China – Shanghai – Last Stop in China!
Shanghai will be home for a little while. The hotel has great WiFi, so I can load pictures onto the blog. Believe it or not, I have not learned any new Mandarin words. The excuse for not learning Korean was to practice Mandarin. According to this language chart – Korean is not that easy to learn (My aunts would be impressed w/ Kris’s Korean speaking skills). Somehow, I survived without learning how to say where is the bathroom. I did a lot of pointing and I am glad that numbers are universal (which makes it easier to negotiate and to order). I was also lucky because I met a ton of people who spoke English. If all else fails, the default translator on my phone is good enough. Well, I am at the end of my China trip and I am really amazed how diverse the people, culture, food, and environment. The country is huge (4 train trips, 4 plane trips, bus rides to the middle of nowhere, and more than a half a dozen different places to sleep), I managed to travel from the east to west and many places in between. I also met a lot of different travelers. I am surprised how many French and British tour groups I ran into on my journey. I met some old friends (Buddy and Vivian) and made some new friends. I had a chance to travel a lone, with a group (Tibet), private tour, and on misc. day tours. I wasn’t planning on going to China but I am glad that I did. I would definite do somethings different in the future: private tour in Tibet trekking btw monasteries (foreigners can’t travel in Tibet without a guide), more research on the different areas (I missed some great sites and food, but even if I did the research, it doesn’t mean I would have seen it – I missed the ~18,000 ft peak because it was cloudy), spend more time in the southwest, hiking trip on the great wall, and I would have loved to see the 3 gorges dam (the u-tube video on dam technology is very informative – I will add the link, then I have access to google again). There is so many things to do and see! Man and nature is amazing!
Shanghai: My last stop in China. The history of Shanghai is interesting and I didn’t realize that the British, French, and American’s had territories in Shanghai in the 19th century. I guess that explains the British and French tour groups. The funny thing is that I did not run into any American tour groups. I found the ~24 million people living in Shanghai. People are like ants, everyone is in the subways. It is really crowded on the subways during rush hour! Shanghai is home to the original Xialongbao (soup dumpling) – they are yummy!
Old City: This is location of the famous Xialongbao restaurant. The funny thing about old city is that is ~200 years old. After being in Beijing, ~200 years old is not very old. Isn’t it funny how perspectives change?
- Old City
- Confucius Temple : I was at the temple during his birthday celebration
Xintiandi and city Center: People’s Square, Shanghai Museum, Municipal gov’t building, People’s Park.
The Bund: Momument Poeple’s hero, skyline looking at Pudong, river walkway
Former French Concession: I could not find a French bakery. Doesn’t a almond croissant sound good?
Pudong: Jin Mao Tower, Oriental Pearl Tower, Shanghai Tower, Shanghai World Trade Center. They day that I decided to visit, it was very cloudy and rainy.
Hongkou and Putuo: Jade Buddha Temple (the picture below is not the famous jade Buddha), M50 (Art district), Lu Xun Memorial Hall
Xujianhui, Hongqiao and Gubei: Longhua Revolutary Martyr’s Cemetery and Longhua Temple
Shanghai Disneyland: I was on my way to visit the stadium and church and decided to take the subway the opposite direction. Hello Donald!
