Shanghai is such an odd city. Metro here close up at around 10pm, restaurants (at least the ones I can afford) close up by 9, 10. But the city doesn't really go to sleep, everything lights up, and depending where you're at, you may start bumping into more and more laoweis (foreigners) as it gets later and later.
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| Pudong lit up from The Bund's side |
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| The Bund at night |
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| ~8pm at Nanjing Rd, Shanghai's "time square", dying crowd |
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| temple on a skyscraper? done |
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| walking outside, you never know when you'll be greeted by lit up towers or sky scrappers |
Every city has its own look, and Shanghai is no different. Given its background for being one of the most famous treaty port cities, its western influence is everywhere. Take a walk down a busy commercial area and you'll see skyscrapers, malls mixed in quietly with the Chinese traditional buildings. There are areas where old Shikumens are preserved and converted into shop but you'll see occasionally some of them still inhabited by residents and the looks we get from them are just...unforgetable.
The trees on the side walk are also fun to walk by and it is very interesting on the species that was selected. You'd think in a Chinese city there will be "Chinese trees" (I dunno...say trees like willow?) everywhere, but more often, you'd find these platanus trees which I associate more with trees in the West, just fascinating how they are able to grow to such size here as they do (although on second thought, maybe a significant investment have been put on them).
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| don't be fooled by the deserted road, it's always full house in doors especially at the local dive bar |
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| The platanus tree row in the French Concession |
That's about it this time. I've gotten sick last week and also have been traveling/ studying/ preparing for Chinese New Year. I have not actually been in a "full celebration" for 10 years so I think this year will be really really great.
I do owe you readers a couple of entries and I will try to catch up as soon as I can. I will be gone for the next 2 weeks on 1 class trip to Suzhou and Hangzhou then a full week of exploration in Southwestern China.
There's quite some exiting planned entries coming up too! Including a visit to the Shanghai Expo site, a historic trip to Nanjing, and our last field trip for the culture class. Pay attention to the map, I do update that more often. There is however a slow down on the food slideshow because I've just been forgetting to take photos as I got used to eating differently again.
Anyways, I will be moving to another campus soon, and it will no longer be in down town Shanghai so life pace should slow down a lot more. before we end, I got some pictures from Tianzifang, recommended by my cousins (thanks Josh and Iris), and Qibao, a canal town close to the city.
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| Tianzifang, an art district in the edge of the French Concession |
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| the unique fusion feel of east and west at Tianzifang |
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| Restaurants at Tianzifang, it was only 8pm and there was no one around |
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| decoration? flower vendor? you decide |
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| A Shanghainese family quietly living in the middle of a busy tourist area. A lady came out and gave me the worse stink eyes as we locked eyes as I walked by. I'm sorry I intruded I guess.... |
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| One of the Shikumen converted bar in the area |
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| of course we went in! |
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| panarama of the bar, Bell's Cafe |
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| more Tianzifang |
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| Qibao, a canal side town that seemed like another place where the architecture was frozen in time |
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| old Qibao, an entire street filled with food vendor, aroma meat(香肉, a euphemism for dog's meat) was spotted on the menu in one of the stores... |
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| night view of Qibao |
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| see you next time |
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