Day 2: Shanghai

Today is the only full day we have visiting Shanghai. We started the day with some really tasty soupy Potstickers. These little dumplings had soup inside and crispy bottoms. So yummy!

We then headed to one of the biggest pedestrian street shopping centers in the world called Nanjing Road. You can find most of the fancy shops from all over the world and Chinese company flagship stores. Occasionally some shady characters would come up to Steve (seeing he is foreigner) and offering Rolex watch in poor English. I still remember I once bargained with a lady years ago near here. She offered Rolex for $10, I asked if she was willing to sell me one for $1, she was so offended that she walked off in anger. No such drama today; Steve simply walked away without saying a word.

We walked through a really big Lego store here. The LEGO displays in this store are massive! They must’ve used hundreds of thousands legos for them! Very impressive works! Next door is one of the very fancy Starbucks that only serves reserve coffees. Steve ordered a pour over and said it’s delicious.

Next stop, Yu Garden. This tourist site used to be the home of some very wealthy people in history. It’s originally built in 16th century, then continually being added with more elements throughout the history since. It’s a really big garden in the middle of this restless city, like a little calm oasis in the middle of constant chaos. The garden is built with many, many twists and turns, with beautiful flowers, interesting rock formations, ponds and tiny bridges. You simply have no idea how big the garden is when you first walking in. Then every corner of this garden offers more details, every turn offers a different displays of beauty. We enjoyed this site very much!

Next stop, the second tallest building in the world, called Shanghai Tower. Due to rain and lower hanging clouds, we didn’t go to the observation deck because it’s in the clouds. So we walked through a massive underground system that offers many more fancy stores and restaurants, and then arrived at the famous Pear Tower.

Since Peal Tower is Lower, we decided to go up. It offers 3 levels of observation decks at 360 meters, 296 meters and 250 meters. When we reached the highest level, it’s surrounded by thick clouds, we had to wait for breaks in the clouds to see out. The second tallest level was a bit more clear; we could see many high rises and had a nice view of Shanghai. The lowest level, which is still really high, offers glass bottom view, meaning you would stand on the clear glass and look straight down. People with vertigo should definitely not to attempt this.

Dinner was at a restaurant called Xingdalu, a one star Michelin Star restaurant. This was the first time we went to a Michelin Star Chinese restaurant, and the food was indeed really, really good. Their attempt to reinvent tradition dishes was very successful. For example, a simple Mapo tofu had some really nice abs mild fish fillets in it, brought some tender sweetness to the spicy dish. The pork belly dish was magnificent!

This amazing meal brought our day to a perfect ending !Read more