Seeing Shanghai

I think dumplings taste better when you travel an hour and a half to get them. This mornings breakfast-turned-lunch was a phenomenal set of dumplings from Yang’s Fry Dumplings in Shanghai (before and after picture below). It turns out that they have a Yang’s in the subway stop right next to where I’m staying, but who would go there when you can get perilously lost on the metro system and helped out by a female, middle-aged, Shanghai accountant who speaks some english?

After that I went to the Jewish Refugee Museum and learned a bit about the tens of thousands of Jews who fled Germany to Shanghai (a part of the world that would take them) in the early 1940’s. There was a mini holocaust museum on the third floor, which was powerful even though it was only in one medium-sized room.

After that I headed to the Bund—the waterfront in Shanghai with an amazing view of some huge buildings across the river. One of those huge buildings includes the yet-to-be-finished second tallest building in the world. I always assumed that every building that was ever the second tallest in the world was the tallest at one point. There is probably a deep truth about human nature somewhere in this.

After that I went and walked around the market outside of the Yuyuan gardens (the actual gardens were closed but the market was really cool). I sat in a Starbucks there for a few minutes waiting for the next chapter of The Fountainhead audiobook to download, and while I was inside I saw the old Chinese style buildings outside light up. Not on fire, just with lights, but the lights were like tiny fires inside the bulbs—you know how lights are.

After that I met up with Chadsey, his suitemate Jose, and friend Tim, and we went out for a spicy dinner. I’ve just started four paragraphs in a row with “After that.” I’m getting either lazy, tired, or both.

After that (it’s now ironically stylistic), we used up all of Chadsey’s work-provided 200 RMB gift card for Haagen Dazs on a lavish ice cream fondue pot which was made up in decorativeness what it lacked in taste. We then walked home in the cold and stopped in a shoe store for Chadsey to buy slippers. Below is a picture of Jose with a shoe which, according to him, is like “having a tiny dead pet on your feet.”

Now I’m off to bed, with more dumplings and a flight to Hong Kong on the agenda for tomorrow.