City Life - Shanghai

On our first day of our trip in Beijing, I started to notice that people were staring at us. At first, I thought it was because of Tom's blonde hair. But later in the morning, a brave girl asked in broken English if she could take my picture-- and then I thought it was my curly hair. But as my Asian co-worker later told me, "They are taking pictures of you because you're a hybrid." Ha! Thanks, Ed.

In Shanghai, I felt like a walking circus spectacle. Chinese people are not subtle with staring-- or with taking "candid" pictures, and I was definitely the subject of much (unwanted) interest.

Shanghai Pudong district by day.

We landed at the Shanghai domestic airport, and were greeted by a mixture of rain, humidity and smog. Driving toward our hotel, it was difficult to see buildings in the distance because they were masked by a thick shroud of yellowish mist.

We stayed at the Howard Johnson Business Club, and it was by far the nicest hotel on our trip. The bed had a big comfortable Western-style (as opposed to the rock-hard mattresses we had previously experienced),  a stand up shower and separate bath tub in the washroom, and all the other amenities you could want.

After we settled into our hotel, Tom and I went in search of dinner. I had had a poor breakfast and a small lunch that day, and my hunger-related-anger was at it's worst. That is, I was irrationally emotional, and nearing complete meltdown.  We were looking for a specific restaurant, but we couldn't find it, and eventually made a snap decision to try a hot pot restaurant.

We had heard from multiple people that hot pot was delicious, but neither of us had given much thought to what it actually was. We ordered (what we thought) were two bowls of soup and dumplings. But you see... Hot pot is kind of like make-your-own-soup. You order your broth and all the fixings, and then you cook them by boiling them in your broth over a burner in your table.

Tray of hot pot garnishes.

Tom and I had no idea what we were doing, and the staff didn't speak English. What we had actually ordered were two giant bowls of broth and six wontons. We surmised our order was unusual because the staff kept giving us weird looks, bringing our order paper back and speaking to us in Chinese. After a lot of miming, and some patience from one excellent waitress, we finally figured out what was going on. And man, when we finally got it right, hot pot was delicious! The waitress also helped us cook some of our meal, so we made sure to give her a tip. She was clearly very excited,  and she was telling her coworkers as we were leaving.

Waitress helping us cook in our hot pot.

Following our hot pot adventure, we had a one day super-tour through Shanghai. We started in Shanghai Old Town at the Yuyuan Gardens, which were constructed during the Ming Dynasty in 1577. The gardens are considered a place for relaxation and reflection, and feature many koi ponds, rockeries and small courtyards.

Yuyuan Gardens, Shanghai.

Dragon wall in the Yuyuan Gardens.

Next, we walked through Shanghai Old Town; one of the few parts of the city that still retains ancient buildings. Old Town contains many stores and shops, as well as restaurants and food stands. Tom and I were amazed by the massive line coming from a steamed bun shop, and the crowds of residents and tourist in the streets. In Old Town, every other person we met tried to get us to buy fake Rolex's and Coach handbags.

Shanghai Old Town.

Our next stop was at the Shanghai Museum, which featured exhibits displaying ceramics, sculptures, ancient coins, bronze, calligraphy, paintings and jade. They were also hosting a Russian Faberge exhibit which was a nice change from the Chinese exhibits.

Marble Stairway in the Shanghai Museum.

The rest of the day was spent visiting the trendy shops and restaurants in the French Concession, strolling along the Bund District for pictures of the business Pudong district, and a silk factory where we poked silk worms, and wandered through the displays of silk bedding and clothing.

The following day, Tom and I decided to revisit some of the destinations from the previous day, but spend more time in each location.

Pudong District as seen by night.

In the evening, we took the metro into the Pudong District so we could ride up to the 97th "Observatory Bridge" in the Shanghai World Financial Tower. The floor of the observatory bridge is partially glass, and Tom was feeling a little anxious, but it turned out to be less intimidating than the glass floor in the CN Tower in Toronto. The World Financial Tower looks a bit like a giant bottle opener.

Shanghai World Financial Tower (left), Jin Mao Tower (center), Shanghai Tower (right)

When construction of the Shanghai Tower (featured on the right) is completed in 2014, it will be the tallest building in Shanghai. According to Wikipedia, these two buildings, together with the Jin Mao Tower (in the center), will form the world's first adjacent grouping of supertall skyscrapers.

On our way back to the hotel, we passed the bustling East Nanjing Road. This road is closed to vehicles, and was crawling with pedestrians going to the many shops and restaurants in the area.

East Nanjing Road.

In the morning, Tom was very excited at the prospect of taking the high-speed Maglev (magnetic levitation) train to the airport. We had our tour guide drop us off at the Maglev station so we could see what it was like to levitate at high speeds.

High speed Maglev train to the airport.

Maximum speed-- 430km/hr.

Shanghai was the last stop on our Charms of China tour. We spent the last few days of our trip in Hong Kong on our own before we headed back to Canada.