Shanghai: 3 Days in The City of Lights

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The only way I can describe this unique city is by saying that there is not a boring building in site. The architecture and lights create an unbelievable skyline during the day and especially at night. Our hotel is right on The Bund so we are within walking distance from a ton of great restaurants, shops, and nightlife. Our first night we ate at Lost Heaven where we had some delicious Chinese and Tibetan style dishes. The buildings along The Bund are very European in style. In contrast the other side of the river is filled with oriental buildings; this walk incredibly interesting and eye catching.

Day 1 and 2 were mainly work days. Class in the morning, and interviews in the afternoon. Our group traveled out to Shanghai University's School of Public Economics while our other group interviewed an executive at McKinsey Group Shanghai. After our interviews we had a small amount of free time in the afternoon. Day 1 provided us with a short city tour where we traveled to Yu Garden and the Yuyuan Bazaar. It seemed like there were MILLIONS of people at this place. The gardens were tucked away inside this crazy shopping bazaar area. This experience was another one filled with crazy smells, loads of people, and eye catching fabrics and trinkets. I made a couple of small purchases after touring the Gardens but even at that point you're exhausted from dodging all the people. Day 2 afternoon was more of a wandering free day. I went to the Shanghai Museum which had 4 levels of incredible history and art. Afterwards I wandered to the Jade Buddha Temple that had these ridiculously tall gold Buddha statues...18 of them! The temple was still a very spiritual place. Dozens of people would kneel on the red pillows at the foot of the Buddha statue to pray. The entire place, indoors and outdoors smelled of gorgeous incense.

After returning to the hotel after my short adventures, my roomie and I treated ourselves to a nice rooftop dinner at M on the Bund. The food was ok, but the view was spectacular! Day 3 got cut slightly short due to the heavy rainfall in the afternoon. A small group of us created our own walking tour of areas like the French Concession, The People's Court, and city streets that had interesting shops and boutiques. We had soup dumplings for lunch. These little bursts of soup and meat are very strange to get used to. You cannot bite into them since that risks soup flying in all directions, so you have to dive in. We thought we ordered a small amount but instead accidentally ordered 3 dozen soup dumplings. Post lunch was when the rain picked up, so we retired to the hotel. Later that evening I met up with my husband's cousin, Shauna, who lives outside of Shanghai. It was so comforting to see family while on the trip. We ate some traditional Szechuan dishes and enjoyed an evening of chatting.

Shanghai has such a cool vibe about it. It's a mix of European and Oriental flare, but acts as the economic capital of China. I highly recommend this city to first time visitors to China. There is no other place like it!

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