China: Shanghai, Day 2

This day was one of my favorites of the whole trip. After breakfast at the hotel, we got to walk around the beautiful Yu Garden and go shopping in the biggest bazaar in China right next door. The bazaar was one place I wish we had been able to stay at longer. Talk about bargaining! I bought most of my souvenirs there. It was interesting trying to find my way around. It's like a maze. We all split up since we didn't have very much time and I knew I wanted to buy the rest of my souvenirs, so I went on my own. I ended up running out of cash a few minutes before we were supposed to meet, so I wasn't able to finish my shopping. Most places will only take cash and not cards, so I had to try and plan how much money to take out so I didn't take out too much and have to spend a ton to exchange it back to American dollars. There were a couple places that tried to get me to pay in dollars instead if I said I didn't have enough yuan. That was funny to me because I never carry around cash here in the states, I mostly just use a card. I tried to get the tour guide to take us back to the bazaar later (apparently I wasn't the only one), but it never happened. So, I had to finish shopping at the airport on the way home. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. After the bazaar, we ate pizza at an Italian restaurant. In China. When we first saw the itinerary and noticed a pizza lunch listed, we thought they were crazy. Why would we want to eat pizza in China when we can get it here? Well, let me tell you, after eating Chinese food two to three times a day for almost two weeks, we were glad for a change. Don't get me wrong, I love Chinese food and it is even better when it's authentic and straight from China. But, no matter how much I love a certain food, if I eat it several times a day, every day, I will get tired of it. I need some variety, people. (I made sure to buy myself a California burrito as soon as I got back to the states. Heaven.) So, yeah, the pizza was really yummy. We visited the Shanghai museum afterward, which wasn't terribly exciting to me since we had seen pretty much the same things on display at the Yantai Museum. The building itself was really nice, though. The staircase looked really cool with dragons on the handrails. I was a little frustrated, though, since I wanted to go back to the bazaar and the museum wasn't new to me. It's hard to do things without a car and a grasp of the language. Really makes you appreciate the little things. We were able to rest at the hotel before leaving for dinner at the same hotel where we ate the night before. And then came my absolute favorite thing during the entire tour, what I had been highly anticipating since we received the itinerary several weeks before departure. The Huangpu River Cruise! I love love LOVE being out on the water and being outside on a warm summer night. Combine those two things with a STUNNING view of the Shanghai skyline and I was in HEAVEN! That was where I took probably the most pictures. We had our own boat and really had a great time. Most of the kids formed a circle and chanted random names to have them come in the center and dance. It all started with a couple of the leaders dancing. We had some awesome people in charge. Before I risked my name being called, I went down a level and joined the small party pooper group. Once we got back to the hotel, a few friends, including my roommate decided to take a cab to visit some other buildings and try to get a better view of the city. I wasn't too thrilled with the idea, so I decided to stay behind and try to get some KFC, which I had heard from several people, was pretty amazing in China. It was just a block away (we passed by it every time we left the hotel), so I walked over and found out that it was inside a train station and only ticketed passengers could get in. I was so bummed. So, I walked back to the hotel empty-handed and then ate Pringles while watching Chinese reality television before going to sleep. All in all, it really was a fantastic and very memorable day.