Shanghai – the largest city population in all of China, at approximately 25 million people, which doesn’t even count the amount of people that visit the city every day…I was one of them this past week, from Monday to Thursday I shuffled along the busy streets, bargained my way through the Yu Yuan Shopping Bazaar and ate my way through the city.
With a well needed break from the ridiculousness of my director/principle of the school, things just keep compiling with this guy. I headed to Shanghai on Monday morning for a three day holiday; it was Dragon Boat holiday on Wednesday. I did my research ahead of time and scoped out the good sites to see, found out what was close to what, so I could hit more than one thing in an area. I was a little too late to book a train ticket, so I took a flight instead, with the train being 6hrs and the flight being only 1 hour, I got to see a lot more so the mix up was a good thing!
Monday:
My flight was on time and only 55 minutes, nice quick trip to a whole new city. I took the Maglev Train, aka the bullet train, which travels up to 450 km/hr.…aka, really fast! Then, it was onto the subway to get to the hotel…talk about crammed! The subway was packed, attempting to board with a suitcase and about ½ million Chinese people was pretty funny. After navigating my way to the hotel and getting checked in, I figured it was about time to start the site seeing…it started with a trip to the local eatery, some breakfast (dim sum – veggie and a milk tea) then on to the Oriental Pearl. For those of you that don’t know what that is, whenever you see a photo of Shanghai, it’s the tall one with the big circles on it. Those big circles are viewing areas, including a see-through floor level and a revolving restaurant. For more, see the photos and videos.
Jing’an Temple was my next stop, it was semi-close to the art street that I wanted to
see, and thus I thought I’d venture out to see them both. Monks and many people awaited me at the doors, incense strewn about the entire area making it smell a little musky & sweet, full of people’s hopes, dreams, prayers and wishes. The temple was very interesting, many people making wishes by throwing Yuan or Jiao (coin money, like quarter and dime size) into the center statue, if it stuck on the first try you were lucky…mine went in on the 5th throw, but that is more lucky than others, some gave up and then little kids would pick up the money and either keep it or start throwing it in themselves. One of the funny things of the day, a woman had a large handful of incense that she’d lit (apparently the more you light the likelier that the gods will hear you), anyway she was holding it close to herself and bowing to each corner…this was not the entertaining part, the fact that the thing was flaming, largely flaming might I add, I was afraid her hair was going to catch on fire because she was not only holding it close but bowing very fast. I actually said out loud, please be careful you are going to catch on fire…a near foreigner heard me and he started laughing…then we both started laughing. Okay maybe more of a funny you have to see it kind of funny, but I swear it was funny! I walked around the temple some, lit my own incense and proceeded to find the art street. I had read online that there is a street that had many art galleries on it...if you know me at all; you know this is totally where I should be. As I ventured, I found a really cool park; fun statues, some fountains, very French looking gardens as well as the statue that is listed in my photos…one of a face with little creatures on top of it. People must think that parts of it are good luck as it looks polished. I never did find my art street, but I did come across the Dragon Boat races, which I did not even expect to see during Dragon Boat holiday. But alas, I stumbled across it. It was pretty entertaining, people got pretty riled up over what is basically a large canoe race…but I know that there are rowing crews in the states…I just have never actually watched a race until now. After one race I figured I’d seen enough, I mean, you see one race you’ve seen them all…it’s a bunch of small dudes rowing a boat and banging on a drum. I’d rather go shopping!
So I hit the H&M, because well the other stores don’t have pants to fit my giant US thighs…so I at least knew I could get pants from them. As none of my pants fit and I don’t plan on walking around with saggy butt pants. After shopping, I headed to the hotel to relax for a bit and then headed down to The Bund, which is the riverfront of Shanghai and has the excellent views.
There were people everywhere and this is not an exaggeration, just watch some of the videos or look at the photos.
Tuesday:
I had made an appointment to see the Shanghai Art Museum, because they ask you to, I did mine online in advance so I didn’t have to wait as long to get in…yea me! This place was huge! No lie! It’s 5 floors tall and has about 4 floors of art, granted they were going through a semi-renovation so the photo viewing was not open…but there was plenty more to see. I arrived at 10:30am, my reservation was at 11…but I got in early and I didn’t leave until around 2:30pm. Ahh, Shanghai: so much to see, so little time. There were a few paintings that I absolutely loved, one was called Houyi Shooting Down the Suns (black and grey painting) and the other was called The South Wannan Incident (red painting). They’re both done by the same artist, Shi Dawei, but what I loved most about it is that within the painting there are other paintings. If you look at it far away you can see other images like faces, large hands or a body, then up close there are even more, it’s very detailed and amazingly inspiring! Loved it! Of course I loved the more expressionist pieces, splatter paint and whatnot but I also enjoyed their take on their urban commercial art, as well as some of the more traditional Chinese paintings.
After the art filled fantastic morning, it was time to finally get some Mexican food. I’ve been craving anything Mexican for about 3 months…so I Googled and found some close. I headed straight to Cantina Agave for some lunch tacos and sangria. I came to find there were no open tables, so I asked a woman who was sitting alone, if it was okay to join her as there were no empty tables. (I wasn’t leaving Shanghai without eating Mexican!) As this whole joint seemed to have multiple groups sitting at tables I thought it wouldn’t be too weird. Well I was wrong, the friend that was to join her…was her date! And it was a first date, American and Canadian meeting for the second time, for their first date…ugh. Awkward! LOL, but so funny. The tacos were a bit disappointing but not bad for Chinese style tacos I suppose…their awkward first date conversation made up for the lack of good food. Next stop, Peoples Square.
People Square: I arrived, but didn’t actually see People’s Square for about an hour…underground shopping is the shizzz! I got a few things for really cheap and got offered many ‘good deal, good deal’ while walking by.
I headed back towards the hotel, near The Bund grabbed a margarita and relaxed doing some people watching….there’s a lot of people to watch so this was a good time! Seeing old white dudes with a cute Chinese girl, just makes me think…’Dude, she wants your passport!’ haha
Wednesday:
With a cup of Starbucks in one hand and veggie bread in the other, I headed via subway to Yu Yuan Garden and Bazaar (it’s actual name, although it was pretty bazaar!). It’s a park and all around it is about 3k shopping, bazaar shopping of all shapes and sizes. Anything you could ever think of you could find here. Not only are little Chinese mom’s and pop’s selling handmade items, well there’s that and seriously everything in between! There is a mall, which included H&M and Mark & Spencer’s and some back alley shopping, ‘I give you bag, good price’, some guy selling beaded necklaces out of a cart, another was carving names into stone, Chinese calligraphy drawing your names or whatever else you wanted done, some plants, lots and lots of jewelry everywhere, etc. I bought a little bit of everything for my peeps back home (I know you’re excited!).
After my shopping spree, I grabbed a milk tea and headed back towards The Bund. It’s relaxing to watch the boats go by, but for the most part I just wanted to sit and people watch.
Thursday:
Departing day…sad! Shanghai is a vibrant lively city with many people from all walks of life both living and visiting the city on a daily basis. It was very cool to be a part of this city, even if it was only for a few days. I take with me memories of music, loud talking, shopping underground, delicious food as well as a few trinkets. It was a great time that I will never forget, thanks Shanghai! It certainly was a delightful surprise! <3
I will try to load videos later, for now...enjoy the photos.
With a well needed break from the ridiculousness of my director/principle of the school, things just keep compiling with this guy. I headed to Shanghai on Monday morning for a three day holiday; it was Dragon Boat holiday on Wednesday. I did my research ahead of time and scoped out the good sites to see, found out what was close to what, so I could hit more than one thing in an area. I was a little too late to book a train ticket, so I took a flight instead, with the train being 6hrs and the flight being only 1 hour, I got to see a lot more so the mix up was a good thing!
Monday:
My flight was on time and only 55 minutes, nice quick trip to a whole new city. I took the Maglev Train, aka the bullet train, which travels up to 450 km/hr.…aka, really fast! Then, it was onto the subway to get to the hotel…talk about crammed! The subway was packed, attempting to board with a suitcase and about ½ million Chinese people was pretty funny. After navigating my way to the hotel and getting checked in, I figured it was about time to start the site seeing…it started with a trip to the local eatery, some breakfast (dim sum – veggie and a milk tea) then on to the Oriental Pearl. For those of you that don’t know what that is, whenever you see a photo of Shanghai, it’s the tall one with the big circles on it. Those big circles are viewing areas, including a see-through floor level and a revolving restaurant. For more, see the photos and videos.
Jing’an Temple was my next stop, it was semi-close to the art street that I wanted to
see, and thus I thought I’d venture out to see them both. Monks and many people awaited me at the doors, incense strewn about the entire area making it smell a little musky & sweet, full of people’s hopes, dreams, prayers and wishes. The temple was very interesting, many people making wishes by throwing Yuan or Jiao (coin money, like quarter and dime size) into the center statue, if it stuck on the first try you were lucky…mine went in on the 5th throw, but that is more lucky than others, some gave up and then little kids would pick up the money and either keep it or start throwing it in themselves. One of the funny things of the day, a woman had a large handful of incense that she’d lit (apparently the more you light the likelier that the gods will hear you), anyway she was holding it close to herself and bowing to each corner…this was not the entertaining part, the fact that the thing was flaming, largely flaming might I add, I was afraid her hair was going to catch on fire because she was not only holding it close but bowing very fast. I actually said out loud, please be careful you are going to catch on fire…a near foreigner heard me and he started laughing…then we both started laughing. Okay maybe more of a funny you have to see it kind of funny, but I swear it was funny! I walked around the temple some, lit my own incense and proceeded to find the art street. I had read online that there is a street that had many art galleries on it...if you know me at all; you know this is totally where I should be. As I ventured, I found a really cool park; fun statues, some fountains, very French looking gardens as well as the statue that is listed in my photos…one of a face with little creatures on top of it. People must think that parts of it are good luck as it looks polished. I never did find my art street, but I did come across the Dragon Boat races, which I did not even expect to see during Dragon Boat holiday. But alas, I stumbled across it. It was pretty entertaining, people got pretty riled up over what is basically a large canoe race…but I know that there are rowing crews in the states…I just have never actually watched a race until now. After one race I figured I’d seen enough, I mean, you see one race you’ve seen them all…it’s a bunch of small dudes rowing a boat and banging on a drum. I’d rather go shopping!
So I hit the H&M, because well the other stores don’t have pants to fit my giant US thighs…so I at least knew I could get pants from them. As none of my pants fit and I don’t plan on walking around with saggy butt pants. After shopping, I headed to the hotel to relax for a bit and then headed down to The Bund, which is the riverfront of Shanghai and has the excellent views.
There were people everywhere and this is not an exaggeration, just watch some of the videos or look at the photos.
Tuesday:
I had made an appointment to see the Shanghai Art Museum, because they ask you to, I did mine online in advance so I didn’t have to wait as long to get in…yea me! This place was huge! No lie! It’s 5 floors tall and has about 4 floors of art, granted they were going through a semi-renovation so the photo viewing was not open…but there was plenty more to see. I arrived at 10:30am, my reservation was at 11…but I got in early and I didn’t leave until around 2:30pm. Ahh, Shanghai: so much to see, so little time. There were a few paintings that I absolutely loved, one was called Houyi Shooting Down the Suns (black and grey painting) and the other was called The South Wannan Incident (red painting). They’re both done by the same artist, Shi Dawei, but what I loved most about it is that within the painting there are other paintings. If you look at it far away you can see other images like faces, large hands or a body, then up close there are even more, it’s very detailed and amazingly inspiring! Loved it! Of course I loved the more expressionist pieces, splatter paint and whatnot but I also enjoyed their take on their urban commercial art, as well as some of the more traditional Chinese paintings.
After the art filled fantastic morning, it was time to finally get some Mexican food. I’ve been craving anything Mexican for about 3 months…so I Googled and found some close. I headed straight to Cantina Agave for some lunch tacos and sangria. I came to find there were no open tables, so I asked a woman who was sitting alone, if it was okay to join her as there were no empty tables. (I wasn’t leaving Shanghai without eating Mexican!) As this whole joint seemed to have multiple groups sitting at tables I thought it wouldn’t be too weird. Well I was wrong, the friend that was to join her…was her date! And it was a first date, American and Canadian meeting for the second time, for their first date…ugh. Awkward! LOL, but so funny. The tacos were a bit disappointing but not bad for Chinese style tacos I suppose…their awkward first date conversation made up for the lack of good food. Next stop, Peoples Square.
People Square: I arrived, but didn’t actually see People’s Square for about an hour…underground shopping is the shizzz! I got a few things for really cheap and got offered many ‘good deal, good deal’ while walking by.
I headed back towards the hotel, near The Bund grabbed a margarita and relaxed doing some people watching….there’s a lot of people to watch so this was a good time! Seeing old white dudes with a cute Chinese girl, just makes me think…’Dude, she wants your passport!’ haha
Wednesday:
With a cup of Starbucks in one hand and veggie bread in the other, I headed via subway to Yu Yuan Garden and Bazaar (it’s actual name, although it was pretty bazaar!). It’s a park and all around it is about 3k shopping, bazaar shopping of all shapes and sizes. Anything you could ever think of you could find here. Not only are little Chinese mom’s and pop’s selling handmade items, well there’s that and seriously everything in between! There is a mall, which included H&M and Mark & Spencer’s and some back alley shopping, ‘I give you bag, good price’, some guy selling beaded necklaces out of a cart, another was carving names into stone, Chinese calligraphy drawing your names or whatever else you wanted done, some plants, lots and lots of jewelry everywhere, etc. I bought a little bit of everything for my peeps back home (I know you’re excited!).
After my shopping spree, I grabbed a milk tea and headed back towards The Bund. It’s relaxing to watch the boats go by, but for the most part I just wanted to sit and people watch.
Thursday:
Departing day…sad! Shanghai is a vibrant lively city with many people from all walks of life both living and visiting the city on a daily basis. It was very cool to be a part of this city, even if it was only for a few days. I take with me memories of music, loud talking, shopping underground, delicious food as well as a few trinkets. It was a great time that I will never forget, thanks Shanghai! It certainly was a delightful surprise! <3
I will try to load videos later, for now...enjoy the photos.