Last night, we went to this American sports bar called Windows Scoreboard, and it was very similar to Pyro Pizza in Beijing, replacing pizza with hamburgers. It ended up being a pretty crazy night—after indulging in burgers, fries, and cheap drinks, we went to a bar called M2 that was in that Plaza 66 place we had found that same day, on the top floor. It’s one of the hot spots in Shanghai apparently, and that night was no exception. We did manage to go on the night they had booked a transvestite singer/dancer, so that was fun too (thanks Pride week! …). We made it home by a reasonable hour, and I had fun hanging out with XiaoXia again.
This morning was the second part of Dr. Greenspan’s lectures, and it was not nearly as interesting as yesterday’s. This part was all about the little nooks and crannies of Shanghai, which was interesting, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a tougher time staying awake through a lecture before in my life. Everyone in the class felt the same way. We still had some interesting discussion, and I got to see a darker side of Shanghai, the “developing country” aspect of it that hasn’t been glossed over by the glory and futurism of Pudong. Hopefully the World Expo 2010 will do to Shanghai what the 2008 Olympics did to Beijing, as far as modernizing the entire city.
After lunch, we went to the tallest building in Shanghai, the tallest building in China, and the world’s tallest habitable floor/observatory—the Shanghai World Financial Center in the Pudong district. It was incredible. We bought the high roller tickets, meaning we got to go as high as they let people, almost ¾ mile above ground—the 100th floor. The view was absolutely absurd, and they definitely did the trip with style. The elevator we took (of the 91 in the building) went straight from floor -3 (they don’t really do B1, B2, … here) to floor 97. In about 20 seconds. Suck it, Towers elevators. We frolicked up here for a good while—the only disappointing part about this event was the air quality—not clear enough to get a really good view of Shanghai, but definitely good enough to see the Pudong side (and get some great pictures!).
We went to a big commercial shopping mall in Puxi after this, and had a great lunch—my first experience with hot pot, which turned out to be incredible. I had veal, and cooked it myself (in hot pot style), and it was delicious. I also discovered a new love for peanut sauce. I’m sure I’ve had it before but not by choice, and I pretty much covered all my food at this meal in it. Mmm…
Our intention for the evening was to walk up the Bund to check out the French architecture and the scenic views of the river, but because of all the construction and cleaning of the river they’re doing, the Bund was almost completely sightless. So as everyone else headed back to campus as the sun was setting, Zach, Yeong, and I went back across the river to Pudong to check out the Oriental Pearl—the first of Pudong’s futuristic sights, and the tallest building in the city for a long time (until the Jinmao tower and now, the SWFC). Night conditions were much better for sightseeing and picture taking, and when we found the glass-bottomed observatory we all almost peed ourselves. Zach had an extreme fear of heights but he conquered it and we all probably acted pretty gay jumping around, 360m above ground, with nothing between us but a piece of clear plastic. Pretty cool. This was probably the best part of the trip, if only because we a.) planned it ourselves, b.) exercised group management (more than 4 people = major hassle), and c.) everything worked out really well. Thanks to Yeong for spotting me the money to go up!
