A few things about Shanghai

First things first: don't fly Shanghai Airlines.  The airline was so sketchy that people cheered upon landing.

Second, there's a delicious pork dumpling place just down the street from where we stayed.  We stuffed ourselves and still paid less than a dollar each.  I couldn't tell you the name or address of this place, but I could probably show you generally where it is on a map.  There's also a really good Chinese restaurant that was recommended by one of our professors who was born and raised in Shanghai.  All of us agreed that it was the best Chinese food we'd ever had.  This is the only time this entire trip where we've made advance reservations for a restaurant and it was totally worth it.

Third, go to Shanghai and go now!  Don't miss the expo!  Shanghai is one of the few Chinese cities that has been open to the rest of the world for some time, so it has had a lot of outside influences.  This placed it in the perfect position to host the 2010 World Expo.  No architect should miss the expo as it consists of pavilions by each country, some of which are very impressive and are designed by fairly big-name architects.  The normal tourist usually takes 3-4 days to see the expo but we only had one afternoon, so we were only able to enter a few pavilions.  Highlights included the Danish Pavilion by BIG and the UK Pavilion by Heatherwick Studio.  We also entered the New Zealand and Belgium pavilions, and ate dinner inside the South Korean Pavilion.  The expo wasn't even in our original schedule, but I'm so glad that there was enough student demand to cram it in.  It's definitely worth going despite the heat and insane crowds.

Fourth, the rest of Shanghai is cool too!  Because the city had different concessions for the different nations that occupied it, each area of Shanghai has its own distinct character.  We didn't get to explore all of it, but we did get to walk around the French Concession as well as visit the Bund, a waterfront area that is still much as it was 100 years ago.  We took a boat along the river one evening, a great experience to see Shanghai all lit up at night.  We also visited the more modern part of Shanghai, which includes icons such as the Shanghai World Financial Center (giant bottle opener), the Jin Mao Tower, and the Oriental Pearl Tower.  We went to the observatory of the Oriental Pearl Tower and enjoyed standing on the glass floor.  The view was amazing and would have been even better if it had been a sunny day.

Fifth, after we explored Shanghai, we took a day trip by bus to Suzhou and Zhou Zhuang.  Suzhou is home to two famous Chinese gardens, the Master of the Nets Garden and The Humble Administrator's Garden.  They were both large and beautiful to stroll through, but didn't have the attention to detail of the Japanese gardens.  We also visited the Suzhou Museum.  The exhibits weren't exciting but the building was designed by I.M. Pei.  The thing I found interesting about it was the central courtyard that incorporated many aspects of the traditional Chinese gardens in a modern way.  After Suzhou, we visited Zhou Zhuang, a preserved town that is linked by canals, sort of like the Venice of China.  We pushed our way through extreme crowds to visit Shen's House, a traditional Chinese noble's household.  Since we didn't get to spend much time in Zhou Zhuang, I'd like to go back again on a less crowded day.

To me, Shanghai was a lot better than Beijing.  It could be because everything seemed new and shiny thanks to the work they've been doing to prepare for the expo, but I think it's also because of the variety of areas within the city and the fact that it still seems to have a rich history.  In becoming a modern city, Shanghai was able to preserve much of its history and character, unlike Beijing.  Beijing felt like the government was trying to put a modern face on a city that wasn't really there yet.  Anyway, I can't wait to go back to Shanghai because I feel like there's still lots more to explore!

Photos from Shanghai are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2505617&id=3431093&l=67e8330c91