Shanghai

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During the course of our week there, we did a ton of shopping, went to a traditional tea ceremony, looked at interesting buildings and water views, met some new friends, met an old friend, visited the Yuyuan gardens, saw an acrobat show, and went through a very odd underground tourist tunnel.

The underground tunnel was probably the lowlight of the trip. It was basically a subway to get across the Huangpu river, but it was marketed as a major tourist attraction. The ride was accompanied by a bizarre psychedelic light show, and a disembodied voice which said things like, “swirling vortex! Shiny stars! Heaven and hell!” in both English and Chinese.

My companions weren‘t too keen on the acrobat show, but I liked it. The actual acrobatics were stunning and seemingly death-defying, but I will admit that there was a lot of filler. I‘d say that more than half of the two hour show consisted of not very impressive dancing (albeit in elaborate costumes), or images projected onto a screen. A few people know about my extreme dislike of projection screens when used in musical theatre, and I can say that it extends to acrobatic shows. During the best parts of the show the projections were superfluous and distracting, and at other parts they seemed like a blatant attempt to fill in gaps in the performance. The atmosphere in the theatre was different from what I’m used to in the states -- photography was permitted, and most people there openly engaged in conversation.

The trip highlights were Yuyuan gardens, and the traditional tea ceremony that we attended. The tea ceremony was a surprise. We met with a nice group of Chinese tourists who were our age, and they invited us to attend the ceremony with them. They were a really funny group, and translated the entire ceremony for us, along with lots of stories and running commentary. One of them invited us to go to her house for Chinese New Year.

Yuyuan Gardens… well, I’ll let the pictures do the talking for that one. It was a pretty place.

I also met my old friend Lindsay, who was an EF student on the Marymount campus during my junior year. I wouldn’t exactly say that I’ve been home sick, but I will say that it meant a lot to me to see someone with whom I could talk about New York and Tarrytown, right down to the sordid details of cafeteria dining, who would know exactly what I was talking about.

In addition to Lindsay, I met a few new friends while in Shanghai. Lets talk about broad connections -- the girl I met is the internet friend of an internet friend, and I met her friends, and they met mine. She was really cool and showed us the best places to eat and go purse shopping.

We stayed at the Shanghai Central Youth Hostel, which was inexpensive, and nicer than most hotels I’ve stayed in. I’d recommend it to anyone looking to visit Shanghai (speaking of which, some of my readers should seriously consider a China trip.)

The Shanghai

And now, onto the pictures!

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Photos

Tea!
Tea ceremony.

Sleeper bus!
Here I am on the sleeper bus to Shanghai. (Note: I would suggest avoiding sleeper buses.)

sleeper bus 2
When I woke up in the morning, I was still on the bus. It got boring, so I started snapping pictures through the window.

sleeper bus 3
Darla eventually got tired of being thrown around on the top bunk, and of not being able to sit up, so she came down to join me. Don't let our smiles fool you -- at this point we've been on the bus for a good 14 hours, and want nothing more than to get off.

hostel!
And then we got to the hostel, and sat in the lobby drinking Jasmine tea, and waiting for the on staff travel agent so we could get things sorted.

The bund
The Bund -- Shanghai's main scenic strip -- looking very sparkly at night.

Me + Yuna
the results of cyber networking. :P

RBT
A Singaporian tea chain. The fact that it's a chain gives me some hope of finding it outside of Shanghai. I had a red bean and caramel tea latte, and it was fantastic. I've had dreams about it.
We went to Cold Stone after. Cold Stone in Shanghai tastes the same as Cold Stone in New York -- Which is to say, wonderful.

streets of Shanghai
....we went shopping.

yuyuan garden
Pretty :)

yuyuan garden 3
Fish!

Comments

[mumsisdaughter]

I like the photos of the garden, particularly the little face peeping out from behind the dragon. I LOVE dragons. Glad you had a better return trip than the outgoing one.

[Emily]

Ohmigosh, Shannon, you look so pretty! Your face has gotten so much thinner! Chinese food must be good for you. ^_^ Also, Shanghai looks pretty. I'm glad you had fun and made new friends.

[Sharon]

The pictures are awesome! Keep 'em coming.

[Bruce]

It is great to keep up with your travels.......I printed a copy for Betty and Carole

[Ang]

Sounds like you're having some wonderful experiences. I'm really glad you'll get to go to Nepal and OMG India!!