so i just came back from a 5 day 4 night trip to shanghai. we paid approximately $2000 for 4 nights at a 4 star "international"-ized hotel on beijing road east in shanghai -- very close to most major tourist attractions :)

it was a very good holiday -- full of good friends, good company, good food, and a nice city. shanghai is really different from the other parts of china that i have been to -- namely nanjing, shenzhen, zhuhai, and luzhou in sichuan province. i only used a squattie toilet once, which means that almost all public facilities (resturants, hotels, museums, etc.) had western style toilets. that was a very pleasant surprise.

the first night, we arrived at pudong airport around 11 and cabbed it to our hotel. (190RMB split 4 ways.) the next morning, we gathered together and headed towards nanjing road east for breakfast (小龍包, 生煎包 and ice coffee at the stand next door!) before heading to yuyuan garden. after wandering around for a long time, we finally found the garden (40RMB entrance fee). before strolling through the garden, we visited starbucks for some yummy coffee . after our garden visit and strolling around the yuyuan bazaar area and old shanghai street (we THINK we hit this street), we had a late lunch at 上海南翔小籠包 (its real name is nanxiang mantou dian). that place definitely lived up to all its hype and we were lucky enough to sit by the window where we could watch them make those amazing soup dumplings. after yuyuan, we took a taxi to wujiang lu, one of shanghai's snack streets. after cruising the snack shops and some of the other fancier shops, we went back to the hotel for a quick nap. later that night, we met up with another colleague and he took us down nanjing road east, for a tour of the bund. however, due to world expo 2010, the entirety of the bund on both shores were boarded up! we couldnt see a thing and really didnt want to shell out money for ... what seemed like .... shady river tours. so -- we took the metro across the huangpu river to the other side and decided to have dinner at this guizhou cuisine restaurant before heading up the pearl TV tower (东方明珠塔) for some awesome nightviews of the bund. going up to the second highest level gave us some amazing views and we were able to stand on a glass floor as well. the most interesting part, however, was the Shanghai Municipal History Museum (or the Urban Developmet Museum) in the lobby. tired as we were, i felt like i learned a lot about shanghai's development from this exhibition. well worth the 135RMB.

day 2
the other folks went and did touristy things around shanghai. i followed my chinese colleague to suzhou for a tour for the classical gardens. we left shanghai on a 10:30 train, go to suzhou before 11:30 and left on a 5:20 train, delayed til 5:45 PM. we visited 2 of the 9 gardens listed on UNESCO's World Heritage Sites and one temple (the humble administrator's garden and the lingering garden). most the day went pretty well -- including street food -- squid on a stick, "taiwan" style hot dog on a stick, and dumplings, lunch at this awesome place (dont know the name of it, sadly, but i was right outside the temple), and some cute souvenirs at Pure Times Art Match. the last bit of the day was a bit rough because our taxi driver definitey conned us into visiting a temple where there may/may not have been an entrance fee -- so somehow, he must've earned 20RMB off me and my friend. o well! evening activities were very nice. we went to xintiandi (新天地) for dinner at steam (or south beauty?) and drinks at a place called nice.

day 3
girls day out (owen and illie went to nanjing for the day). we went for breakfast at the same place as the first day then to people's square park. originally we were looking for the museum of contemporary art (MOCA), but turns out it was closed for the SAS (shanghai american school?) graduation, so we wandered around the park until we found the shanghai art museum. along the way, we found lotus pond -- a place where old folks gather to fix-up the young single people in their life. shari tried to marry me off here.

after the shanghai art museum, we went to xintiandi for lunch at kabb and wandered around the french concession for a bit before heading to the coffee bean in the late afternoon. then we returned to the hotel for a quick nap and headed to wujianglu again for dinner. at wujiang lu we hit up yang s'fry dumpling, skewers of meat and papaya milk drinks. aside from the rude people crowding me and invading my personal space, i think it was an interesting cultural experience. us girls went back to the hotel to pig out and watch true lies :)

day 4
our last day in shanghai we went to MOCA. saw some cool exhibits (the one i liked most were famous skyscrapers made from scrap metal) and went to lunch near jing an temple station. then we headed back to nanjing road to do some shopping before heading back to the metro for a ride to longyang station where we caught the maglev for 40RMB to pudong international airport. the maglev got us from longyang to the airport in a whopping 8 minutes, traveling at approximately 430 km per hour. amazing! and well worth it, i might add. wishing the US or even HK had something similar. o well.

that's about it. maybe i'll post reflections later. but as for now, that was a summary of my trip to shanghai. hope you enjoyed it.

w

• May 1st was a public holiday in Hong Kong -- which meant every one and their moms had a day off from work and engaged in some form of leisure activity, en masse. What I mean to say is -- i went hiking with my aunties on Lantau Island and it was CROWDED. Usually, Tung Chung, Lantau Island on a Friday morning is deserted. Aside from a few stragglers here and there and some confused tourists, no one actually goes to Tung Chung for fun unless they are passing through, on their way to the airport. On Friday, however, the MTR station was crawling with people and Ngong Ping 360 (the cable car tourist trap) was busting at its seams. They had to stop people from lining up at one point, apparently ... because there were so many people clamoring for a ride on one of the new cable cars -- the ones with the glass bottoms -- the ones that make you feel as if you are floating in air whilst strung to a thin wire. See diagram A, below:

  

• This was supposed to be a bullet pointed entry, but it's turning into prose *indifferent sigh*
  Anyway, that morning, I put on my Puma trainers for what turned out to be the last time. I've had these sneakers since college ... so they're approximately 4-5 years old ... possibly older, if I actually got them in high school ... but i honestly don't remember anymore. In any case, the plastic shell finally gave out toward the end of the hike (*phew*) and i had to throw them out. I opted for a new pair of TEVA olowahu sandals! now, i am the proud owner of an over abundance of sandals, but zero pairs of proper trainers. i was hoping to get my sister to mail me another pair (one of many i have back in NY ... in my "storage closet"), but after doing some research, i realize it would cost more to mail a pair of old sneakers than to buy a cheapy-cheapy pair in hong kong. or, i can consider a second option and simply not engage in any physical exercise that requires trainers until my parents' visit HK at the end of june!

  

• random thought number 2: i saw a flight attendant/student here at IEd and she looked so glamorous. i was almost inspired to consider a career change.
• and in more personal news, i've had a lot of ups and downs recently. but on the bright side, i've been burying myself in a fury of reading for fun! i seriously hope i have access to a public library next yea -- i am going to work on that ASAP. finished a ridiculous book called how starbucks saved my life and i've moved onto everything is illuminated. next on the reading list: malcom gladwell's outliers.