Day One in Shanghai

Jet lag is kicking in. It's currently 12:43AM California time, only 3:43PM Shanghai time. I still have a ways to go to make it through the day, but I'm resisting the urge to nap by logging my adventure today in Shanghai.

I decided to ease my way into the inner reaches of Shanghai by venturing to Nanjing Road, one of the biggest shopping districts in China and the world. The travels began with a metro ride. Rush hour traffic had dissipated, and I had the entire train practically to myself.

A view of the metro train. Surprisingly empty

After the short 15 minute ride, I reached my destination. Not one minute after stepping foot on the street was I was bombarded with "Excuse me sir! DVDs, Watches, Shoes!" The relentless vendors did not stop bothering me for the rest of the morning and afternoon. Luckily, a brisk "no," and walking with a purpose was usually enough to thwart them.

The main section of Nanjing Road


One of the numerous department stores

Scooters are everywhere here. Locals are super-pro at driving

A bunch more of the scooters parked alongside Nanjing Road

Men cleaning the walls of this building

After walking up and down East Nanjing Road, I decided to venture to the Bund, another tourist hot-spot. The Bund is basically a financial district on the river's banks with old, classical-style buildings and a beautiful view of Shanghai's more modern skyscrapers. Here too were masses of vendors selling junk to tourists. It was entertaining watching other tourists trying to get away from the vendors. One of them was selling these wheel-like things for your shoes. The tourists kept walking, but the vendor rolled along side them refusing to accepting defeat.

The Bund


Another view of the Bund


Several of the classical-style financial buildings


These trashcans caught my eye for some reason


Chen Yi, the first mayor of Shanghai


Some men hanging out while their wives take pictures


A guy selling fruit

Once I had my fill of the Bund, I began walking back into the shopping district. On my way there, I took a side street. To my lucky suprise, I stumbled across the "ShangHai Bund Brewage Co.,Ltd.," the oldest microbrewery in Shanghai. I got myself a large dark ale.

Sadly this picture came out blurry. The camera battery decided to start dying and I rushed to snap the picture. You get the idea though.

Now with a full belly of beer, I started craving some food (salty food). I remembered walking past a huge noodle house earlier in the day and set forth to curb my hunger. The noodle house was on the top floor of a tall building that overlooked much of Nanjing road. For only 29RMB (roughly four dollars), I got myself a bowl of cold noodles with some sort of sesame/miso sauce and some Chinese 7up. Overall, a very satisfying meal.

7up

That pretty much concludes my first day in Shanghai. There is still much of the day left, so I'll update if anything exciting happens at dinner. If not, see you tomorrow for another update.