Shanghai (day 1)

May 30^th

Today we are heading to Shanghai. On our way to the airport we stopped at Big Goose Pagoda. It was a very beautiful and peaceful place. It would have been really nice to spend time there just taking it all in. We did get some time to watch people do tai chi and walk around and enjoy a small part of the property.

The airport and the flight was pretty uneventful except for getting to the airport with very little time to spare and when we landed in Shanghai, the pilot almost crashed the plane. We landed sideways and touched down a few times before he finally got it under control. The guy beside me on the plane braced for the landing as we approached the ground. He either knew it was coming for all landings are that rocky in Shanghai. Not sure, but only our tour group of people were talking about the bumpy landing so maybe it is just the norm there.

But we made it and found our new tour guide, Vivian. She gave us a lot of great information about the city on our way in from the airport. Once we got into the city limits, the building that you could see from the window were mind boggling. I think this is where the Jetson’s got some of their building designs from. I think my jaw was on the ground for the last hour and Jed and I kept pointing out other amazing buildings with every blink of our eyes. Shanghai is huge! And it is really modern. The roads were just shocking. Who comes up with those ideas? At one point I think we had a road above us and a road below us and big traffic circles suspending in air with on and off ramps everywhere. And the traffic was crazy! I am really glad we didn’t have to drive here.

Once we got settled, Team Adventure set off to find, well, adventure. We added a new member of our team, Miranda. So the 6 of us headed out to hop on the subway and go find some dinner. Once again our trusty book led us to the perfect place, fried dumplings. This place was the real deal. It was a bit of a hole in the wall according out what we know of restaurants but you knew it was going to be good when you saw the huge line and on the other side, the dumplings being made right there in front of us. It was so cool! It took everyone a little while to figure out how to eat these massive, boiling hot dumplings but we made lots of memories watching each other make a mess and ended with people shoving entire dumplings in their mouth. We did learn that next time we should watch how the locals eat something and then mimic. We will know for next time.

After dinner we headed to Nanjing Road. This place was so fun! To me it was a cross between Time Square and Las Vegas, lots of lights and shopping. There were people selling random stuff on the street, an aquarium as a wall and floors and floors of shopping. We walked around, took a ton of pictures and did a little shopping before going down to the Bund.

I could never understand what the Bund was before we got here. Everything says you have to go there. I get it now. Really it is just a large boardwalk along the water. From the Nanjing Road side of the water you can see the financial district all lit up. It is beautiful. We stayed on the Bund for a while just taking pictures and people watching.

After some time on the Bund, we headed to the top of the Hyatt to Vue Bar. We got some drinks and checked out the view from the top. It was such a nice night and a fantastic view.

 The subway stopped running at 10:30 so when the lights downtown went off and we headed home, we headed for a cab. Cabs in Shanghai are so much better then in Beijing. You don't have to haggle for the price, it is just like in the states, you tell them (show them) where you want to go and they put the meter on and off we go. We made it back to the hotel in time to see what looked like go-go dancers in the club at the hotel. We might have to check that place out tomorrow night. . .