Return Trip - Day 13: Shanghai

---

We flew into Shanghai last pm and arrived at our hotel a little after midnight. After a good night's rest we ventured out to the Bund - the waterfront along the the Huangpu River. Apparently this area was largely rice fields until the early 1990s when the Chinese government started implementing free market policies. Since then, there has been a huge amount of construction resulting in a remarkable skyline, including the Jin Mao tower, which at 1,368 feet is the tallest building in China. Shanghai is incredibly crowded. It's population is 24.9 million and there are more than 3 million pedestrians on its most busy street (Naping Road) every day. The traffic at midnight was stop and go almost all the way to the hotel, and we were told that during the weekdays, only residents of Shanghai can drive on the local roads and highways - visitors can only drive to the city on weekends. We saw dramatic differences in living conditions on neighboring streets in the inner city. The condos in front of Jin Mao tower sell for $40 million each, while less than a mile away, there are tenement-style buildings where families crowd into single room apartments that have no running water or bathrooms (they still use "honey pots"), and pay ~$600/month for the privilege of doing so.

We walked through the People's Park where there were great views of the city skyline and other historic buildings of Shanghai, and then toured Yu Garden, a classic Chinese garden built in the 1570s during the Ming dynasty that contains several pavilions, ponds, rock gardens, and a surrounding wall that is topped by a very long stone dragon. Adjacent to the garden is the Yuyuan Tourist Mart that is an enormous structure that looks like it was built hundreds of years ago, but most of it was actually built in the past 10-20 years ago. The market is filled with all sorts of shops from tourist gift shops to high end clothing and jewelery. Things are routinely overpriced, but you can usually bargain with the shop owners and get the price down 50%. The central area of the market is extremely crowed and we were warned repeatedly to beware of pick-pockets and scammers who prey on foreign tourists - fortunately we escaped unscathed.

Dinner was another great dim sum meal, at a restaurant the Bill and Hillary Clinton ate at during his presidency. The menu was different than the night before and included jelly fish, sticky rice, and a very thick and rubbery rice dessert that was almost impossible to cut and difficult to chew. We ended the night with a river cruise up the Huangpu river. All the buildings are lit up in brilliant colors making for a spectacular nighttime cityscape. Now back at the hotel - packing for the trip home tomorrow.

---

Photos

Shanghai skyline with the Oriental Pearl Tower on the left and the Jin Mao Tower on the right

In Yu Garden

Dragon wall in Yu Garden

The Yuyuan Tourist Market

Shanghai at night - the Jin Mao Tower

Shanghai at night - the Oriental Pearl Tower