Shanghai, Day 1

I arrived in Shanghai late last evening after about 20 hours of travel from Seattle. The trip was relatively painless, but there is just nothing civilized about spending all day on an airplane and in airports.

I got up early this morning and walked the city. I'm very impressed with Shanghai. It is a vibrant, clean and safe city. I should note that it's safe as long as you can avoid getting hit by a car. I used to think that Manhattan cabbies were nuts, but this is a whole new level. The city is also very cosmopolitan, but if you get off a few blocks off the major roads, you very quickly move away from anything that you would expect to see in an American city.

I had an interesting time trying to order lunch. I went into a small (about 10-15 seats) restaurant I found down a small side street. Needless to say, I was the only westerner in the place and the staff did not speak English. After some pointing, smiling and nodding, I apparently ordered something that involved chicken, stir fried vegetables, and steamed rice. It was very good and only cost me the equivalent of $2.

Jing'anPark:

The cheesy camera phone self portrait. You can see the Jing'an Temple over my left shoulder.