Shanghai Part 1

The Light Fellowship provided me with enough money to stay in a hostel here in Beijing for a few weeks until my fall semester starts. However, I knew since before HBA even ended that I wanted to leave Beijing and see other parts of China. So, a few days after my summer program wrapped up, I took a ten hour long train to China's economic capital, Shanghai!


My first impression of Shanghai was that it looked just like New York. The buildings and the lights were beautiful and the streets were clean. The taxi was also more expensive.

My hostel, however, wasn't in the center of the city, so I got to see some parts of Shanghai that weren't so cosmopolitan and modern. The streets here were smelly and dirty and there were brothels nearby. Not to worry, though - I hardly spent any time here at all. While I was in Shanghai I would head to the metro station first thing in the morning (I wasn't able to take the metros to "random stops" like I planned to, since you had to select your destination beforehand and pay according to how far you were going... sheesh) and I was able to see a lot of the city.

This is the Shanghai World Financial Center, which houses the highest observation deck in the world. The building was very modern, and I was even able to get a discount on admission by claiming I was 17. On the top level, I even met a French couple, and I offered to take a picture of the two of them "to be nice," although really I just wanted to practice my French and to have them offer to take one of me. These past few weeks alone have transformed me into a cunning selfish animal, I swear. I cut in line and push and shove just like the Chinese people now! I even spit on the sidewalk sometimes just because everyone else does it! I'm a beast!

It was a stunning view. And I was impressed with how futuristic the building was. Even the toilets were electronic:

What an interesting (but not unpleasant) experience that was.

Anyway I mentioned before that not all of Shanghai was modern, and that's definitely true. One day I was walking around trying to find Yuyuan Garden but instead stumbled upon an outdoor market with no other tourists. The people on this street sold frogs and snakes and pigeons alongside "normal" meats and vegetables. I even got to see a big fish hacked to death by a woman wearing Crocs.



This is me on "The Bund" on the last day! The Bund is basically the area line the Huangpu River. The eastern bank has futuristic modern architecture while the western bank has colonial European style architecture.

I'll write about my trip to the Shanghai 2010 World Expo in my next post.