One Last Walk Through Shanghai

So... this Sunday was the last chance I had to go into Shanghai's city center. I tried to make the most of it, by basically walking from the oldest, most traditional buildings in Shanghai, through the Art-Deco section of the city, and onto the doorstep of modern Shanghai. As cool as the walk was... it was mostly un-intentional (mostly I was desperately searching for a darning needle... I'll tell you that story later on). 

Every trip to the city begins here, at the bus stop. Arrival times don't seem to have any particular pattern, as I've seen one bus arrive directly after another or waited almost an hour to get on a bus. Also, the buses don't drive down the lane right in front of the stop; that lane is reserved for bikes and scooters (and the occasional asshole car driver who decides to use it), so you usually have to cross a lane of speeding scooters to scramble on the raised median, and flag down the bus... otherwise the bus will just whoosh on by.

Most buses have an attendant who sits next to the rear doors, she (or he... but I've only seen 1 guy with this job) asks you where you are going, charges you according to how far away it is, and then gives  you a little receipt. People who have bus passes get scanned in quickly... I have to mumble "地铁下来”  (I'm getting off at the subway), hand her the one yuan coin, and look like the stupid tourist who pays in cash for the bus.

In the older parts of Shanghai, buildings are literally falling apart or already mostly demolished, but people still live in them. This picture was taken at an alleyway wet market, just after I finished chowing down on one of the best breakfasts I've had outside of Beijing.

It was basically the Chinese version of a savory crepe, with eggs, green onion, cilantro, some sort of sweet ginger-y sauce, tiny shrimp, and some sort of fried cracker thing folded in. It was an amazing combination of sweet, salty, crunchy, chewy, and fresh from the cilantro. Definitely worth the 3.5 yuan (about fifty cents) I paid for it, and the little old couple who were making it were hilarious and fun to watch. 

At least some of the plants in that apartment balcony are fake, but honestly, you've got to give them credit for trying to be different. It seems like almost every apartment in the more "Chinese" parts of Shanghai has some small plants sitting on the balcony or windowsill. I've seen lots of tomatoes, bonsai trees, and plenty of things I couldn't begin to identify.

This was outside one of Shanghai's largest shopping centers. Pretty cool. And, yes, I did go into the mall and walk around. In fact, I do so pretty frequently, because they all have air conditioning and super-clean bathrooms (with toilet paper). When you are dripping sweat after about 10 minutes of moderate walking at 10 AM, you take air conditioning and face-washing breaks whenever you can get them. 

I'm pretty sure this is a famous church in Shanghai... I vaguely remember reading something about St. J-something.. Joseph? John? I don't remember. It was too hot. 

I love that Chinese graffiti pretty much looks like American graffiti. There isn't nearly as much of it as in, say New York, but when you do see it... it is usually pretty cool. 

The famous Pearl Tower! On my second day of work, I got to ride along with a delivery guy, and he immediately pointed this out. When I asked him what he thought of it, he said it was pretty weird looking. 

There is one part of Shanghai that is filled with giant 1920's era art deco and traditional styled bank buildings and old hotels. They are pretty cool, but after a while you just kind of wonder who's idea it was to put all of these super ornate European style buildings in China. (Well.. admittedly it was the Europeans who were occupying Shanghai during this time period... but still! Think of all of the new styles of architecture they could have developed by combining Eastern and Western influences... but no... )

Here it is! the new Shanghai skyline... complete with bazillions of tourists.

After walking around all day... I decided to hang out here for a little while and do some tourist watching. Everyone pretty much left me alone for the first half hour, but then one guy took my picture. Then another asked for a picture with me... and then 4 groups of Chinese tourists later, I needed to pack up my bag and get the heck outta there. 

And, that's it. My last day in Shanghai. It feels really weird to say that, after two months of being here. I come home on the 15th, and until then I'm working on finishing up a couple of projects, training some of my coworkers on how to use my presentations, and how to make there own. My next update might not be until after I'm back in the states, but I've definitely got a bunch more things to write about, so keep watching this space!