Seeking out Shanghai

The last destination on our trip was the massive city of Shanghai!  Part of the reason was that our flights routed through the city, and part because Shanghai is awesome.  Though I did not know that when I booked the flight...  This city gave me a serious case of jealously.  Jinshitan is a fishing village.  Shanghai is a mecca.  A shopping mecca.  I must go back.

Checking out the sights

Although we only had a day in Shanghai (and by a day, I mean a literal 24 hours), we made the most of it. After freshening up at our hostel we headed out to see the city.  First, we stopped at a strange coffee shop/bakery that served strange delights.  I bought a sea salt coffee.  I thought it was going to be hot, but it was served iced.  It was actually quite tasty, but very difficult to describe.  It was not salty, really, but it certainly was strange.  Next we headed towards the giant market.  The market is filled with all sorts of fakes.  This market is the China I dreamed about!  I know it may sound ridiculous...but seriously.

At the Bund

We quickly ditched the boys, and the girls and I conquered the five story market.  I bought a Jimmy Choo purse, some sneakers, new Burberry perfume, and a Louis Vuitton scarf.  The fun part is that everything is negotiable.  They start soooo high, hoping you are stupid enough not to bargain with them. (It does happen, we heard an American bragging loudly about paying only 500 kwai for a sweater.  It is likely she should have paid 70). I enjoyed the bargaining because I wasn't intent on buying anything.  If they didn't offer a price I liked I simply walked away.  Usually they run after you, and drag you back by the arm.  I got my silk scarf for only 60 kwai after a little Chinese woman realized that she could not physically move me!

Some of the sights

After exhausting the market, we headed to some real stores.  I know it seems a strange way to spend our time in a new city, but I was so excited to be back around brands I know!  When we were done we headed to a great restaurant and loaded up on fresh veggies and Perrier (my favorite).

The Bund

We then headed to the Bund to see the architecture at night.  There are some crazy buildings in Shanghai.  Unfortunately my camera does not seem to take great night photos, but it was a pretty amazing sight.  The Bund is one of Shanghai's most famous sights.  Overall Shanghai has some crazy buildings.  We went to a converted bomb shelter (a bit creepy, but cool to see), and a makeshift Manhattan apartment restaurant (beautiful rooftop patio, New York prices!).

The next morning we only had time for breakfast and then a ride to the airport.  The exciting part was the airport ride.  We took the Mag luv, which is a bullet train.  It goes over 300 km/h and it only takes 8 minutes to get to the airport on it!  At one point it was almost completely sideways, but it didn't even feel like it!  Although there have been some recent bullet train crashes here in China, I survived and was pretty excited about my experience!

Reading to ride!

Bullet Train

We arrived back in Dalian late Saturday night, exhausted and dreading heading back to work on Monday.  The vacation was great, and the return to work has been manageable!  Though I will admit, I am counting down the days to winter break!