Goodbye Shanghai

We had been in Shanghai for 4 or 5 days and had a few more left before moving onto Hong Kong.  We decided to get out of the hostel and head over to a market area.  It took a few stops on the subway but we made our way there and got out.  We had not been having much luck with food in Shanghai and as soon as we stepped out of the subway there was a massive sign for Outback steakhouse.  We were both ready for non-Chinese food so we made our way there hoping it would be even remotely similar to Outback steakhouse back home.   Sure enough, it was nearly identical in taste to the food back home.  It wasn’t cheap, but it was definitely worth it!

We made our way into the market which was a set of small alleys that run in between major streets.  The alley’s were almost a maze the way they zig zag through the city.  We worked out way through the market and enjoyed checking out all the shops along the way.   The shops had a large variety of everything from art to tourist type things.   We ended up spending 2 or 3 hours making our way through the market and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Later that night we decided to head down to the rivers edge and get some night shots of the famous downtown skyline.  We got a few shots of the skyline and then made our way back through the shopping district.  We ended up going inside a mall and trying one of the nicer restaurants there which actually had much better food than a lot of other places we had a tried in Shanghai.

With our time in Shanghai drawing to a close, we decided to go up in one of the towers that overlooks the city.   The highest tower is in the financial district so we decided to head that way.  The tower was rather pricey at around $35 per person to get in and make it to the very top.  We hopped on the elevator to ride up to the 108th floor and got off to take in the view.

Being up in the tower was interesting because on one side you look back at the city skyline and it’s a pretty amazing view.  On the opposite side, it’s miles upon miles of really nothing all that interesting.   It’s mainly lots of basic buildings where people live and nothing like the skyline you see in the pictures.   It’s an important contrast because what you see in the media in Shanghai is nearly always the amazing looking buildings and the lights but just beyond it lies very bland and basic buildings and architecture.

As we made our way around the observation deck with one side that had a great view and another that really had no view at all, I observed something that was all too familiar in China.   The absolute prime viewing spot in the observation tower was full of Chinese people sitting there blocking people from walking up with their backs to the view.   They sat there the entire time we were up in the tower without a care in the world that people spent money to come up specifically for the view and they were blocking the best possible spot to see out.    They could easily sit on the opposite side (where no one even cared to look out) so they wouldn’t be blocking anyone AND they could actually see the view too. But no.  Screw everyone that isn’t me.  Typical China.

The next day it was time to leave China.  As we made our way onto the fast train that takes you to the airport there is a security check point for your bags.   I put my rolling bag on the conveyor belt and with it still hanging half off I already have my back pack touching the back of my bag ready to go onto the conveyor belt as well.   The man behind me steps around me and starts to put his bag in between my rolling bag and the back pack.  The bags are touching mind you and I’m there guiding it on as fast as the conveyor belt goes.   I slapped his bag down out of the way and just stood there staring at him.   He stands there with a shocked look on his face that someone would touch his bag and push it out of the way as he tried to shove his bag between my two bags.   With a shocked look on his face he said “sorry” and motioned with his hands for me to go ahead.