What's Next?: Pudong, a modern take of Shanghai

Today we will take a brief look at a few spots in Pudong and see Shanghai's modern beauty. If you didn't know already, Pudong is the financial area of Shanghai, it is typically the first image of Shanghai that comes to mind. You know, the one with the Oriental Pearl Tower (if you're still not sure, check the previous entry)

a small model of the district, basically a concrete forest

Our first stop is the China Art Palace, formerly the Chinese Pavilion of the Shanghai World Expo in 2010. It has now been converted to a Chinese contemporary art Museum that also features other temp exhibits. (basically an art museum). It was free to get in, apparently you needed to reserve tickets ahead of time but we were handed tickets at the entrance by the guard so hey, good deal!

official name for this type of architecture is called dougong but i prefer an upside down pyramid

No fasteners or glue needed, easier than IKEA furniture!

Inside the museum is probably one of the best environment I've been in since I got to China. With significantly less people, and insightful caption in both English and Chinese, the museum was much more enjoyable. The exhibits featured traditional Chinese art forms, sculptures, and some other peculiar expressions from modern Chinese artists. There were many pieces of Mao, and if you ever get the chance, count how many of them included him smoking cigarettes.

sometimes i dunno the difference between art and decoration

can you tell it's a lotus plant?

everyone wanted a picture with chairman Mao, and every other person wanted to touch him, which was then accompanied with a shout from the security guard

very soothing to not have people yell and constantly pushing

here's an interesting one. Meeting Nixon, until Jeremy pointed it out, I didn't notice how the Chinese men got taller than they should be

modernization doesn't happen overnight, traffic was still just as bad...

a gigantic, chrome lotus. because art

outside the museum are pandas...someone please tell me why they get everyone else excited, seriously...

After the museum, we went ahead and tried to visit the former expo site. It was really quite disappointing, at least on the outside; a large, cleared out strip of land with scattering buildings unless you get tickets to enter the pavilions.Tickets were 90 RMB and I was too cheap. There were some construction going on, apparently they are remodeling the Expo Ground and reopening the whole site again sometimes in 2014. the only pavilions available that day to see were Nepal, Italy and Saudi Arabia (there might be more but I didn't check)

I did took a couple of photo for souvenirs tho....

classic Chinese sign placement: no car behind road blocks. okay, sure

Here's a better view of the Expo ground from a close by Arena

proof of visit and evidence of smog

at the end of Expo blvd

Next on our list was the Science and Technology Museum. This was just the name of the metro stop... the truth was, we were really here to find some merchandise at the fake market directly outside the metro stop. No pictures this time because it wasn't easy to sneak photos there, and it's probably not that interesting until you start haggling with the vendors.

Above the stop however, was some nice buildings and Century Park, the largest park in Shanghai. but guess what, it required tickets for entry, so we passed and just shopped. Enjoy some of these concrete forests photos provided by Brian though....