On Saturday morning I had to get up early and give a presentation at a hotel across town. It was on the 29th floor of a hotel overlooking the river and Pudong. The view of the river was amazing, and I watched the boat traffic while I waited for the meeting to begin.
There was also a good view of the Pearl Tower and Jinmao. Jinmao has 88 floors because the Chinese word for good luck sounds like 88. That's Feng Shui for you.
I walked home and got a good picture of the Mao statue on the Bund. I have yet to see a bank note with a picture of someone other than Mao. And I thought dead presidents were unoriginal.
If you see these little green candies in the store, and you feel like something sweet, then I suggest you try something else. Probably the worst candies I've ever tasted. They leave you needing a good drink of water.
Nanjing Road during the day gets pretty darn crowded. Not only that, but there are little trains on wheels that drive up and down it toting around people too lazy to walk. And no, I haven't taken it yet. Sitting on the train offers the locals a good place from which to stare at the tall, white guy. It's hard to pretend I don't notice them.
Nothing beats a 10-storey shopping mall. An 11-storey one, I guess. But I didn't go to that one yet. This will do for now. The top floor was all snacks, and since the locals get "snacks" and "snakes" mixed up I only went up to the 9th floor.
I did buy a pair of shoes for Gipetta. At these prices it might be worthwhile to fly over to buy all of the baby clothes.
The dark building on the right was the tallest building in Asia at the time it was build in the 1900s. Now it is dwarfed by those around it. The silver building in the middle is my favorite building on this side of the river. And the sculpture in the middle blocks your view of both. Not the best composition.
Renmin Square is a park in the middle of the city. It's where teenagers go to make out. I wasn't welcome. But I did get a good view of my other favorite building. I call it the Jetson.
The park did have its moments, though. Something about still hearing the car horns is making me stop short of calling it tranquil. Let's say, "more soothing than a subway station."
Ah yes, the Museum of Urban Planning. A much better museum than it sounds. Inside shows how Shanghai came to be and what the plans are for the next 10 years. They have the city pretty well planned out.
And the countdown timer to the 2010 World Expo. Yee-haw. So what is the difference between a World's Fair and a World's Expo? I'm not sure. It makes a good goal, anyway.
The coolest part was the scale model of the entire city, including the buildings scheduled to be built before the World Expo. Pretty dang impressive. After the World Expo this model is going to be sold to a Japanese firm with plans on using it in the upcoming Godzilla vs. Mothra IV film.
I'm standing on the North-West side of the city. The red circle in the upper left is the Pearl Tower, the red circle in the middle is my office building, and the red circle just to the right of my office is the Howard Johnson's (my hotel is next door to the Ho-Jo's, by the way).
This is right outside my hotel door at night. Luckily, the Chinese like to eat promptly at 6 and Nanjing road quiets down by 9.
Nanjing road looking West. I particularly like the massive Pepsi cans in the upper right. I can see them from my window all night long!
