c+d: 11/12 - 11/14 shanghai

We met up with more friends in Shanghai and it was again great to see familiar faces so far from home. With them we explored what some describe as the “Paris of the East.” Uh, yes, pretty spectacular, but the smog alone kills that comparison for me. Set on the coast, it was originally a French, British, and Russian concession in the 1800s. The city revolves around the waterfront area of the Huangpu River that runs through Shanghai, bordered on one side by the beautiful French colonial buildings, and on the other by the "Pudong" which has literally been built from rice paddies to sky scrapers in the last fifteen years. Wow, Chinese planning is really amazing! And is it inexorable - we kept running into examples of China tearing down something to make way for the new.

One thing they haven't torn down yet, thankfully, is the Yu Gardens and Bazaar. It is an area of the old city that has been restored, with quiet gardens and bustling markets (including a singing cricket market!), where we sampled things that didn't smell like innards and got pulled into secret back rooms full of knock-off purses. We also got to enjoy Chinese acrobats perform, and were especially amazed by the "ball of death" where they crammed 4 motorcyclists in a mesh ball whizzing around. And Clint says we have to mention the Shanghai Aquarium, touted as one of the best in the world. It didn’t disappoint and even has the largest underwater tunnel where shark literally swim above you.