Shanghai, home of the pander

We made it back to Hong Kong safe and sound!

On Thursday morning we had to be up and ready to leave at 6AM, very early. Erin and I had packed most of our things the day before but still needed to strip our beds and throw everything into the closets. I came to the realization that my wallet was missing about 10 minutes before we had to leave for the airport. I couldn't find it anywhere and had to go to Shanghai without any money. I'm so glad I have friends like Erin and Faith who helped me take care of this unfortunate situation. Also, my memory card in my big camera short-circuited after day two of Shanghai and I lost all of my pictures!

airplane lunch: chicken, scrambled eggs, a roll?

flying over Shanghai

Upon arrival in Shanghai our tour guide took us to our hotel located about one hour from the airport. I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived at Yun's Paradise. Our room was so cool! I wish my pictures hadn't been deleted, you'll just have to check Erin's blog. I jumped into the shower immediately and the rest of the group set off to find somewhere to eat. There were no food places within 5 blocks of our hotel that seemed appealing. We ended up ordering Pizza Hut, which was extremely difficult with the language barrier. Luckily, a couple of the people in my group speak Mandarin and were able to get the order completed for us. Chinese Pizza Hut delivery is interested. I could definitely taste the Asian influence in the pizza. Our vegetable pizza was very interesting as well. The toppings included pineapple and corn. We were exhausted from waking up so early and traveling so we got to bed early on Thursday evening.

Chinese Pizza Hut

Bright and early on Friday morning we set off for a day tour of the city. Our first stop was the Bund, located right on the river. This area is in the oldest part of Shanghai. Shanghai was greatly influenced by Europe during its early development so the architecture was very European. There are building restrictions here so most of the buildings are not very tall. It was raining pretty hard when we were getting off the bus.

our tour guide for the weekend

Oriental Pearl Tower

Our next stop was a beautiful French area. It was in a great area of town, near a shopping mall and a HUGE Bank of China building. There were so many cute bistros and restaurants. If I were going to be in Shanghai for more than three days I could have spent a lot of time there. Erin bought a great coffee mug inside the Starbucks here.

Our next stop was to a silk manufacturing company. We got to see the entire process of silk-making firsthand: from silk worm eggs all the way to fiber dying techniques. At the end of the tour we were able to buy some silk products made directly in the factory. I thought this was great! I bought a little surprise for Brandi and Steffan. The silk factory has a restaurant upstairs so this is where we ate lunch. It was another traditional Chinese dim sum meal except instead of serving hot tea they served everyone Chinese beer. I had never put pork dumplings and beer together but it was a great combination.

didn't quite get around to trying the fish

We went to the Shanghai Museum on our next stop. Erin, Faith, and myself were not as thrilled about this stop. We spent our time wandering around Chinese calligraphy and jade exhibits for awhile. We ended up in the tea room: sampling tea and eating desserts. 

stole this picture from Google...Shanghai Museum

Then it was time for shopping. We went to a popular shopping area in Shanghai with a huge Nike store, Zara, and several designers like Swarovski and Chanel. Faith and I did some damage at Zara and got really cute clothes! We also stopped at a market very close to our hotel called the Yu Garden. Our tour guide was obviously very familiar with the area and took us to a place to buy fake designer purses. The whole group and the tour guide went so I felt very safe this time. This was a perfect place to bargain. Erin got her mom a really cute tote bag. We did a little more street shopping on our own after this. Erin and I really needed to use the restroom and I had my first experience with the squatter toilets, so gross.

There is a very famous restaurant at the center of the market and garden where we ate dinner with the whole group. The name does not translate to English. It was another dim sum style meal complete with a duck, head and all. There were pictures on the walls of important and famous people who have visited including Bill Clinton and Fidel Castro.

After dinner the group headed to the Shanghai version of Cirque du Soleil called "ERA". I wasn't sure what to expect and was surprised by how great the show was. There were acrobats, contortionists, jugglers and even eight motorcycles driving in a round cage!

I got one photo at the show before they asked us to put away the cameras

Friday was a long day but I'm so glad we got to see so many of the famous attractions in Shanghai.

Room service woke Erin and I up at 8:30 when they rang the doorbell four times and banged on the door. Really? It was unnecessary. We ate breakfast the hotel buffet and began our explorations of the city. We spent most of the day in the markets. We went back to the Nanjing Market because it is famous for all of the knock-off designer goods you can find there. There were several booths set up selling silk products as well. I quickly found out that the silk manufacturing company ripped off Faith and I, great tourist trap. We paid about 6x the asking rate. Erin was lucky and found an awesome Burberry trench coat. Some of the boys bought nice jeans and jackets as well. Carrie got the best fake Chanel bag ever for so cheap too! I got a few presents for you guys back home as well. Shanghai also has a large indoor marketplace. It was four floors high and felt more like a mall. It took us awhile to find it but was well worth the frustration finding the place.

Nanjing market square 

cherry blossom tree, they are so pretty!

found Buddie's friend in Shanghai

traditional market stall

lots of little Buddhas

That night I finally got to meet up with Haley! She came over to our hotel and went to dinner with us. I was dying for some Mexican food so Haley got us reservations at a great restaurant near her apartment. I ordered way too much food but was so happy! Nearly everyone in my group came back to Haley's apartment before we headed out to one of the nicest clubs in Shanghai for the night. Haley is in Shanghai for an internship. There were about thirty international students in her group from Ireland, Australia, Syria, etc. We had a great time hanging out with everyone. The club we went to was so cool. They played a lot of popular American songs and I think everyone had a great time.

amazing tortilla soup, not sure if it was really amazing or if I was just so hungry for it 

Faith, me and Erin at dinner

the view from Haley's apartment...not too shabby

the KKGs taking on Club Sky + my new outfit purchased in Shanghai

Erin woke me up on Sunday with about 15 minutes until check-out! No time for showers, we threw everything into bags and ran to meet the rest of the group downstairs. The flight home was really nice. Dinner was actually really good. The airline had personal TVs in every headrest and you could choose what to watch. I got through five episodes of FRIENDS before we landed back in Hong Kong.

Erin trying on the pander hat

I'm a scary pander in the airport

It was a whirlwind trip. Shanghai is so different from Hong Kong. The language barrier was very difficult. Thankful I had someone that spoke Chinese with me most of the weekend. I was glad to finally be around a lot of traditional Chinese buildings. I don't get to see the curved roofs like that in Hong Kong. The only complaint I have was the amount of cigarette smoke in that city! People were smoking everywhere...the hotel lobby and elevators, at the restaurants and clubs, inside the tiny market stalls. I feel a little sick after all the secondhand inhalation. I was glad to get back to my smoke-free campus in Hong Kong. I'm sure I'll feel better after a couple of days.