Amazing Shanghai and experiences 2nd week

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Now already the second week of working here is over. Time is flying.

Nothing new report from work. Everything is running smooth and it is alot of fun. I am sitting in a cube in the middle of the office and really only understand Chinese LOL...of course almost everybody can speak English here but when people talk to each other it is mainly in Chinese. And there is always food. But no unhealthy sweets. Always different fresh fruits and nuts.

This week I had to bring my business shirts to the laundry as I do not have a washing machine in my appartment and the cleaning service where you can get your other clothes washed does not iron shirts.
So I tried my luck and went to a traditional Chinese laundry store.
In the end it was pretty simple:
I put my 6 shirts on the tray and pointed towards the washing machine and then to the ironing board.
The nice gentleman nodded with his head, took one shirt and showed me the price for one shirt on the board. Then I nodded and he showed me on a calendar when I can pick up the shirts. Simple as that and without speaking a word of Chinese I got my shirts washed and perfectly ironed for $1 a piece.

Last Monday was Tomb Sweeping Day so the company remained closed and the office manager offered to take the other 2 German colleagues and me on a tour through Shanghai which we gratefully accepted.
This weekend i will further start to discover the city but what I have seen so far is unbelievable.

First stop on the trip was Old Town and the famous Yu Garden. In Old Town there is one little store next to each other selling "original" goods like chopsticks, Chinese stonefigures, Rollexes,... All the buildings are kept in the old Chinese style and the day we visited this part of the town it was crazy busy there.
In the middle of this crazy busy place is the Yu Garden located, a great example of the ming garden design. Once you enter the garden you can no longer hear the loud city around you. It was beautiful.
I took a lot of pictures of the little buildings, lakes and espescially of all the detailes work of the accessories on the roofs of the buildings.

After the walk through the park we crossed the bridge with 7 corners (crossing the bridge should bring luck and money) we went for lunch to Shanghai's most famous dumpling restaurant, the Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant. Best dumplings I had so far here in Shanghai.

With a full, but not too full stomach, it was time to see the most modern part of Shanghai, Pudong.
First stop there was the SWFC (Shanghai World Financial Center) which is currently with 474 meters (or 1,555 feet) the 3rd highest building on earth. We bought tickets to get to the very top (or 100th floor).
The floor is made out of glass so on a lot of parts you can see from 474 meters to the bottom...pretty sketchy and I did not know if it was me or if the building was moving...but the view was incredible.
Right next to the SWFC the next huge building is located - the Jinmao Tower with "only" 87 floors.

After we were back on safe ground we went to the riverside to see the Bund. While enjoying some fresh mango we decided to go to a close by Japanese restaurant for dinner. There you can order different kinds of meat in thin slices so you can cook them yourself in the middle of the table on a hot plate. Since I am here I cannot get enogh of this food. After lunch we went to the riverside again to take a look at the Bund at night and called it a day after lots of walking and lots of new impressions.

Tomorrow I will discover more of Shanghai since there is so much more to see!

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Photos

Shanghai Kindergarten
only German word I have found so far

old and new
Incredible - from the old garden you can see the new 2 highest buildings in Pudong