Shanghai: Part V

Isabel, who is in Shanghai for a year working as an au pair, and I decided to rent bikes for the day and troll the streets of the French Concession. Here's one such typical lane:

Of course, ever on the lookout for buns, we stopped to buy some from this strapping young chap.

Some random corner and a lot of watermelons.

We stopped a somewhat gentrified market off Taikang Street with a ton of cute little shops and restaurants lining these narrow lanes.

Here's me with my bike in front of the Taikang Street marketplace.

Shanghai: Part VI

On my last day in Shanghai, Isabel and I started off by exploring the Bund, the harborside swath of European-style buildings. The inscription below was on one of the buildings, and I snapped it because I thought it was appropriate.

Then we took the... dum dum dum... sightseeing tunnel over to the Pudong side. It was, um, interesting. There weren't sights to be seen, per se, unless you count the epileptic flashing lights that surrounded our little roller-coaster-style car as a sight.

Once safely on the other side of the river, we checked out the Shanghai history museum at the bottom of the Oriental Pearl TV tower. It had some cool life-size dioramas of traditional street scenes and old-fashioned shops, and also this miniature model of the Bund. (The day was just as gray outside, so we opted not to go to the top of the TV tower because we figured there'd be no view.)

View from the Pudong side over to the Bund.

Of course we had dumplings for lunch. What else?

Then we went to a fabulous knock-off market by the science museum and spent the rest of my rebminbi on bags and shoes before I headed back to HK!

An amazing visit.

Shanghai: Part IV

I did some reporting for a story Robyn was writing about Noble Group, which involved visiting a factory a few hours outside of Shanghai. My driver that day, the kind and generous Frank Feng, offered to take me around Shanghai on the second Saturday I was there. And so we were off to Xujiahui, an area with street food and an old-fashioned colonial-style restaurant with trains (!) in the backyard. We didn't eat there, but we did pose with some of the locomotives.

Yes, I am driving a train.

I caught this shot out the window, just as a reminder to myself that the whole city is gearing up for the Shanghai Expo. The mascot, that Gumby-esque figure to the left and right of the topiary, is EVERYWHERE.

Yummm, shen jian. They are so delicious.

Me in front of Yang's home of the shen jian. They are so good. And have a little liquid inside them, so if you devour them before they cool down a little, a burned tongue is inevitable. (NB: I was told later, after the trip, that Yang's had been shut down or hit with a violation or something because it wasn't hygienic or it didn't adhere to health regulations. Damnit. It was still delicious.)

Shanghai: Part III

The reason I was there was because I was attending a conference at Shanghai Jiao Tong University on world-class universities and global college rankings. I got to know a lot of the attendees, who hailed from all over the world: Italy, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, China, South Africa, many E.U. nations, etc. But Camelia, from Romanian, and I immediately hit it off. Here we are in front in the Yu Gardens, the touristy part of downtown-ish Shanghai that is meant to be traditional and authentic and old-Chinese-style. It's where they took us for dinner on the last night of the conference.

The buildings were all lit up when we finished dinner.

Then we went on a night cruise of the Huangpu River. Here is a shot of the Bund, a part of Shanghai along the western waterfront on which Europeans built, well, European-style buildings when they controlled parts of Shanghai.

The Oriental Pearl TV tower is the striking tall object. It's located on the Pudong side, to the east of the river, which is relatively newly developed and where a lot of fancy office buildings and hotels are now.

I just thought this boat looked totally awesome, contrasting with the modern, blinking buildings in the background.

Shanghai: Part II

I slept in after a debaucherous (well, at least late) Halloween, and then headed back to my favorite neighborhood, the French Concession.

I like the local street scenes.

I went on the hunt for a bun place recommended by the legendary R.W. Apple in a Times story from several years ago.

I don't know if it was exactly the right one, but I found DELICIOUS buns. Exhibit A.

Then I went and soup dumplings (xiao long bao) and buns with shrimp and pork in them that are then fried so one side of them is crispy (shenjian). DELICIOUS.

Shanghai: Part I

The generous Andrew Galbraith, who I hadn't even met yet, allowed me to stay in his apartment in the northern part of the city near the Zhongtan Road subway stop. Here's what the area around his apartment complex looked like.

I headed down to the French Concession, which had been my favorite neighborhood when I had visited almost three years earlier. It's such a peaceful place.

That night I met Mandy, my former FOPper, for dinner and drinks in honor of Halloween! We started out at a restaurant in a mall along Nanjing Road, the main shopping thoroughfare of the downtown. Here are the characteristic neon signs.

We started off at a chill bar, all dolled up and put together...

...and went on to a few clubs, and were given angel/devil headpieces. We wound up in a club dancing away on a platform, with a pole, to tunes spun by a person billed as 50 Cent's DJ.

That was Halloween in Shanghai.

My First Chinese Wedding

Daniel, a Forbes contributor, very graciously invited me to his wedding to HiuYin, a Hong Kong girl who he met at college in the States. The wedding was incredibly moving and extremely festive. There were endless course of food, including Cantonese specialties like roast goose (at least I am pretty sure that is what that is)....

...and abalone soup.

Daniel and HiuYin entered on a chariot suspended from the ceiling!

The room was decorated with beautiful photos of the couple shot in various locations. The one below was taken in front of one of the more striking skyscrapers along HK's harborside, the IFC tower.

The room had a magical, sparkly feel to it. I felt very lucky to be included!

Surfing In Bali

These photos got kind of lost in the shuffle of Bali pictures that I uploaded in the fall. And I figured people would get a kick out of how uncoordinated I am. Anyway, Grace and I took a half-day lesson on Kata Beach. So here we are, toward the end of our lesson, riding a wave side by side.

But first, there were some definite spills.

I think I inhaled half the water in the ocean.

A rare upright moment.

I think this was one of my only successful rides!

I can't wait to try surfing again soon. Maybe in Thailand?