Shanghai
Trip Start
May 29, 2008
1
65
102
Trip End
Dec 19, 2008
Shanghai,
Shanghai,
China
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Soup Dumpling at Nanxiang
. Rachel was on a do or die mission to find a renowned dumpling restaurant that she saw on Anthony Bourdain's show "No Reservations." So that was the first order of business. We walked through the Golden Dragon Mall area which was tons of retail shopping housed in traditional Chinese architecture and they had Chinese brands and luxury Western brands in these retail spaces - it was a cool concept. Eventually, we found the restaurant with its winding line that curved around not only the restaurant but into the high foot traffic bridge on the other side of the restaurant past the tea house in the middle of the pond and over the bridge near the Yu-Yuan Gardens. It was primarily Chinese people in this line so we knew we would get some fantastic, authentic Chinese food and not some tourist, watered-down, Panda Express-type food. We finally arrived and were escorted to a cute table overlooking the plaza at the top of the restaurant. Our server was one of the server's on the show featuring this restaurant on the Anthony Bourdain show. We decided to go for the pork dumpling, crab dumpling, mushroom dumpling, and a dumpling that you actually drink out of from a straw (Rachel was really excited for that one). These dumplings are unique in that there is soup inside of them and you have to make a small bite in the corner of them and pour out the soup filling into your spoon. You then proceed to slurp the soup (slurping is considered a compliment to the food here) and then eat the filling thereafter. This was a neat little process and something we had never seen before in dumpling eating. The taste was oh so wonderful. We loved it. The only thing that was cooler to eat than to taste was the big dumpling that you drink out of where you would literally put a straw in this huge dumpling and drink the soup inside like it was a Slurpee, although you were more prone to get tongueburn than brainfreeze. This place was so dang good we had to go again - we would have eaten there every meal if we could
Mmmm...good! Little soup dumplings
. After the dumpling restaurant, we headed over to Yu-Yuan Gardens which was worth the $6 entrance fee just to get away from the crowds. You still had maybe 200 people in there but it felt secluded compared to the hoards of people outside. The Gardens were nice and had strolling paths, pagodas, rock gardens, waterfalls, koi ponds, and other relaxing aspects to it. After that little retreat, we had to go back out and brave the crowds to get to the famous Tea House. Huxingting Tea House is one of the world's most famous images in teaware around the world and only fittingly did they sell fantastic teas and teaware. We had a chance to enjoy a traditional Chinese afternoon tea. This was a really cool experience as they would bring out multiple teas and allowed us to smell them and feel their texture and ask questions about them before we were served. Rachel got jasmine and I got green. They came out and would give us the actual tea leaves, no bags, and we would steep it ourselves. They also had a small little tea glass, the size of a couple of thimbles, and served oolong tea kind of as a palate cleanser. Both the feature tea and the side tea served a purpose for the overall experience. They first had to wash all of the teaware with tea because the teaware is worth of a washing agent much more prestigious than water. It was a neat effect. We drank tea until we couldn't anymore as they kept on pouring more and more until we had enough. Although it was relatively expensive, we still thought that it was a decent value especially for its location and reputation
Huxington Tea House
. At night, we decided to go to the Bund Promenade to enjoy the skyline and get to experience the buzz of the Shanghai night. We got more than we bargained for as everyone was out and about due to it being National Day. Street vendors, entertainers, and tons of Chinese visitors from outside Shanghai as well as locals. We had a chance to take some fantastic pictures of the Bund Skyline which featured the Oriental Pearl, which is Shanghai's #1 tourist destination, Jinmao Tower, and Shanghai Financial Center along with the boats and other marine activities in the river. We actually were haggled by a street vendor repeatedly to buy these roller shoes he was selling. We thought they were really amusing. We had wanted roller shoes for a while now but couldn't find any. Our reservations on not getting them because we had no room to pack them were negated by the fact that they were just too cool to pass on. Rachel had to get them. We bought them and Rachel started to train. At 26, Rachel was putting on light up roller shoes to ride through the streets of Shanghai. The Chinese people thought it was the funniest thing - I don't care who you are that's funny. I had to serve as her training bar as she slipped multiple times. As always happens when Rachel tries to pick up an alternative activity, she caught on quickly and was eventually riding down the streets of Shanghai using her shoes and the new roller attachment she bought for them
Yuyuan Garden
. She was an all-star. People were taking pictures, staring, giggling, and jealous - I know I was (I was wearing sandals that night so the attachment only works on shoes). We called it a night after we stopped at an English-style pub to have food and import beer. The next day we decided to cross over to the other side of Shanghai to see more of the city. We were on more the traditional Shanghai side. We took a sightseeing tunnel to get to that side. It was actually a metro looking thing with a large cabin that would take riders from one side of the river to the other side in an underground tunnel. They had a light show in the tunnel that was super-groovy and would be a real trip if Rachel was ever to use any of that LCD she was talking about. Upon arrival at the other end, they had a couple of museums one being a Sea Creature Museum and the other being a Chinese Sex Museum. Sex Museum was a little more entertaining just because they had some pretty hilarious phallic symbols everywhere and then some more conspicuous, obvious ones. It was a different experience and one we found somewhat odd because the whole atmosphere was supposed to be family-oriented - I guess Chinese have a different take on quality family time.
When we finally arrived at the other side we went directly over to the water promenade
1-Yuyuan Garden
. It was a nicer version of what we saw on the other side of the river. The Oriental Pearl was right next to the water and a pretty interesting sight. Not necessarily the best color combination in our opinion though. Thereafter, we walked over to the Shangri-La for appetizers and happy hour drinks where we could enjoy 360 degree views of the city. It was a real nice perspective. We were becoming smart on the times to go to these places as during happy hour normally nobody is there so you can get the best pictures and also the best prices - not a bad strategy. We also hit up JinMao Tower which is the tallest hotel in the world and also houses the highest bar in the world. The architecture was fantastic on this tower as it used to be the highest building in Shanghai and mainland China until a month ago when the Global Financial Tower surpassed it. It looks like a flat-headed bottle opener in the sky. Our last day in Shanghai, we had to take advantage of the world-famous Shanghai acrobats and enjoy one of their shows. We decided to pay a little more for one of the more highly regarded shows and it turned out to be a great decision. The performances were absolutely stunning. I'm not talking about people that can juggle eight bowling pins or other feats that are pretty impressive. The stuff that these people pulled off was mind-bottling. It seriously was kind of hard to figure out if your mind was playing tricks on you because a lot of this stuff defied the laws of physics.
