My first quest this morning was to restore my cash reserves. According to the Mastercard app I had downloaded, there was a bank compatible with my debit card within a few blocks of my apartment. Unfortunately, when I finally located it...I got a message that they had to update their systems and could not fulfill my request...ARGH!
So, back to my apartment and the WiFi so that I could connect to the app again and look some more. I did have tentative plans to cross the river and go to the observation deck at the Shanghai Tower. The Shanghai Tower is a big part of the Financial District, so I thought I might have some luck there. According to the app a HSBC and a Citibank near the tower should be good. I was happy to see a couple of familiar bank names.
It started to rain as I set out. Surprisingly, the Metro transfer I had to take to get across (or under) the river, required me to exit one station, cross over a shopping district *above ground* and enter another station. During this time, it began to rain. Luckily, I had my umbrella in my backpack.
When I got to my destination station, I found that we could exit into a mall and thought I'd have a good chance of finding an ATM in the mall. Found the mall map and, sure enough, the HSBC had a branch there. Found the bank, found the ATM and...woooohoooo!! It gave me the money. Whew! I was getting worried.
One thing I discovered is that the financial district is very Westernized. The mall had all sorts of upscale shops and a few things we're used to finding in malls, like food courts (although they're called "food pods" here). I found a Pret A Manger and dug into a sandwich and a cappuccino like it was my last meal.
Outside, it was pouring and extremely cloudy.
This is the Pearl Tower which I could see from the courtyard of the mall. Now, the Shanghai Tower is taller than this, so the top of it would also be obscured by clouds. I decided the observation deck would have to wait for another (sunny) day. However, I recalled my young friend Ariel extolling the virtues of the aquarium...which happens to be right next to Pearl tower. What better activity for a rainy day?
It was raining buckets from the sky. Despite the umbrella, I got more than a little wet on my walk, but there was luckily no line for tickets. I was thoughtfully provided a plastic bag for my wet umbrella (which later became a bit humorous...they wanted to keep the umbrellas from dripping on the floor, but the roof of the building was leaking in multiple places).
So, I present to you...fishes!
In the entry area they also appeared to be building a new exhibit. The only bit in place was a tank with some seahorses...and I managed to get a decent photo...little sucker actually stayed still for me.
I was obsessed with these turtles and have about 20 pictures of them. Don't worry, I won't force you to look at them all! They're Pig Nosed Turtles, a freshwater turtle from Australia and New Guinea.
I think you can see the pig nose a little better in this photo...last one!
Here's a handsome fellow...an iguana that has a kissy face for you.
This aquarium had a really good selection of tropical fishes. Who needs to scuba dive with an expensive underwater camera when you can see this.
Here we are trying to re-create a tropical rain-forest
Here's a pretty purple sea anemone. The other ones in the tank were all closed up.
I finally got a good photo of a lionfish, although he looks a little peaked...
I kind of wanted this pufferfish to get all scared and upset to show off his spines...but no luck.
Now one thing this aquarium had a lot of that I like is when you can actually walk through a tunnel under the fishes. There were tons of them here...
Like this very cool escalator one...
And this is what it looked like when you were completely below the surface of the water.
But there was a lot more...
There were these weird tiny little eels that were anchored in the sea floor. Some were stripey, some not.
My favorite part I think is when I turned the corner to find a room of jellyfish. Mom loved jellyfish and she would have loved this aquarium.
Especially the giant tank with the phosphorescent jellyfish. They had a color changing light in this tank, so you'd go through the entire rainbow. This one is blue
This was the purple light.
There were several tanks with many different types of jellyfish. I found these the most terrifying. By the way, this image is flipped. They were swimming down toward the bottom of the tank...it just looked weird.
These bitty little green mushroomy looking guys looked fine swimming normally.
Nearby, there were more seahorses, which were much more active and harder to photograph. However, I wanted to show you the daddies who are obviously carrying some eggs. See a few with the distended white bellies? I just love the role reversal in the seahorse world!
Speaking of hard to photograph, they had some seals, which were very active! Suckers wouldn't hold still for a good photo.
The penguins were much more cooperative with their fake ice floes and painted fake Antarctica.
Now, the last part of the aquarium is entirely an underwater tunnel. you get on a people mover and it takes you on an underwater journey.
There was one tank with a super shiny fish school that darted everywhere. They were being fed by a diver in the tank with them...I think that dark bit in the middle is them, covered in hungry fish.
There were rays, and tuna and other bigger ocean fishes...
Some really cool sea turtles too..
And SHARKS!
With many, many sharp looking teeth.
So, back to my apartment and the WiFi so that I could connect to the app again and look some more. I did have tentative plans to cross the river and go to the observation deck at the Shanghai Tower. The Shanghai Tower is a big part of the Financial District, so I thought I might have some luck there. According to the app a HSBC and a Citibank near the tower should be good. I was happy to see a couple of familiar bank names.
It started to rain as I set out. Surprisingly, the Metro transfer I had to take to get across (or under) the river, required me to exit one station, cross over a shopping district *above ground* and enter another station. During this time, it began to rain. Luckily, I had my umbrella in my backpack.
When I got to my destination station, I found that we could exit into a mall and thought I'd have a good chance of finding an ATM in the mall. Found the mall map and, sure enough, the HSBC had a branch there. Found the bank, found the ATM and...woooohoooo!! It gave me the money. Whew! I was getting worried.
One thing I discovered is that the financial district is very Westernized. The mall had all sorts of upscale shops and a few things we're used to finding in malls, like food courts (although they're called "food pods" here). I found a Pret A Manger and dug into a sandwich and a cappuccino like it was my last meal.
Outside, it was pouring and extremely cloudy.
It was raining buckets from the sky. Despite the umbrella, I got more than a little wet on my walk, but there was luckily no line for tickets. I was thoughtfully provided a plastic bag for my wet umbrella (which later became a bit humorous...they wanted to keep the umbrellas from dripping on the floor, but the roof of the building was leaking in multiple places).
So, I present to you...fishes!
First thing you see are fish native to China, so you get to see lots of carp...lots and lots of very colorful and friendly carp.
I think I like those lemon yellow ones best.
We then got to see several species of local sharks. Unfortunately, I can't remember all the names of the fish and water critters I saw and it was too dark to photograph all of the signs. So, local shark it is.
Here are some baby sharks. China is apparently putting a lot of effort into trying to breed sharks to release into the wild. A lot of types of sharks in Asia have been hunted to the brink of extinction as they are considered to be a delicacy.
This was kind of cool. These were live embryonic sharks in their egg casing. The were squirming around in there.
Also in the room with the sharks was a tank with those little spa fish. You could wash your hands, then dip them in the tank to let them nibble off all the dead skin. Unfortunately, it's hard to take a photo when fish are eating you...so no photo.
I was obsessed with these turtles and have about 20 pictures of them. Don't worry, I won't force you to look at them all! They're Pig Nosed Turtles, a freshwater turtle from Australia and New Guinea.
I think you can see the pig nose a little better in this photo...last one!
Here's a handsome fellow...an iguana that has a kissy face for you.
This aquarium had a really good selection of tropical fishes. Who needs to scuba dive with an expensive underwater camera when you can see this.
Here we are trying to re-create a tropical rain-forest
I finally got a good photo of a lionfish, although he looks a little peaked...
I kind of wanted this pufferfish to get all scared and upset to show off his spines...but no luck.
Now one thing this aquarium had a lot of that I like is when you can actually walk through a tunnel under the fishes. There were tons of them here...
Like this very cool escalator one...
And this is what it looked like when you were completely below the surface of the water.
But there was a lot more...
There were these weird tiny little eels that were anchored in the sea floor. Some were stripey, some not.
My favorite part I think is when I turned the corner to find a room of jellyfish. Mom loved jellyfish and she would have loved this aquarium.
Especially the giant tank with the phosphorescent jellyfish. They had a color changing light in this tank, so you'd go through the entire rainbow. This one is blue
This was the purple light.
There were several tanks with many different types of jellyfish. I found these the most terrifying. By the way, this image is flipped. They were swimming down toward the bottom of the tank...it just looked weird.
These bitty little green mushroomy looking guys looked fine swimming normally.
Nearby, there were more seahorses, which were much more active and harder to photograph. However, I wanted to show you the daddies who are obviously carrying some eggs. See a few with the distended white bellies? I just love the role reversal in the seahorse world!
Speaking of hard to photograph, they had some seals, which were very active! Suckers wouldn't hold still for a good photo.
The penguins were much more cooperative with their fake ice floes and painted fake Antarctica.
Now, the last part of the aquarium is entirely an underwater tunnel. you get on a people mover and it takes you on an underwater journey.
There was one tank with a super shiny fish school that darted everywhere. They were being fed by a diver in the tank with them...I think that dark bit in the middle is them, covered in hungry fish.
There were rays, and tuna and other bigger ocean fishes...
Some really cool sea turtles too..
And SHARKS!
With many, many sharp looking teeth.
One last walk through a tropical fish tank and the journey is done. All in all, a pretty decent aquarium. Even if there were a bunch of buckets in several of the rooms as it was raining pretty hard and it looks like there were some leaky bits of the roof.
Gift shop was OK. Lots of kids stuff, mostly stuffed toys. A few general city souvenirs, but nothing super special. I headed back out into the rain...
Snapped this with my phone from under the umbrella. The three tallest buildings in China chopped in half by clouds.
I found an area with an overhang and took a few photos of the clouds moving around up there...
They look like black and white photos, but the world was just very gray today.
Got back to the mall and decided I needed a snack so I chanced a fresh juice. And a donut. The juice was more of a chance as they probably washed the fruit and veg in local water and didn't peel them. Apples, carrots and ginger...and my tummy is ok. Since it was an eatery in a super upscale mall, they may have put the food through an ozone or uv sanitizer.
I spent a couple of hours in the IFC (International Finance Center) mall. Prada and Dior and Tiffany's OH MY! Yeah, I just looked and kind of laughed at how ridiculous some designer stuff is.
When I decided to head back, it was rush hour...oops! Still, I survived, but arrived back soaking wet. Not going grocery shopping tonight...nope!
Tomorrow I have a tour of Suzhou Garden and Zhouzhuang Water Village. 10 hours...sounds like it will be a full day.
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