Third Trip to Shanghai

This week was the National Holiday in China, celebrating the beginning of the Republic of China.  I spent the first half of the week in Shanghai.  The trip was originally meant as an opportunity to meet up with Dustin, a friend Eliza and I met in Beijing in January but due to ticket issues he was not able to make it so I faced Shanghai alone. 

I didn't end up being alone for too long though, it turns out the principal at my school, Adam, his wife, Ana and two other teachers from Nanjing 13 were also traveling to Shanghai at the same time as me and didn't mind if I was a fifth wheel. 

One of the views from my hostel, the interesting bowl shaped roof is either the Art Gallery or the Urban Planning Building.

The restaurant was nicely decorated but the food was not that amazing (at least the one breakfast I hate there wasn't that good).

Main door of my hostel, in an alley just off a side street. 

October 1 - National Holiday
I arrived in Shanghai in around 2pm but by the time I got to my hostel it was pushing 3pm.  I only had one goal for the day and that was to visit the Bund again in the hopes of getting a clear shot of the Oriental Pearl Tower.  That is what I set out to do after making up my bed and laying my stuff out so i wouldn't disturb my seven roommates when I came in later that night. 

There it is (at least one of the shots, there's another to come) you can even see the construction on the new Shanghai Tower that is supposed to be the second tallest in the world (or China) by the time it is finished.

Nanjing East Pedestrian Road was just filled with people.

October 3 - Meeting up with Adam, Ana, Bailey, and Mike

I woke up not really knowing what I was going to do this day.  I had for sure made plans with the others for tomorrow but we hadn't set anything in stone for this day.  Not knowing what else to do I took a nice long enjoyable walk around the French Concession of Shanghai just looking at the buildings and doing a little bit of shopping. 

Line up at the Mac store, apparently its because of the Genius Bar Appointments.  In China you have to pay for them, and scalpers are known to buy up a whole bunch and then sell them at ridiculous prices. 

Found a Vera Wang along my walk, just took a picture, did not go in.

The next few pics are from an area called Xintiandi, that was rebuilt with new buildings that were turned into restaurants and bars. 

A random park I went through during my random walk. 

I met up with the others after this walk and we went shopping in the Shanghai fake market (at least the ladies did, the men went and got beer and sat on a bench waiting for us to finish).  I didn't buy too much, just a purse that I really liked.  None of us actually went too crazy on buying things, we were good.   We all had dinner together and then went to a jazz bar to listen to some live music. 

October 3 - Chinese Cooking Class and the Bottle-Opener Building

The five of us signed up to do a cooking class together where we would learn to make 3 dishes.  All three dishes were pretty easy and quick, I'm actually going to try making one tonight to go with my dinner. 

Bailey in the front of the class.

Our first dish, a bean curd (tofu) spicy salad.  I haven't eaten very much tofu but I didn't mind this too much, just too spicy for my tastes (even though I made it myself). 

Bailey and Mike learning how to cook with our teacher Lynn.

Now its my turn.

Our second dish was eggplant and oyster sauce. 

Adam cooking, Ana watching. 

Eggplant with oyster sauce.  Actually really cook, going to try to make this one with my dinner tonight. 

Now making our third and final dish - Kung Pao Chicken.

It was really good, again a bit spicy for me but I can always change it as required.

After cooking class we all wanted to sit and have a drink so we made our way down towards the Huangpu River to take in the sights and get a drink. 

The area we went to is known as The Cool Docks.  Where it was very similar to the Distillery District in Toronto, converted old warehouses into restaurants and cafes. We enjoyed a break at Starbucks before continuing on our way. 

We walked up the river to the Bund with the intention of walking it but when we got to the boardwalk this sight is what met us so we decided no to that. We instead decided to visit and go up the Bottle-Opener Building also known as the Shanghai Financial Tower. 

The Shanghai Financial Tower is the one that looks like a bottle-opener in all my above pictures of the Bund skyline.  Mike had heard that you could up to a observation deck or just go to a bar that was also near the top of the building - we chose the bar.  What we actually got was the restaurant within the Park Hyatt hotel that started on floor 87 of the building.  When we arrived we got told that everyone had to pay at least 150RMB in order to stay up there and enjoy the view. 

Shanghai Tower - unfinished

Shanghai Financial Building aka Bottle-Opener

View from the Bottle-Opener (87th floor).

Unfinished Shanghai Tower on the left, we were just above the glassed in part. 

My ten dollar snack of English scones and clotted cream.  Expensive yes but if we had only done the Observation Deck, no food for the same price. 

Sunset over Shanghai

After we left the Bottle-Opener we tried to walk East Nanjing Road again but it was just too crowded and it was getting kinda late, so we said our goodbyes and I returned to my hostel for my last night in Shanghai. 
I doubt this is my last trip to the city, I realized there are a few more things that I definitely want to see.