Shanghaiiiiiii....!

  Shanghai, China
Friday, March 28, 2008

I think the best way to describe my Shanghai experience is something like this: I've never pointed to more things in

Shanghai

my life and I absolutely, 100%, do not want to know what it is I've been eating.  It's been a blast, but I seriously think there is not a single person here who speaks English.  It could be worse though, I'm staying with Dan, an old friend from Dartmouth (and Tabard, for those of you who know what that means)

Me in Shanghai

so I've had a nice crew of ex-pats to spend my nights with.  Dan's been a great host and I've sampled all sorts of local beers, as well as local pubs. 

I've been absolutely awful at taking pictures here so they won't tell much of a story, but I've basically spent my days walking around and people watching.  Shanghai is a wonderful city with an illustrious skyline along the

Shanghai store

water.  Luckily, my time here has beeen filled with sunshine so I've been taking the luxury of sitting on a bench along the water and catching up on my reading and journal writing for entire afternoons.  I'll interupt my people-watching for a cuisine adventure around lunch time, where I'll play roulette with the menu and hope for the best. I've had the best dumplings for $0.50 I've ever had in my life and I'm pretty sure I've eaten cat on a skewer. Don't ask.

There's obviously a lot more to Shanghai than live bands at a local pub and dumpling stands in the park, but I'm pretty content with my version of the city.  It'd been nice to have a house instead of a hotel and to just sit in the 

From the Sex Museum... don't ask

park for hours on end instead of running around trying to see every sight imaginable. I did venture into the Shanghai railway station, which was a mission in it of itself.  Somehow I managed to come out with a train ticket to Beijing, but I'm still not sure if it'll actually get me there... like I said, I really think no one in Shanghai speaks English. 

And with that, I'm off to Beijing... or at least I'll try and hope the piece of paper I have is actually a train ticket.

Till next time!