Double Dose of Kevin

Last Friday, I took a quick 2 hour flight to Shanghai to see Watford, the World Expo, and everything else that Shanghai has to offer. On Friday night, we headed to dinner at a very nice restaurant, had a couple drinks and "expensive" food, which set us back about $9 each, lol. Then we headed to a badass club called SoHo, which is the only club I've ever seen that randomly puts on live song and dance routines (in Chinese, of course). I stayed with Watford, and while his dorm was pretty small, it had a ridiculous view. 

The view from Watford's balcony (14th floor)

On Saturday and Sunday, we walked around Shanghai for about 16 hours (combined). This was pretty rough on my feet, which is saying something, because my feet/legs rarely get sore. Anyway, we saw some of the most impressive malls I've ever laid eyes on. Incredible architecture and gorgeous design, even beats the hell out of Northpark Mall in Dallas. In one of the malls, there was a type of talent competition, including a Chinese boy in high heels dancing to Lady Gaga. Also, at one of the malls, called Cloud 9, I was looking at this white man/woman (pretty sure it was a guy) wearing tight white pants and a bright blue v-neck shirt, but this crazy (Thai?) lady thought I was looking at her, and screamed at me "WHAT YOU LOOK AT?!??!" I took that as our cue to find a different place to sit.


We then visited ZhongShan Park, which had some gorgeous scenery. Strangely enough, it also had a huge wall full of personal matchmaking ads ... mostly guys in their 40s saying they have a lot of money, a nice house, and have a great lifestyle. I didn't realize what these 500 or so papers were at the time, but my roommate was able to explain them to me. It was basically eHarmony on these ratty little pieces of paper, without pictures..... whatever works, I guess.

a bridge over a lily pad lake

One of the coolest places we visited was Nanjing Lu, a very long and famous road. It looks just like the Vegas strip, or a street in central NY. We walked down this road for about 20 minutes, it was literally jam-packed with people (most likely Chinese tourists). Along the road were some very upscale stores, we looked in one that sold nothing but chopsticks, lol. But the prices were a bit too high, even for China. 

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Chopsticks 'n' More! 

At the end of Nanjing Road was The Bund, which is a wide river separating the two main downtown areas of Shanghai. There were way too many people on this side of the Bund, so the next day we went to the other side. 

The Pearl Tower from across the Bund

(we saw this up close the next day)

The other side of the Bund is known as Pudong, which had some of the most amazing buildings I've ever seen. Even better, the weather was quite foggy, so the tops of most of the buildings disappeared ominously into the heavens, which made for some great photos. 

The Pearl Tower, eerily obscured by fog

We also visited the Shanghai Aquarium and the World Expo, but I'll leave those for separate posts. The only other notable thing about Shanghai is that everything (in the main parts of the city) is well-kempt and polished. One of my favorite little things about the city is the lights underneath the freeway overpasses. 

a subtle blue glow accentuates the curves of the city

All in all, Shanghai is a fantastic city, very much like the larger cities of the U.S.A., but with much more beautiful scenery. However, I still prefer the cheap, run-down look of Beijing, because in my mind, that's where the real Chinese experience lies.