Shanghai

We are back from Shanghai, after 19 hours spent in crappy Chinese airports and traveling by plane and by car in what should have been a 2-hour journey. It should be noted that cheap tickets are not always the way to go when traveling, especially when the amount of money you're saving falls under the hundred-dollar mark due to the extra time spent traveling. And, yes, I'm still tired and grumpy from yesterday's ridiculousness. Why am I updating my blog in such a mood? Because I made a New Year's resolution to blog more, just for the sake of blogging more. So, here I go....

Shanghai is a lovely city with lots of people, lots of culture, lots of great architecture, lots of great shopping, and lots of amazing food. I think it's fair to say that if one were to set foot in only Shanghai, they would never believe China is a Communist country. (Of course, China's ban on Facebook was a bit of a reminder of where I was all week.) After this trip in particular, I've resolved to learn more about Communism, as Shanghai seems to be bustling with Capitalism these days (seemingly even more so than when I was there a few years ago) and I've failed to see how the two can go hand-in-hand. Anyway, I've strayed off topic a bit. Let's talk about the highlights of Shanghai, shall we?

The food:

We found some little hole-in-the-wall places in Shanghai that were dingy and gross-looking but that had some of the best Chinese food I've ever eaten. The best part? Each meal came out to around $2 for each person! Exhibits A and B:

The places that weren't considered all that cheap still came out to less than $8 a person and therefore couldn't be passed up. We found a Vietnamese/Chinese fusion restaurant that fell into this category and the food was am.a.zing. Here's a picture of Ken eating his share of that particular meal:

Note: My part of the meal is the little dish in the lefthand corner. I would say Ken's eyes are bigger than his stomach, but dude ate his entire share (and, yes, he almost threw up when he was finished).

The street food in Shanghai was also really good. The steamed dumplings and the fried flat bread in particular were so good and they were only a few cents for each! Unfortunately, they didn't make it onto the camera before they made it into our stomachs.

The hidden nooks and crannies:

One area I fell in love with in Shanghai was a little area called Taikang Road in the French Concession. The road itself looked pretty dull, but when we turned down a little alleyway, a hidden little town was unlocked! It was an old-school Chinese area that has become tourist-friendly with its art galleries and cafes without losing its authenticity (for the time being, anyway). Ken and I wandered around the maze-like area for hours, finding new little alleys and shops that seemed to get cuter the further in we went.

The shopping:

I didn't actually do a lot of shopping while in Shanghai, but it's a great place to at least window shop. (I could only afford to look!) I think the name of their main shopping district is Nanjing Road and it is exceptionally pricey and exceptionally busy. Ken said he read somewhere that Nanjing Road is one of the busiest shopping districts in the world and I definitely believe it. We were there on a Monday afternoon (a non-busy time), and this is what we saw:

Our friends went down there again on Friday night and this is what they saw:

(Picture stolen without permission from Kevin Smith's Facebook.)

Yikes! Anyway, there are lots of not-so-expensive markets around Shanghai that were entertaining to go through, and the shops in the afore-mentioned Taikang Road area had so many fun little gadgets. (Some of my family members scored in belated Christmas presents from around there, but I'm giving no hints!)

The city skyline:

The Bund area was under construction for the upcoming World Expo all week, so our view of the city skyline was a bit skewed. We did find a bridge that offered some good picture-taking opportunities, though:

(Our couple-shot was ugly, so you get to see the individual photos.)

The smog was unbelievably thick all week and even our extensive photo-doctoring couldn't get rid of it. Regardless, the Shanghai skyline (or this part of it, anyway) is pretty impressive.

There are a few more pictures and a few more stories from our Shanghai excursion, but I have to unpack now and do a bazillion loads of laundry before tomorrow. I'll conclude this little post of mine by saying that, all in all, our trip was a good one. Maybe I'll post a few more pictures later. Maybe not.

Happy New Year!