Shanghai Overview Tour

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On Saturday I had to wake up at 8am for the GT Shanghai Overview tour. Two tour buses transported us between all the events for the day since public transportation would have been too hard for that many people. The first stop was the Shanghai Urban Exhibition Museum. This museum laid out the future plans for the expansion of Shanghai. The exhibit also included an impressive full scale model of the city. After that we that we took the Bund sightseeing tunnel to cross underneath the Huangpu River to the base of the Oriental Pearl TV tower. The tunnel included a strange mix of lights, lasers, and sounds. We embarked on a short boat ride on the River. Unfortunately the weather was overcast and between the clouds and the smog the view was partially obscured. We ate lunch in a traditional Chinese style dim sum restaurant. In these restaurants all the dishes are put on a spinning platform in the middle of the table and everyone simply takes small portions for their plate. Eating with chopsticks continues to be challenging experience. We spent the end of the day in the Yu Gardens and Bazaar in the Old City. Since the weather was poor everyone decided to save the Gardens for another trip and took the opportunity to explore the area. I took the opportunity to go on the walk outlined in my guide book. The most interesting part was the bird and flower market which was filled with all kinds of animals but mostly song birds and crickets, which dominated the air with their constant chirping. We came back to the hotel around 5pm and I spent a couple hours doing homework before going out and seeing some Shanghai nightlife. One of the program participants went to highschool in Shanghai and he took us to a popular international club where there were a large number of westerners. It was a busy day!

On Sunday a group of us decided to walk Nanjing Lu and go black market shopping. When we walked along one section of Nanjing Lu near the Bund last weekend, people tried to offer to take us to their shop watches, dvds, bags, polos, etc so we decided this would be a good place to start looking. While the government has taken a slightly more aggressive stance towards “knock-off” goods it is still very easy to find. We followed our salesperson to a side street off of Nanjing Lu and entered his mock shop which contained a few items of clothing in a very small shop. We went through a door in the back of the shop to see the real merchandise. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures since I was not sure how they felt . While a salesman led us to the shop, once we arrived the women would be the one who bargained with us. The group bought a couple of knock off polos and a pair of sunglasses. Since I am not sure about quality we only bought a few items so we can wait and see if its worth going in a larger group to buy in bulk for larger discounts. A fake Ralph Lauren Polo cost me about $7 but we talked to one group who bought 3 polos for $4. They even give you the item in a Ralph Lauren bag and has imitation tags with badly worded english. Haggling was fun and if the items I bought are actually decent quality I plan on going back before I leave.

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Photos

Me on the boat with the Bund in the background
The old buildings behind me were built in the early 1900s when Shanghai was occupied by European powers

Me with one of the SJTU volunteers
Pudong Side of the Huangpu River

Crickets
Each of the wicker baskets had crickets

Turtles
The little turtles were 5RMB or about 75 cents. I wanted to buy one just to bring back as pet.

Shanghai Financial Center
Between the smog, rain clouds, and fog the building is obscured. Taken from the Huangpu RIver

Comments

[Gaye Hewitt]

Thanks for Writing
Just wanted to thank you, Parker, for taking the time to describe activities, scenery, and experiences in Shanghai. I know you are busy and appreciate the vicarious trip to China! Love you, GMA