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Published: April 22nd 2009
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We landed in Shanghai at night and the first thing that struck me is how tall and sparkly this city is compared to the other places we’ve been. Skyscrapers everywhere and each one competing for most neon and/or futuristic architecture (but like futuristic more a la Disney theme park than Star Trek futuristic, know what a mean? Think Jetsons). There are still a lot of traditional buildings nestled in between these behemoths and it kind of makes some parts of the city feel like a scene out of Blade Runner (minus the replicants and flying cars). I must confess - I totally had to look that reference up. I just spent the last ten minutes trying to remember if they were mutants or something else...I could not for the life of me figure that out on my own (thank you, glorious Google). My memory for early eighties sci-fi sucks. There were flying cars in that movie, though, right?.
Our hotel is located (perfectly) right on Nanjing road, a big pedestrian street that is always loaded with people. In the early morning there are groups of folks out there doing Tai Chi or dancing (some have got some pretty serious choreography,
Grandma’s gettin’ her groove on). In the evening it’s flooded with people strolling, socializing and shopping. As an obvious tourist you get absolutely mauled by folks trying to sell knock-off purses, watches and all other manner of luxury item (and fancy pens. Pens. I had no idea this was a big luxury item). What I find odd is that they have no actual wears on them - they want to take you to a “special shopping place” and usually only have a laminated paper with photos of the items for sale. The question I have is this: who does this? When is it ever a good idea to follow a perfect stranger into a back alley because they showed you a picture of a Chanel purse?? But someone must be doing it because you literally cannot walk five feet without someone approaching you and they wouldn’t keep doing it if it didn’t work for them (I may have just accidentally used a Dr. Phil-ism just now, sorry about that).
T and I took a couple of long walks away from the usual tourist spots into the areas not as tread upon by visitors and she remarked at one point
that we had walked a whole two blocks in a relatively crowded market area without getting hassled once. Well, in fairness, there was that guy who tried to sell T some live turtles but since that’s way more entertaining than a fake Rolex, we won’t count it. We also passed through an “antique market” (really, more elaborate flea market) and couldn’t get over all the Mao paraphernalia for sale. Man, that guy was popular. ; )
We’ve had pretty easy days here in Shanghai, mild weather and an easy pace so we’ve had more free time here for wandering around which is almost always the best part. Of the main tourist sites, we checked out the Bund (by day and night), the Yuyuan Garden and Bazaar, and took a side trip just outside the city to see the Humble Administrator’s Garden and the Hanshan Temple. All were, of course, perfectly lovely. We’re going to be moving on to hotter and more humid weather next so the flat iron’s days may be numbered and the “wearing a hat ‘cuz my hair ain’t did” phase of my trip is looming menacingly on the horizon. Sigh. Au revoir, nice hair - hello,
blonde puff ball.
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Cindy
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Where are you?
SO many lovely pictures, but we want some of YOU!