View of Pudong skyline from the Bund in Shanghai

Something we noticed walking around the streets of Shanghai: Beijing touts ask passing foreigners if they want "dvdscdsvcds?" The question from touts in Shanghai however, is "watch(hand)bag?" often accompanied by a fake Rolex being pulled out and emphatically shaken in front of your face. Fact.

I'm back from Shanghai, a city which the Lonely Planet calls, I kid you not, the "Whore of the Orient" (it's on pg. 267, Lonely Planet China, 2005). It rained most of the time but we didn't let the weather, uh, dampen our spirits. The city is huge and much more modern than Beijing with plenty of shiny skyscrapers, especially in Pudong - a commercial area on the east side of the Huangpu River - which is where we stayed for a few nights in the highest hotel in the world... the lobby is on the 54th floor! Craig took a sensational photo of the view from our floor looking down to lobby level.

It was a good trip; we went to the Shanghai Museum and Shanghai Art Museum, got lost in the French Concession district, and battled crowds and crowds of people on Nanjing Rd. South, along the Bund, and even in Shanghai Aquarium where we saw seals and penguins!

My favourite part was our last morning in the city when the rain finally stopped and we went to Yuyuan Bazaar area (a touristy square with old buildings housing souvenir shops and such) and spent several hours in 豫园 Yuyuan itself - a beautfiul Chinese garden in the city.

My Shanghai flickrset is here.

With all the rain in Shanghai it was nice to return to atypically beautiful weather in Beijing... sunshine and blue skies since Friday. So despite returning to books and studying (exams are looming), the plan for the next few weeks is to take advantage of the fall weather to visit parks and hike a section of the Great Wall. I can't wait!