I woke up with a half-baked plan...just do some general sightseeing on foot. Stroll along The Bund, peek in shop windows, go back and wander Old Shanghai. Nothing big, just poke around and experience the city.
I was up early, got on the computer and plotted my course. In the middle of my path, I saw something interesting...a fabric market. I had to check that out. I wrote down my walking directions in my phone because google maps is notoriously awful here.
As the cash reserves are getting low, I decide to visit the cash machine. I locked myself in the little room and found that it was down for maintenance. No worries, there's another bank next door...and it won't give me money. I start to worry...but get on the subway and head toward The Bund. I get out at Nanjing Road and head away from the shopping Hell. I find another ATM that will not give me cash. This is starting to get worrisome...
I set that aside, decide to harass my bank again when I get back to my room, and I walk toward the river. I am accosted my a little girl in a school uniform who asks me if she can tell me about Shanghai. The adult in charge of her explains she'd like to practice her English on me. I'm game and I get a long speech from little Ariel about the Shanghai Aquarium. It has all kinds of colorful fish and sharks and I won't believe how close I can get to them! When she finished (or ran out of breath) I praised her for a job well done and she presented me with a tourist guidebook that I'm fairly certain she got from the nearby tourist information center. She was so cute I wanted to pack her up and bring her home!
Well, her homework was done, so she headed off with her grownup. I soon began to notice other Chinese schoolchildren approaching Western tourists to grace them with their own particular tourism speech.
I located my starting point from earlier in the week...
The Monument to the People's Heroes at the north end of the Bund . Apparently, it's the site of early morning Tai Chi here in Shanghai. I don't think I'll get here early enough to watch though.
I set off toward the cruise ship docks down at the south end, but I soon started to feel the sun. Still not completely recovered from my sunburn, I headed down to the tree shaded sidewalk area below. I actually had written myself pretty good directions headed away from the Bund at the right street.
I almost passed the Shiliupu Material Market, but I found the front door. This place was a crazy maze of rolls of silk, wool, linen, jersey...you name it. You can also have any piece of clothing you want made specifically for you.
However, they can make ANYTHING here, you just have to provide a pattern. I was wearing my linen harem pants today and I'm thinking about going back to have them whip up a couple copies in different colors (those things are actually pretty expensive).
So, I headed out of the fabric market, which abuts Old Shanghai...
It was pretty bustling as it is a weekend (I figured out that Sundays are the busy days and Saturdays are usually the time that businesses close). Keep in mind that this is not a pedestrian street, although not much automobile traffic went on...lots of bikes, scooters, and motorcycles though.
I soon found the Tourist Market.
At one point, a couple of German ladies asked me (in English) if I knew where the McDonalds was...LOL
I then realized that I was hungry and I had promised myself that I would try xiaolongbao or soup dumplings. They are made with either crab or pork (guess which I was going to try) and are a specialty here in Shanghai.
I got a steamer basket of 6 of these little beauties and they were quite the challenge. I did end up wearing some in the end, but I did not burn my mouth. I wish I had gotten the hugenormous version, which is about the size of all 6 of these rolled into one. It's served on a plate with a straw and you punch a hole in the top and drink it through the straw. I saw several people wandering about the market with one of these, happily sipping away (they are amazingly delicious). Next time!
I got sucked into a indoor mart full of tourist goods and bought two watercolors. Honestly, they may be prints, but they were pretty cheap and I'm just happy with the pretty pictures. The woman there gave me another bottle of water while I shopped, which was appreciated (I figured out they do that a lot here...water, soda, or beer).
I was totally beat at this point and needed to head back to the Bund to hop on the Metro. It was hot, I was sweaty and sticky and gross and desired another shower.
I just thought this was a cool shot coming out of Old Shanghai.
I walked past a "wholesale" jewelry mart and felt the pull. Guess who bought some jade? Not really good jade, but decent jade..so I didn't spend a lot of money and I love my new Buddha necklace.
Ok so I was running on empty now... I spotted the tallest building in Shanghai (the Shanghai Tower and the second tallest building in the World) and headed in that direction. Eventually, I ran into the Bund.
Since it was late in the day, and the sun was no longer overhead, I went back up to the walkway instead of using the sidewalk.
So, here is the skyline from a different angle, around the bend of the river, now near the south end. In case you didn't guess, that REALLY tall building is the Shanghai Tower. If I hadn't been so beat, I would have hung out and waited for it to get dark so I could take a photo of it at night...but...nope.
I eventually found my way back to the Metro station and didn't get at all turned around getting back. When I got back to my neighborhood, I actually remembered to bust into my now dwindling supply of cash to pick up a gallon of water at the corner store.
I got online, logged into my bank account and sent a message asking why I had trouble getting cash when I had alerted them early that I would be visiting China. Also the constantly having to do 2 factor over and over was getting on my nerves....
I then figured out for myself that I have to find an ATM that will take Mastercard...oy veh.
Museum tomorrow, I think...there is a bank that accepts Mastercard at the atm near there according to their website. If I have time, Natural History Museum as well...
I was up early, got on the computer and plotted my course. In the middle of my path, I saw something interesting...a fabric market. I had to check that out. I wrote down my walking directions in my phone because google maps is notoriously awful here.
As the cash reserves are getting low, I decide to visit the cash machine. I locked myself in the little room and found that it was down for maintenance. No worries, there's another bank next door...and it won't give me money. I start to worry...but get on the subway and head toward The Bund. I get out at Nanjing Road and head away from the shopping Hell. I find another ATM that will not give me cash. This is starting to get worrisome...
I set that aside, decide to harass my bank again when I get back to my room, and I walk toward the river. I am accosted my a little girl in a school uniform who asks me if she can tell me about Shanghai. The adult in charge of her explains she'd like to practice her English on me. I'm game and I get a long speech from little Ariel about the Shanghai Aquarium. It has all kinds of colorful fish and sharks and I won't believe how close I can get to them! When she finished (or ran out of breath) I praised her for a job well done and she presented me with a tourist guidebook that I'm fairly certain she got from the nearby tourist information center. She was so cute I wanted to pack her up and bring her home!
Well, her homework was done, so she headed off with her grownup. I soon began to notice other Chinese schoolchildren approaching Western tourists to grace them with their own particular tourism speech.
I located my starting point from earlier in the week...
The Monument to the People's Heroes at the north end of the Bund . Apparently, it's the site of early morning Tai Chi here in Shanghai. I don't think I'll get here early enough to watch though.
I set off toward the cruise ship docks down at the south end, but I soon started to feel the sun. Still not completely recovered from my sunburn, I headed down to the tree shaded sidewalk area below. I actually had written myself pretty good directions headed away from the Bund at the right street.
I almost passed the Shiliupu Material Market, but I found the front door. This place was a crazy maze of rolls of silk, wool, linen, jersey...you name it. You can also have any piece of clothing you want made specifically for you.
These dresses are gorgeous, but I think I will have to put my dream aside of owning my own. For a plain silk one (no embroidery) I couldn't negotiate anyone down below 1100 yuan ($175), which is a bit much for a dress I won't get a lot of use out of.
However, they can make ANYTHING here, you just have to provide a pattern. I was wearing my linen harem pants today and I'm thinking about going back to have them whip up a couple copies in different colors (those things are actually pretty expensive).
So, I headed out of the fabric market, which abuts Old Shanghai...
It was pretty bustling as it is a weekend (I figured out that Sundays are the busy days and Saturdays are usually the time that businesses close). Keep in mind that this is not a pedestrian street, although not much automobile traffic went on...lots of bikes, scooters, and motorcycles though.
I soon found the Tourist Market.
I spent a ton of time in here just poking around, looking in the shops.
At one point, a couple of German ladies asked me (in English) if I knew where the McDonalds was...LOL
I then realized that I was hungry and I had promised myself that I would try xiaolongbao or soup dumplings. They are made with either crab or pork (guess which I was going to try) and are a specialty here in Shanghai.
I got a steamer basket of 6 of these little beauties and they were quite the challenge. I did end up wearing some in the end, but I did not burn my mouth. I wish I had gotten the hugenormous version, which is about the size of all 6 of these rolled into one. It's served on a plate with a straw and you punch a hole in the top and drink it through the straw. I saw several people wandering about the market with one of these, happily sipping away (they are amazingly delicious). Next time!
I got sucked into a indoor mart full of tourist goods and bought two watercolors. Honestly, they may be prints, but they were pretty cheap and I'm just happy with the pretty pictures. The woman there gave me another bottle of water while I shopped, which was appreciated (I figured out they do that a lot here...water, soda, or beer).
I was totally beat at this point and needed to head back to the Bund to hop on the Metro. It was hot, I was sweaty and sticky and gross and desired another shower.
I just thought this was a cool shot coming out of Old Shanghai.
I walked past a "wholesale" jewelry mart and felt the pull. Guess who bought some jade? Not really good jade, but decent jade..so I didn't spend a lot of money and I love my new Buddha necklace.
Ok so I was running on empty now... I spotted the tallest building in Shanghai (the Shanghai Tower and the second tallest building in the World) and headed in that direction. Eventually, I ran into the Bund.
Since it was late in the day, and the sun was no longer overhead, I went back up to the walkway instead of using the sidewalk.
So, here is the skyline from a different angle, around the bend of the river, now near the south end. In case you didn't guess, that REALLY tall building is the Shanghai Tower. If I hadn't been so beat, I would have hung out and waited for it to get dark so I could take a photo of it at night...but...nope.
I eventually found my way back to the Metro station and didn't get at all turned around getting back. When I got back to my neighborhood, I actually remembered to bust into my now dwindling supply of cash to pick up a gallon of water at the corner store.
I got online, logged into my bank account and sent a message asking why I had trouble getting cash when I had alerted them early that I would be visiting China. Also the constantly having to do 2 factor over and over was getting on my nerves....
I then figured out for myself that I have to find an ATM that will take Mastercard...oy veh.
Museum tomorrow, I think...there is a bank that accepts Mastercard at the atm near there according to their website. If I have time, Natural History Museum as well...
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