Shanghai

Em, Jack, Nick, Linda, Mom, Dad

The morning after the wedding, we hopped a flight from Hong Kong to Shanghai, China. After settling in to our hotel, we went for a walk on the town. We knew that Uncle Jack, Aunt Linda, and cousin Nick were also visiting Shanghai at this time, but we didn't have the foresight to plan a meeting spot. Since we had new SIM cards in our cell phones (and hence new, temporary numbers), we had no way to get in contact. Facebook is banned in China, so we couldn't use that either. Well, as luck would have it, as we were walking around the city of 22 million people, we happened to run into them on the street!! So we joined forces and went to grab some lunch together.

with streets this crowded, it is a wonder that we even found each other!

fresh made dumplings to order....yum!

Em is enjoying a xialongbao. Shanghai is famous for these....they are dumplings so juicy that you drink the juice with a straw before biting into it.

There are lots of great places to view both the old and the new (on horizon) architecture of Shanghai.

the buildings are so intricate and ornate, that even a pedestrian stroll is anything but
(sometimes these puns just land in my lap...sorry guys)

another great view of old vs. new
(wow, now I am rhyming...hah!)

enjoying a fresh sesame bun for dessert

Here are some random shots of cool buildings:

the financial district of Shanghai as viewed from across the Huangpu River

At night, the neon signs emerge and the city grows even more lively with millions of people out shopping and dining.

The buildings of the financial district take on their own personalities at night....each one changes color and some turn into giant video screen billboards. This place makes NY Times square look like an amateur. Note the color changes in the following pics:

On the other side of the Huangpu River lies The Bund, with the noticeably different, but equally beautiful Art Deco style:

The next morning, we visited the Shanghai Museum. It's exterior is fashioned after a ding (an ancient bronze cooking pot).

even the stairways inside the museum were spectacular

I had to include this pic for Dad (Ulrich) - these are bronze Chinese drums

At roughly a day and a half, our stay in Shanghai was brief. However, we had many more cities to see and only a week left in the trip....so onwards and upwards!!

(more blogs to come, next destination: Wuxi)