Goodbye Shanghai

Pudong from the Bund

I'm getting ready to leave Shanghai today after spending 2 full days in the city. That was more than enough time to check out the things I wanted to see and hang out with my friend that is on temporary assignment here for AMD. I'll be heading to Suzhou (pronounced more like "Sue Joe") for a day to check out its famous gardens.

Everything has been going great so far. Shanghai is like any other major developed city: lots of stores everywhere, people jaywalk like crazy, great public transportation system (I wish this last one was more common in the US). I've had to buy some items over here, and as promised, everything has been pretty darn cheap. Bottles of water are $0.16 USD; I got some fake Oakleys with a case for $8 USD; etc. The only bummer is that I lost my camera, with one day's pictures, last night when it slipped out of my pocket in a taxi. If I had asked for the receipt at the end of the ride I could have gotten it back, but I didn't. Not a big deal though; I replaced it within the hour.

My hostel, Mingtown Hiker Youth Hostel, is right next to the Bund, a very nice river walk area across from the Pudong area, and East Nanjing "Sexy Massage" Road. It is fairly busy 24/7, with travelers coming and going at all hours. There has been a mix of people passing by; from young college students to families and locals. Most international travelers seem to be from Europe (judging by accents). The hostel has everything I need: WiFi, boiling water, showers, big locker in the room, washing and drying machine. The beds are pretty stiff, but that's a minor issue. I hope that the hostel in Suzhou is as nice.

The highlights of Shanghai include:

• Visiting and going up to the observatory on the 100th floor of the World Financial Center. When I first saw a picture of it in my International Business Strategy class, I thought it was fake. Once I found out it was real, I decided I wanted to visit it
• Walking along the Bund in the morning and seeing lots of people out practicing Taichi and other martial arts
• Getting a 1-hour massage that had me on the verge of yelping in pain several times. I never imagined my back could be cracked so loudly, so many times, in so many ways