Like I said earlier, I've been keeping busy the past few days! Last week, I went to the Bund to snap some pictures of the popular skyline while it was light out, and then I waited til nightfall to snap some pictures of the place at night. The nighttime photos definitely turned out better, simply because it was still cloudy when I took the day photos.
On Wednesday night, I went to try the karaoke scene (which is very popular here)! What happens when you mix 2 Belgians, 2 Chileans, 2 Chinese, an Italian, a Portuguese, 3 Turks, and a Canadian with 5 bottles of vodka and karaoke? Great times, hilarious times, loud obnoxious singing (:D!), with a handful of songs in Chinese, a couple songs in Spanish and only a few top 40 North American songs (since I was the only person from NA there). Surprisingly, the majority of songs were by Western indie/rock bands (like Kings of Leone, The Killers, etc.)...I've been told they're very popular in SA and Europe. It's a shame the night ended with the girl from Turkey puking in the room and passing out...and even sadder that her boyfriend only took pictures of her passed out instead of trying to help carry her home.
Then on Thursday, I finally went up the Oriental Pearl Tower (as the sun finally partly came out for a day). I arrived at the tower around a quarter to 3 PM in the afternoon. My plan was to take some day photos of the Shanghai skyline, and the wait for nightfall to take some more photos of the skyline at night. I didn't even get to see anything until 90 minutes after my arrival - I was in line the whole time to get to the top - so I can't even imagine the wait on a weekend. But the wait was worth it to catch a glimpse of Shanghai from a height of 350 m. Unfortunately, the value of the next few hours are debatable. I found out when I got to the top (which is where you start the sightseeing) that as you progress down the tower, you are not allowed (without paying again) to go back to the previous higher floors. So I went to the next level at 263 m, and literally stood for two hours in the same spot to wait for night to come (because where I stood had the best view of the Bund skyline). I did nothing the entire time, just stood there wasting my time (haha)!...they wouldn't sell snacks when I was there (after 5 PM) and I couldn't visit the other floors. So when night finally came at 7 PM, I quickly snapped a handful of pictures of the entire skyline and the see-through glass floor (since I was getting hungry, my feet were swollen, and I was tired from having only slept a few hours the night before), then went down to the 90 m level...only to find it provided a different angle worth taking a few pictures of...and so passed another half an hour. Then when I got to the ground floor, as I was searching for the exit, I stumbled upon the "Shanghai History of Urban Planning Museum" (or something like that)...and to get my money's worth...that was a mistake: another hour of walking in crowds and average exhibitions. I was so tired I passed out when I got back to my room. I'll let you decide when I can finally post some photos to determine if that 2 hour wait was worth it.
Friday night was a long night. It started off with me heading down to Hengshan Road, a 2 km street mentioned in almost every Shanghai guide as being the "bar street" filled with foreigners at night. Given the tendency of nightlife starting earlier in Shanghai than in Toronto, I headed to the street at 9PM, only to find that no one was at any of the bars yet! (so I guess I was a little early?) But I snapped some pictures of the bars anyway, which made for some nice nighttime photos. I really don't see what all the hoopla is though, I remember only seeing a handful of bars (definitely less than 10), and they were quite spaced apart...definitely nowhere close to King St. W. I was planning on joining my Italian friends to go to another club that night, so as I headed home, I accidentally bumped into a few of them as they were finishing their dinners. So we decided to play a quick game of bowling first!...none of us scored above 100 hahaha. Finally, we headed to one of the most exclusive clubs in Shanghai, M1NT. If you look it up online, you'll read that it's a VIP/member-only club that's also "open" to the general public. I got turned away at first because no one told me about the strict dress code (and I wasn't expecting one based on the other night of clubbing) and I was wearing shorts. I made a quick taxi ride back to my room to change into long pants, but still had trouble getting in because I wasn't wearing the tight stylish jeans every single other guy was wearing in the club (and my pants are cargo/backpacking pants), and I had on my backpacking boots (as opposed to dress shoes). I obviously didn't pack any, as my pack weighed 50 lbs. already, and there was no way I was going to pack unnecessary, heavy clothing. But with the help of a kind VIP member, I finally got in after a couple of minutes. I can completely understand why the club is so exclusive though. Beautiful people (mostly foreigners), lavish decor, great thumping music...but there are also the obvious drawbacks...some snooty clubbers and bouncers to match, and drinks priced at a minimum $13 CDN. Definitely one of the most obnoxious clubs I've ever been to, but that's to be expected at a place like this. And it was surprisingly small (by Canadian standards...about as much room as Skybar's rooftop patio floor) considering it took up the entire top floor of the skyrise that it calls home. There was a rooftop patio floor too though (which I didn't get to see as it was VIP only) so by Shanghai standards, it's probably huge. And while the people here consider it lavish, I can't really say it was any more gorgeous than some of the clubs in Toronto (it was about on par with Lot 332). But aside from all that, the club had one really cool attraction: an aquarium running the length of a corridor (around 10 m in length if I had to guess, but I don't really remember haha) filled with tiny sharks! Definitely picture worthy; it's a shame I didn't have a digital camera to snap a photo, but I'll try to ask my friends to send me one.
And so wraps up my 3rd week in Shanghai!
UPDATE:
What a difference the hour makes eh? The first is a poorly patched panoramic view of the Bund (from the Pudong side of the river) when I first got there. It was very cloudy to say the least, hence the exposure quality. Next is the Bund later on that day at night, and to me, it looked much nicer. I didn't choose the best photos I took to make the panoramic view, but the other ones need some touching up, and I don't have Photoshop here. And the final panoramic view of the Bund is from my visit to the same place the next day during the afternoon when the sun made a brief appearance. Much nicer than the first one as well (IMO).
View of the Oriental Pearl Tower during my first visit to the area (known as Lujiazui). Again, notice the cloudy weather?
In the area across the river from the Bund. I decided to feature McDonald's so prominently as an example of Shanghai's true economic nature (ie. communist in name only).
Just showing how quickly the fog moves (these were taken less than a second apart) in Shanghai. The building being covered is the Shanghai World Financial Center.
Still in the same area, along the area designed like a pier (though I never saw a boat dock at this point, it's too shallow, as you can tell from the 3rd shot). That's right, another McD's stand only metres away. I didn't upload another picture I took of the area showing it, but there was yet another Starbucks here as well.
The Oriental Pearl Tower and the Convention Center.
I thought these shots I took of the Bund were pretty cool. The sightseeing ship in the first photo appeared to be trying to escape the darkness of the weather at the Bund, and it looked like light was unsuccessfully trying to break through the darkness in the 2nd photo.
Still in the same area along the river. A view of the Oriental Pearl Tower and the nearby buildings. Again, I think it looks better at night. The clouds were so thick that the top of the Shanghai World Financial Center was completely obscured.
Me in front of the Bund and the O.P.T. This is how photos turn out when you forget to set the flash exposure level and the autofocus settings before giving the camera to a stranger to take your photo.
Along my walk to the nearby (giant) mall, where I went to Pizza Hut for the first time (can you see the Pizza Hut logo?)
Inside the mall...I hate to say it again, but it puts our malls to shame (not necessarily a good thing this time though). I was surprised to see the Best Buy, I totally didn't expect it (given the many small electronic shops in Shanghai)!
At the end of the night, before heading in the subway. The tower with the bright roof beside the Shanghai World Financial Center is the Jin Mao Tower.
As I said above, I went back to the same spot the next day when the sun came out briefly. See what a difference the sun makes?!
My trip through the "Bund Sightseeing Tunnel". If you ever go to Shanghai, don't bother coming here, it's a waste of money. It was about $6.66 CAD for a one way trip that lasted a minute and all it shows is different coloured flashing lights in the tunnel. Makes for some cool photos, but save the money for something else, like a complete decent lunch.
Now at the Bund, on the Puxi side of the river, looking at the financial area (Lujiazui). As you can tell, they're doing construction for the 2010 World Expo.
The Chinese haven pretty much taken back the Bund from the foreign firms.
From my second visit to Xintiandi. I stopped by Starbucks again during my trip, but the phot was mainly to show how much construction was going on, even near the nicer areas. The 2nd last photo of the pond is right beside Xintiandi, in a small park right beside the most expensive area to live in Shanghai - and yet, as you can see, just across the street there is a very poor area of rundown houses. The last picture shows the 2010 World Expo mascot, Haibao. They were doing some photo op thing at Xintiandi or something. I couldn't capture it on time, but the little kid in the photo kept poking the mascot before a security guard finally stepped in (since there's a person in the suit).
I don't think I mentioned this before, but during the week before the week of crazy nights, I went back to visit Huaihai Road again. The above are some shots when I visited Fuxing Park, near Huaihai Road, established in 1909! And of course, in typical Shanghai manner, it started to POUR while I was there. I should also mention there were many wild cats (like in any other park in Shanghai). The first cat looked like it was in pain...probably ate something bad?
After Fuxing Park, I headed up Yandang Road (the road with French style buildings) which I mentioned in a previous post. The 2nd photo is along Huaihai Road again, just to show that even along the designer brand shops, most of Shanghai still lives in poor conditions.
I visited Shanghai's largest Catholic cathedral on the Sunday before the week of crazy nights. It's called the Cathedral of St. Ignatius (as shown in the 2nd photo, in case you ever want to attend mass there yourself), but it's also known as Xujiahui Cathedral (after the area in Shanghai it is located). No photos allowed inside, so only outside shots.
The shopping area next to the cathedral. Shanghai has a surprising number of Italian food restaurants. The building with the large glass sphere is Metro City (yet another mall) and the building to the right of it is a mall dedicated only to electronics. The last show is a view from inside the large glass sphere.
I accidentally stumbled upon a Starbucks "near" my school (about a 20 minute walk)! Again, still rainy weather.
A stroll down Duolun Road, a "culture road", also nearby my school. Again, look at all the bikes and mopeds! The road was the site of the homes of many past literary notables in China. And surprisingly another Catholic church!
When I accidentally stumbled upon a Domino's on my way back from Duolun Road.
Still the same day, on my way back from Duolun Road, I strolled through Luxun Park again. From the number of photos, you might be able to tell the park is huge. Lots of old people doing activities, like fishing (despite the no fishing bylaw), practicing Chinese calligraphy, playing badminton, exercising, and using the playground for children(!). Again, I don't think I can explain just how many wild cats there are in Shanghai's parks. I went to visit Lu Xun's tomb site (of which the park is named after, and who is shown in the statue), and the solitary cat sitting on the floor at the tomb site was more interesting (because the "tomb" is not visible to the public, you simply see a large stone wall with a few Chinese characters on it, nothing special). I was standing less than a metre away from the cat when I took the photo - they're not as easily frightened as the cats in Toronto.
And finally, some photos from the actual week I posted about (I didn't realize I had been so busy the week before):
Outside the O.P.T., before I went up.
The view from the highest observation deck in the O.P.T.
The night skyline from the next observation deck below the highest one. So tell me, were the shots worth the long wait I went through?
And yet more night skyline shots, from a different perspective, from the lowest observation deck (the first big ball of the tower). There was a roller coaster on this floor(!), but it was late so the ride was closed.
Some photos from the museum on the ground floor of the tower. It looked like they put so much effort into most of the exhibits, so I thought I'd at least take a few photos. I'll let you guess what each shows.
Right outside the tower. I didn't know there was a show. I caught the tail end of it.
The view from my floor on Friday night. I thought it looked nice.
My stroll through Hengshan Road. Some nice lights, but overall, the "bar street" wasn't that interesting. And of course, another Starbucks.
What I found more interesting was the park I accidentally stumbled upon while wandering Hengshan Road. There were so many old people dancing, in the park at night! It seemed so random to me at first haha.
And seeing as there was another Starbucks, I decided to take a quick coffee break.
Then a quick game of bowling! (That's not me in the picture, it's one of my Italian friends.)
The coke and whiskey I bought before heading to M1NT. A convenience store near the school sold these bottles of pre-mixed Jack Daniels and coke for only $3 CAD! I'm pretty sure I've never seen it in Canada before, and definitely nothing at that price.
Me with Riccardo and Alessandro (both from Italy) at M1NT. A borrowed photo. I didn't bring a digital camera, and a huge DSLR camera isn't something you can bring to places like bars and clubs.
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