Sightseeing with a Local

I started my Sunday early, and was out the door by 9am. Still the subways were crowded with people, there is so much traffic here! You are literally fighting your way onto and off the trains in Shanghai, as there is not much respect for the 'wait for passengers to get off before getting on the train' rule. The pictures below were taken across the street from where I stayed - in a few years, there may not be any sky left!
































My first stop in Pudong - the Science and Technology Museum. I only had about an hour to spend here, but it's a really fun museum. Great for kids and adults, although it would be more fun to come with friends, as there are a lot of interactive exhibits and 3D shows.
















After the museum, I met up with my new friend and tour guide, Ginger, who took me to eat xiao long bao (小籠包) and wontons at her favorite place in Pudong. I love eating where locals eat!
















Ginger totally took care of me the whole day, after lunch, we had coffee, ice cream, and this cream puff dessert that she said I had to try!
















Waitang from the other side of the Huangpu River
















Oriental Pearl Tower - my favorite building in Shanghai





















We walked around this area called 新天地 (Xin Tian Di), and passed by many trendy restaurants, bars and cafes, mostly with a Western influence
































This was my favorite shopping area - 泰康路 (Tai Kang Lu), these narrow streets between residential buildings, mostly with art galleries, cafes and eccentric shops.





































Then we went to Wu Jiang Road 吳江路, which has food much like the night markets in Taiwan, but on a much smaller scale. There's a well-known 生煎包 (they translate it as fried dumplings, but it's more like pan-friend soup buns) place, so I had to eat a few. They're so tasty and juicy inside! It was so cheap too, one was like 15 cents!
















Afterwards, Tiff met up with us to go watch the Shanghai Acrobat show. It was so amazing. For some reason I'm having trouble downloading my favorite routines from my camera, but the performances were just so beautiful that I felt like I was going to burst into tears at any moment. There were also many amazingly skillful and jaw dropping routines.

For some reason, the lights on the buildings along the river shut off around 10pm (I guess to conserve energy), so we hopped in a cab and rushed to a lounge along the river to enjoy a few minutes of the lights. We had a drink and a light snack at this very nice, Western lounge with couches and candles and such. It was kind of strange, the server didn't even speak Chinese! The place was pretty empty, so we took some silly pictures. What a relaxing and awesome day!