Two People 361 Days Six Continents

Shanghai, China

China is an interesting place as it is one of the fastest changing countries in the world. It seems like the big cities are constantly evolving and (for better or for worse) changing the places where people live. Expos and Olympics have forced what were quiet Hutong streets (basically alleyway areas where lots of people live) into tourist attractions with expensive sushi bars and souvenir shops selling recreated propaganda posters. Luckily even with this ever-changing landscape there are still little areas we found where you can sit at local restaurants down funky streets and feel the Shanghai city life.

Of course as with every country we have visited there are little differences about how people do things and interact with each other. First and foremost, Shanghai has a LOT of people living here… there are almost 20 million people in Shanghai alone! And nowhere is that felt more than in the subway. Queuing is supposedly better than in was 10 years ago but it is still frustrating when someone walks right in front of the line after you are waiting in the queue. It happens a lot and we have become pretty deft at blocking the line cutters with elbows and quick movements in front of them! Also the lines are pretty jam packed at most times of the day.

Another funny little quirk is that when it gets hot out all the men in Shanghai roll up their shirts and bear their bellies to beat the heat. Restaurant, mall or alley it does not matter, if it is hot the belly is out.


Every once in a while on this trip we find ourselves in the most unexpected places. In Shanghai, it was the way we attended the World Expo. We had decided not to visit the Expo as it was just too expensive. But then one day my friend, Kavita, from Law School who lives in Shanghai now, emailed us saying she had free VIP passes for us to the Expo. It turns out that the UK Pavilion was hosting a “gay day” reception and Kavita, having been named “Shanghai Lesbian of the Year” was an honored guest. We had a fantastic time drinking wine and hanging out in the Great Britain VIP area with Kavita and her friends and various diplomats.


Another guy she knows works for the Luxemburg Pavilion and invited us all to an “after party” at the Luxemburg Pavilion where we tried some Luxemburg beer and wine. It was really fun to meet some of the people who are working at the Expo from all over the world.

The rain from Hong Kong followed us up to Shanghai and we were pretty socked in for a lot of the time we were there. This made it so that it was simply hot and humid and wherever we went we were sweating. We stayed in the Bund area which was the area where all the banks and financial institutions from the UK were based back in the 1930's and 1940's.

After the Bund we toured around the French Concession. This area is pleasant as there are large streets lined with trees. Also it feels a little less crowded. There are some cool little alleyway shopping areas that have been redone in the last few years. This is where a lot of the expats live and so there are tons of little cafes and restaurants catering to expats and tourists.

Across the water way you can see the famous Shanghai Pudong skyline with the Shanghai Financial Center, Jin Mao Tower and Oriental Pearl Tower. It is really incredible to think that the Pudong area was essentially farmland prior to 1990 and all the buildings you see have gone up since then. Kavita gave us some more great inside information. You can go up to the observation deck of the Shanghai Financial Center for 150 yuan a person (about 22 bucks) OR you can go to the lobby of the Park Hyatt on the 87th floor, hang out there and get essentially the same view for free!

Everyone who has been to China seems to have a strong opinion of it. Generally that opinion is based on difficulty in communication and then of course...food. I think we got pretty prepared to leave plates mostly full after them disagreeing with our "western" palates. Despite what we have heard, we have really enjoyed the food! We have avoided most sit-down restaurants for the street vendors or hole in the wall institutions displaying their food in the window for passersby. One of our favorite places was just down the road from the hostel where on the sidewalk is a boiling vat of water and then two rooms facing the street. One room was where they were hand pulling noodles and the other was a garage with small tables next to a parked car with a dozen or so Chinese men were slurping away at their steaming noodles. The spicy meat noodles had chili spiced ground beef in a seemingly endless bowl of broth and noodles. We tried the wantons the next day and they were huge with minced cabbage mixed with beef. The super friendly lady who seems to run the place let us know that "Shanghai wantons are bigger and better than anywhere else." Got to love the rivalries there are for food! It is funny to eat extremely hot soup in extremely hot temperatures in a garage but they are a staple of Chinese fare.

However our favorite street food has to be the Xiaolongbao. Xiaolongbao is a pork (or, if you can find it, crab) dumpling with, besides the meat, a soup filling. These are a staple in Shanghai and while the normal steamed ones are good, the fried-bottom-topped-with-sesame seeds-and-green onion Xiaolongbao are crave-worthy. They’re cheap too; about 60 cents for four! They are super tricky to eat as the soup filling is extremely hot and burns your tongue or top of your mouth. Also, the soup squirts out all over your clothes if you are not careful! Local Shanghai folks love to watch the foreigners comically try to eat the Xiaolongbao , although we never did see a local do it much more successfully.

Steamed buns are also a great on the road snack. Again, another dough filled with meat option! However, you can get a great steamed bun with greens and tofu.

Shanghai was our starting point in China and we had planned on heading south to do some trekking. Unfortunately Southern China has been hit by some of the worst rain and floods in years. So that dramatically altered our plans. We decided to head to Beijing instead as the weather was pretty good up there and check out areas around there. We tried to get the train but for some reason the train tickets (except for standing room) were sold out for a month! It is a 24 hour train ride, and even though we think we are getting pretty good at the long haul travel, 24 hours standing is just too much for us! We had heard multiple reasons for why they were sold out… black market, kids leaving for summer break or that it is just summer travel season. Either way, we luckily found a pretty cheap flight to Beijing and so we head there next!