Like a Donut

Time in Shanghai is almost up-- my flight to Taipei is tomorrow morning. It's hot as hell here, and every time I step outside I feel like all efforts of showering are futile and I'm once again covered in a film of dirt and sticky sweat. Taiwan will be even worse. This is the one logistical fail of my trip planning.

So, the last few days in SH have been full of tourism and exploration, and a tiny bit of rest as well. Today I was supposed to take a day trip to Hangzhou with my cousin but I realized when I woke up at 7:30 that I was already going to be too late to make the train. Plus I would have had all my luggage. And I was still exhausted from a long week and a day trip to Suzhou yesterday... so I've spent the day sleeping and resting and eating. So necessary, and now maybe my body will stop hating me. Also, I would KILL to see the Nadal vs. Djokovic Wimby final today. Rahhhh time difference plus doubtful channels. Hmm I'll see what I can do.

Tuesday-- explored the Bund. Beautiful old school, internationally influenced architecture. Went to a lounge on the 87th floor of the World Financial Center (aka Bottle Opener) for a spectacular view of Pudong area and the Bund illuminated at night, then Dan and I went back to the actual Bund and sauntered among the sparkly buildings for awhile.

View of Pudong area from the Bund. The Huangpu River lies between
the two but it's easily crossed via subway. Pearl Tower, Bottle
Opener, Jingmao Tower. The Bottle Opener is actually the tallest of
them all.

Bottle Opener illuminated at night.

Crown of Jingmao Tower and Pearl Tower in the background,
as seen from a lounge in the Bottle Opener.

View along the river, down the Bund, at night. It was such a cool,
clear night. Perfect for wandering.

Night view of Pudong area from the Bund.

Wednesday-- went to Jade Buddha Temple. Overrated for architectural/artsy purposes but it was an actual functioning monastery so that was cool. Followed up with Jing'an Temple which I really enjoyed because of its polished wooden look, gold lining, and white marble railings. As cool and traditional as it is, the typical red-blue-green with gold dragons gets old after awhile. Then went to Xintiandi, a lively area of town full of expats where we went to the meeting site of the first Communist congress 90 years ago and Dongtai Lu, an antique market.

Serene goldfish/lily/rock pond behind the Jade Buddha Temple.

This shit is scary. Buddhist gods all look like they want to either
kill or eat you.

At least I know I'm not just biased against the religion within
which I was raised, but rather, am made uncomfortable by any display
of faith in something without logic. I know most world religions
reach valuable morals and provide direction and comfort for peoples'
lives and death, but some of the practices just seem entirely
impractical. The wall of this room was cool though, with little
nooks each containing a small golden Buddha. A second grader would
love a wall like this for a beanie baby collection.

Loved the warm wood, gold detail and white marble.

Commie congress! They even themed the front lobby display in
USC colors just for us. Cardinal and gold-- Fight on!

Behold: The winner for the best boba in Shanghai. Hidden in the
1930's underground tunnel by People's square, this is a Taiwanese
brand with perfectly chewy, sweet boba, and tea with the perfect
balance of sweet, creamy, but still with sufficient tea character. I
have a whole list of rankings.

Most delicious egg tart I've ever eaten. So soft and smooth and
creamy. Ponyo superwin.

Thursday-- Went to the Urban Exhibition Center which features huge models of Shanghai, one of which filled an entire room and cycled through lighting different neighborhoods of the city, and then the entire thing as if it were night time. The government puts a lot of effort into not only making progress but making sure everyone knows about it. There were rooms on environmental development, real estate, science and arts interaction, everything you could possibly think of. Then hit up the Shanghai Museum for some historical, cultural relics and education.

Look at this room-sized model of metro Shanghai-- amazing!

Pudong area and the bund, illuminated on the model. Supercool. Dan
and I were spectulating about what would happen if a bulb went out
in the very middle of the model... Maintenance challenges.

View of the room-sized model from the floor above.
The whole thing is creepily accurate.

Old coin molds. Kindof cool.

Wasn't feeling so well so I had a big bowl of veggie soup noodles and went back to Ponyo's early. Passed out for 14 straight hours.

Friday-- all you can eat hot pot lunch with Ponyo and Dan! Delicious. Ate SO MUCH. But hot pot is relatively healthy since it's just a ton of veggies and tofu or fish products and one plate of beef. Went to the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel which was hands down the dumbest touristey thing to ever exist. Went to SH Library which was cool and huge but closed the foreign language books room before the rest of the library so we went back to Xintiandi and tried to find a good happy hour among the classy yet casual but extremely Westernized hangouts there.

AYCE hot pot plate 1 of 3. Then had 2 bowls of ice cream.

Really cool frosted glass sculpture at the SH Library.

Just for Rover.

Their medical section had some really interesting looking books. I
should just drop out of school and read books and Wiki instead. Or
alternatively, learn to start giving a shit about the material they
try to teach me in school.

One of many adorable alleys in between the
cafe-filled courtyards at Xintiandi.

Saturday-- day trip to Suzhou, a historic water town. I love water, even if it's dirty and relatively still. They call it the Venice of the east but it was dirtier than how I imagine Venice, and the locals there were living in fairly primitive conditions. There were lots of gorgeous gardens of which we were only able to go see one because of limited time, but apparently the richy families of the past would invest years and millions in making these amazing gardens which were eventually left for public enjoyment.

I'll post pictures to this later.

In the meantime, I'm at my cousins and managed to catch the last set of the Wimbledon final. Super happy to see Djokovic win.

Such a sucker for athletes.