it is. The lanterns often fail to take off at all, but when they do they usually get caught in the nearby trees. Fire and all.
When they do take flight, often the smoldering ember falls from the sky onto the sidewalk below, filled with unsuspecting pedestrians.