Shanghai was great. Apparently the downtown area is not where most people hang out. 人民广场 (People's Square) is where it's at. I told a cab driver "ren min guang chang" and he was like "ting bu dong, get off my cab" (ok, so he didn't say the last part, but I was shocked to learn that my accent wasn't all that). I ended up asking construction workers for directions and ended up walking there, which was another adventure on its own.
Shanghai did not disappoint, and it's my favorite big city I've visited, beating out Tokyo, Seoul, and Singapore. The subway is really cheap, awesome food vendors, tons of stuff to see, and has got a good mix of the big sky scraper feel as well as the cozy old-school street feel. Obligatory pics of Shanghai sky scrapers:
West Lake, Hangzhou:
Lingering Garden, Suzhou:
Zhouzhuang:
In the TV show Lost, Jack Shephard, the protagonist who worked so hard to find a way to leave the mysterious and dangerous island, eventually finds himself longing to go back. I'm back home, but I miss China already. I've been thinking about what exactly I miss about China. Immediately I thought of street food, but I think it's more than that. I think it's a combination of being able to explore a new land on your own pace, spending time on the things that seem interesting to you, learning about the different culture and people, with a bit of danger and excitement thrown in, and peppered with confusion and fascination when you run into something completely new.
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