Old friends and new towns

Sorry I missed last night's post! To make up for it, here's a really long entry.

Saturday morning I went to the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, since I had read a review that said "I went here at the end of my time and felt like I had missed Shanghai!" Indeed, I think it does a really interesting job of introducing the intended feel of the city. Highlights included a huge model (see picture) and a really cool 360-movie of flying over the city. The whole place seemed to be in celebration of the extreme development that has taken place in Shanghai, particularly over the last 20 years or so. To me, it seems so obvious that development like the city has seen comes with a huge non-monetary cost, and it was really interesting to see this presentation of enormous pride in it all. And it is extremely impressive, and a lot of the progress is stuff like cleaning up the rivers, so I don't mean to hate on it. And I love Pudong with its space-age skyscrapers as much as the next tourist. I just try to see both sides.

Another thing I enjoyed about the museum was seeing pictures of historic sites from long ago. Remember that pagoda picture I posted last week? At the time, I didn't really think it was that noteworthy. Turns out it's dated to 977. Makes it a lot cooler.

In the afternoon, I met Abby Mayer and her friend Greer (sp?) at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. Abby used to live down the alley from me and actually babysat my sister and me once upon a time. I'd been talking to her about China, since she lived there a year or two ago, and actually studied with my same teachers in high school. She is in Beijing with a law class from the University of Minnesota, but they came down to Shanghai for the weekend. We looked around the museum, which was pretty cool, and sat in their cafe a while. There was a section on smell-sensing, and they had this giant face that could recognize scents if you put one of the provided canisters under its nose (see photo). Not really the coolest part of the museum, but arguably the most picturesque.

After the museum, we went to Nanjing Lu for some window shopping. Had a fun time doing that with some fellow Americans...made it a different experience than the 4 times I've already done it. :p I wondered aloud what would happen if we said we WERE interested in purchasing a bag, and Abby decided we should find out. (The babysitters are always the worst influences.) A few turns and stairs later, we found ourselves in fake stuff paradise - a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. Greer got some "Dior" sunglasses, and I bought a Mickey DVD...hoping I can understand cartoon Chinese. Haven't tried it yet.

We headed back to Abby's hostel, which was pretty nice (as far I know...it was my first hostel visit) and did some internet searching for dinner places. Taxied to a delicious Thai place, then looked around a bit - I think we were in the French Concession area. Got a call from some others from their group, who were in the bar in the observation deck of the Radisson, and they convinced me their friends would be nice and not-scary enough for me to join them. (See photo of spaceship/Radisson observation deck.) I'm glad I did - it was one of the most comfortable groups of strangers I've ever met. Good ol' Minnesota. headed home after that, though, because I was pretty tired. Proudly found my bus so I didn't have to pay the $5 for a taxi. Oh, also, we got asked for money by a little girl, probably 4 or 5 years old. We were walking past and her mother sent her towards us. We'd talked about this practice in class, and it was just too sad to see it in person.




































I'm cringing at the thought of how horribly these pictures are probably formatted. There's just not a whole lot I can do, and since I can't check my work, I'm not going to try.

Sunday, after a Father's Day call home (it was Saturday evening for them, but it was the best we could make work), I headed off to Zhujiajiao, a suburb of the city. Took me a couple of buses, but it was all pretty simple. Ate lunch when I got there, and then began exploring. It's a "water town", one of several around here I guess, which from what I can tell means it's canal-based. I did a lot of walking along water and crossing cool bridges. Took a short boat trip, which was fun. Also, my ticket included a bunch of historical sites, like old tea houses and gardens and the old post office. Ended up in some very pretty, peaceful areas. Walked past a lot of people just going about their lives, and had to remind myself they were not an exhibition...these are actually how they live, and this is their hometown.

Zhujiajiao is definitely a tourist attraction, so although it is still very old-looking (which is soon to change, according to the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall), many of its streets were lines with "stores". I had a very successful shopping day, which was really a much less dangerous event than it is in the Mall of America. Most of the items were offered to me at a price I would consider paying even if it were U.S. dollars, so when I bargained them down and divided by 8, things were too cheap not to buy. Highlights included a chop with my name on it (something I just feel like I need to have) and three cute pairs of shoes for 100 kuai (under $15).

Ate some dinner and bused home! I like weekends.

(Oh, and in case it wasn't clear, that is one of the boat-rowing guys wearing the stereotypical pointy hat...and talking on his cell phone.)