Raised in the South. Made in China: 上海 Shanghai!!!

This past weekend we had a long weekend so a few of us girls decided to take a girls weekend and go to Shanghai. We left Saturday morning and got there Saturday night. Fortunately, our hostel was located right next to a subway stop so we had no problem getting there. We had all heard how great Shanghai’s nightlife is so we were eager to check it out and it definitely did not disappoint (even though a beer was about the same as US prices!)

Sunday we woke and were ready to hit the town. Our first stop was the Yu Garden. The garden was this stunningly beautiful garden enclosed by walls in the middle of the city. There were times where we would be sitting at a pavilion over looking the water and you could see on the other side of the wall the Starbucks. This is something that I’ve come to accept as normal in China. Everything ancient and beautiful here is right next to something modern. The garden though was one of my favorite things I’ve seen so far in China.

After that we headed to Nanjing Lu which is suppose to be the best shopping street in Shanghai (what’s a girls weekend without a little shopping?!). The only problem with this best shopping street is it was all stores I could not even dream of entering (Prada, Cartier, you get the picture). So pretty much the street was a bust.

That night we headed to an American style restaurant called Boxing Cat Brewery. We sat out on the patio and had two different kinds of their own brewed beer. The best part though was not only did the appetizers and entrée’s come out in the right order (Chinese people tend to eat soups and salads last) but we got free bread! The waiter put this plate in front of us and we all looked at each other like “what is that” and he said “free bread” and we all just screamed “FREE BREAD!!” It’s the little things about America that I guess we miss. The meal was unbelievable and we just sat there for about two hours having girl talk. It was fantastic to say the least.

Monday morning we grabbed our Starbucks and headed to the Oriental Pearl Plaza. It is the most famous building in Shanghai and you can go up 293 km and see all of Shanghai. The view was breathtaking and mindboggling that a city can have so many skyscrapers. The coolest part though (as long as you didn’t look down) was the floor was glass so it felt like you were walking on top of the clouds. After that we walked to the Bund which is along the river and you get a great view of the famous Shanghai skyline. That night we headed to the tallest bar in the world which was on the 91st floor. The drinks were pricey but it was all worth it cause the owner gave us two free bottles of champagne!

Our last day in Shanghai was spent at the World Expo. Most of the pavilions were really cool on the outside but did not have much on the inside. We also did not bother going into many of the big ones because the lines were so long. It was basically Disney World for adults. It was a pretty cool event but the last few hours were miserable because my feet were in serious pain. I literally felt like I had walked all over the world. That night we got on a train and were all asleep by 10 pm.

Overall, I loved Shanghai! It was so much cleaner (mostly because of the Expo) and had a much more Western feel to it. Beijing has more culture and history but Shanghai was so much more modern and chic. I really hope I get to live there one day. One thing though that was shocking was how few foreigners we saw. We thought because of the Expo the city would be packed with foreigners but we rarely saw any.

I’d also like to thank the Chinese government for such an awesome weekend because they seeded the clouds to get rid of the pollution and it resulted in beautiful blue skies. The also told the people of Shanghai they should stay in their houses so we were able to get everywhere in less than 10 minutes.

I think summer has finally come to Beijing (only took 5 months!) so I hope to spend my weekend outside soaking up some rays. Hope everyone is doing well. Thinking about y’all all the time!