Day Two in Shanghai

Miraculously, I think I may already be over the jet lag. Seems like depriving myself of sleep for the two nights leading up to my trip actually worked. We'll see how I adjust back to California time though. Anyway, today was an interesting day. The first thing that caught my attention was this:

If you can guess what this is, you win a prize! Is it a horror movie about Shanghai burning down? Some strange adult film?

On advise of my dad's coworkers, I decided today would be a good day to check out the markets. The markets that sell all of that fake crap. First though I wanted to visit Shanghai's Science and Technology Museum. This place was huge.

A view of the whole building.

A perspective shot. Use the people as a size guide.

Think the Tech Museum + the Museum of Natural history + a children's museum, and multiply by 100. This place blew me away. They had exhibits for everything from biology to robotics to a stuffed animal zoo. Today also happened to be field trip day for elementry school students. It was really awesome seeing so many young kids, happy, full of energy, smiling ear to ear. All of them were staring at me the entire time. Some would say "hello" and proceeed to giggle with their friends. Here are some pictures of the different groups of students:

Check the kid on the right.

Every group had a different jumpsuit.

My favorite part of the museum was this playground-like structure that allowed kids to practice being construction workers. These kids were busting their asses. At first I thought it was a show with trained kids. Their actions were perfectly orchestrated. Looks like China has a bright future.

This kid was amazing. He would load up his wheelbarrow and speed around looking for fellow workers that needed more bricks.

A shot of the team's finest.

Another humerous exhibit was a robotic table tennis machine. Training I suppose for the next Olympics.

With perfect form, this kid proceeded with a perfect slam.

The last stop at the museum was the zoo. Lucky for me, I was there to witness nature at its finest.

This shot is for you Luke.

After a good three hours, I was getting hungry and wanted to try my luck at the markets. Unfortunately I was not so lucky, leaving with only disturbed and depressed feelings. The vendors never let up. Every five steps was a new one asking me if I want a watch or DVDs or iPods. I was immediately turned off by the whole experience but pressed on to possibly find random gifts for people. Most of the goods sold were complete garbage. Even spending 10 bucks on a knockoff iPod seemed like a ripoff. They really never took no for an answer (We won't take nofernancers). After several failed negotiations (I wasn't really in the mood for negotiating and would usually offer them the equivalent of 10 bucks for everything to see if one would ever bite) I was tired and starving. It was more than time to leave.

I walked away from the market feeling down. It was beyond depressing. Every "no" I had to give got harder and harder. The desperation of everyone killed me. I would have rather just given some of the vendors money (the nice ones that didn't pester me too much). I feel better I guess knowing that I did not support the counterfit market.

My day ended with stopping at a fast food joint. I got a bowl of noodles with beef (I think) and vegetables. It wasn't bad. I feel much better now with a full belly and the air conditoning in our hotel room. Stay tuned for an update later tonight.