"There's something strange in that room..."

So we had good intentions in Shanghai, and were going to blog, post more pictures, etc. but that didn't happen. Our hotel (we sprang for a hotel, as the hostels in the city are just as much. The hotel turned out to be a story in itself...read on for details) had hookups for laptops but no computers, so we were out of luck.

Our journey to Shanghai was fun and interesting as always - we left the hostel early and got to drive through a virtually empty Xian (save for a few pockets of elderly individuals doing tai chi -so cool!). We enjoyed a breakfast of spaghetti and french toast (toast with peanut butter inside, syrup on top and cucumbers on the side) at the airport, and were on our way to Shanghai! As we landed in the city, a light rain began to fall, and driving closer to downtown, we saw the skyline's giant buildings enveloped by clouds. It was a cool/kind of eerie Bladerunner-esque ride - all that new development (much of it still being built with bulldozers and cranes everywhere) surrounded by a mist. We arrived at our hotel, and were greeted by a woman at the reception desk who immediately informed us that the room we had reserved "wasn't very good" and that we should strongly consider upgrading. Hmm. We asked to see the room we'd reserved, and were escorted there by a young guy around our age. We got to the room and the young man, who had slowed his pace as we neared the room, said "wait here, there's something strange in that room" in a dramatic whisper. We said... "ok..." and he went inside, apparently cleansed the room of whatever supposed poltergeist (sp?) was inhabiting it, and he gave us the all-clear to enter. The room was totally fine - clean, big, with electricity and even a bathtub. Hayo. So we said, yep this is great. We went back downstairs to pay, informed the desk attendant that we would in fact like our original room, and although she looked dissapointed, she handed us a key. We got to our room we found that it was actually much nicer than the "there's something strange" room. Beth and I were pretty baffled by this very obvious ploy to get us to book a more expensive room, but chalked it up to cultural differences. Needless to say, I've incorporated the "there's something strange insert whatever we're about to go see/do" quote into my trip commentary.

Shanghai was really cool - a very interesting mix of old and new, foreign and Chinese, as the city was colonized at several points in its long history, and today is one of the major economic centers of China's booming economy. We headed to the Oriental Pearl Tower first, the symbol of modern-day Shanghai (the giant tower with baubles on it - the tallest thing in the city) and as we got off the subway were struck by its enormity and futuristic-ness (it looks like something from a world's fair). It was still misty, so clouds periodically covered the top of the tower and then receded - very cool. We visited the Shanghai History Museum, which is the base of the Pearl Tower, and enjoyed this great introduction to the city. It was really interesting to experience history from the standpoint of another country - to see how wars are discussed and what lessons are taught. We learned a lot about the city's development, and especially enjoyed the exhibit titled "the infestation of foreign adventurers," featuring mostly champagne-weilding white mannequins dancing to Auld Lang Syne. After learning about the city's past, we decided to soak up one of it's more modern offerings, and headed to the nearby...Super Brand Mall (how could we not?). Later we walked along the Pudong (the side of the river with the Oriental Pearl on it) waterway to enjoy the beautiful nighttime skyline of the Bund (the other side of the river, with old-style European buildings from the colonization era). A bit rain-soaked and pretty exhausted from walking the length of Pudong, we splurged on dinner at the very fancy M on the Bund, where we dined on salad (it had been awhile) and giant slabs of meat, and enjoyed the restaurant's truly amazing view of the Pearl Tower and the other Pudong skyscrapers as rain fell and Chinese falgs waved in the wind. A great day in Shanghai!

Other Shanghai highlights included the Shanghai Museum (where we saw examples of calligraphy, lots of chops, traditional ceremonial costumes and masks and lots and lots of three-legged wine holding vessles) walking the Bund to see the historical buildings up-close, taking a boat crusie on the Huangpu river to take in both sides of the skyline, visiting the georgous Yu Yuan Gardens (Ming-era gardens in the center of the city), bargaining at the Yu Yuan Bazaar (the most crazy, people-filled madness ever; we took respite in Starbucks, and found that virtually every other foriegner had decided to do the same; we were packed like sardines drinking lattes and watching from the window as other people, similarly packed like sardines outside bargained - wow), having drinks at the Cloud 9 bar at the Grand Hyatt (such a great view!) and seeing an amazing acrobatic show. Shanghai, we heart you!

We're in Beijing now and will blog more about adventures here shortly! Also, I'll try to figure out more pictures posting... hugs, Amy