First night at Ramada hotel.
Shanghai airport. I went back the next day to meet up Tomoko.
Me and Tomoko.
Outside my second hotel in Shanghai. It's the yellow building, called Home Inn.
Grocery store nearby hotel.
Tomoko and Runa (Tomoko's Korean friend).
Inside hotel room.
Scenes from the area around the hotel.
Tomoko and I went to visit Tomoko's friend who lives in a upscale high rise complex.
From their condo.
Super yum noodles from a small hole-in-the-wall Tomoko took me to.
A church nearby the hotel.
Tomoko bargaining for a cell phone, which I later used.
Coming out of the subway to Nanjing Lu.
Buildings on Nanjing Lu.
Crazy traffic. The cars continue even when people are crossing.
View of Nanjing Lu.
Another view of Nanjing Lu.
Selling fruit from baskets.
Old buildings from the 1920s and 30s on "The Bund" or "Waitan".
Good view of the Bund.
View of both sides of the river, the Bund and Pudong.
Pudong side of the river.
Old buildings near Nanjing Lu.
On the subway to Tomoko's friends' wedding.
Before the wedding.
Last minute prep with the bride (Megumi).
The wedding of Megumi and Tang.
Tomoko translated for the bride and groom's families. Megumi's family is Japanese and Tang's is Chinese, neither of them speak each other's language.
Tang's mother on the left and Megumi's brother on the right.
Tomoko's with Megumi's family.
Tomoko translating.
Me with some of Megumi and Tang's friends.
Student exercising in the morning.
Me and Tomoko at another small noodle shop.
You pick out what ingredients you want in your noodles.
Final product. These noodles were also very good.
Xintiandi. An expensive shopping are with new buildings made to look old.
More Xintiandi.
In a park.
Normal traffic.
Interesting old building.
Interesting old building, let's hope it doesn't meet a wrecking ball.
Making sugar cane juice.
Back alley. This is a common area for poorer people to live in. Usually down a narrow alley off of a normal road.
Exiting the alley.
From left to right: Tang, Runa, Me, and Tomoko. We are in People's Park, central Shanghai.
From left to right: Tomoko, Me, Inuoe san, Runa, and Tomoko's Italian friend (forgot her name, oops).
Tomoko and Runa gearing up to make a run to the store. Not really that cold out though...
Near Yu Gardens.
Vegetarian restaurant in Yu Gardens.
Yu Gardens.
"You like watch?"
Tomoko and her former co-worker worked together at a restaurant in Nagoya.
From left to right: Megumi, Tomoko, Runa, and Me. The guy in the back is Tomoko's Thai movie star friend. ^_^
Some kind of fried pasty with pumpkin on the inside. Very yummy.
A temple near central Shanghai.
Inside one of the buildings.
Some kind of event seemed to be going on in this Temple building.
Trying to hide the freshly demolished building. A common scene.
An old Soviet building.
A guy volunteers to help and old man cross the road.
The Oriental Pearl tower in Pudong.
Me in from of the Orient Pearl tower.
The two tallest building in Shanghai.
From Phil's 55th floor Apartment.
100 yuan about $14.
James and I in a Hui restaurant near our youth hostel.
Outside the youth hostel.
Near the youth hostel.
Pudong.
Crossing the street is life threatening. The best technique is follow the groups of people.
Jin Mao tower is on the right.
From the top of Jin Mao tower.
Looking down into the lobby of the Jin Mao tower.
The crazy and amazing Sightseeing Tunnel! It travels under the river from Pudong to the Bund and vice versa.
The crazy Sightseeing Tunnel.
View of Pudong.
Messy floor...
Nanjing Lu at night.
James and I at a local restaurant. We had Xiaorobao, not very good here though.
Lawson, Japanese convenience store.
James bargaining for a Mao bag.
Near our hostel.
Xintiandi again.
One of the few old structures left at Xintiandi.
Residential back alley not far from Yu Gardens.
"Antiques" market.
Seeds and nuts.
Very cool old temple, very low key.
There is sure to be tons of rubble on either side of these walls.
Some type of spring roll with tofu skin as the wrap.
The famous tea house in the center of Yu Gardens. This is one of the few building in Yu Gardens that is actually old.
Inside a taxi.
Inside the Shanghai Museum.
Outside the museum with Inoue san and his Chinese friend.
Puer tea with chrysanthemum flowers.
Dessert.
Old church near Nanjing Lu.
On the ferry to Pudong.
Be served at the tea house.
More tea house...
Left to right: Jen, Phil, Phil's "Tea Lady", James and me.
Dim sum dinner. Super yum, maybe the best Dim Sum I've had.
Interesting residential back street.
James and Emi.
Waiting for our food.
Left to right: James, me, Momoko, oops... forgot her name, and Emi. We ate with the locals at this open-air "restaurant".
A local interested in the waigouren (foreigners) who are quite out of place.
Outside Momoko's youth hostel.
Inside the lobby of me and James' hostel.
Many kittens in the youth hostel.
Part of an old building that is probably already gone.
Inside the sleeper train car on my way to Beijing.
Arrival at Beijing Hou Che Zhan (Train Station).
Ceiling of subway station.
My first look at spacious Beijing.
Hutong.
My hutong hotel is the building on the left.
Nearby hutong.
Inside my Beijing hotel room.
Qianmen gate, Beijing.
Mao's Mausoleum.
Tiananmen square.
The People's Hall or something like that in Tiananmen square.
Facing the famous front gate of the Forbidden City.
Hello Mao!
Opposite side of Tiananmen.
Inside the Forbidden City.
Red hats.
One of the oldest buildings in the Forbidden City garden.
The back of the Forbidden City is by far the most interesting.
Exiting the Forbidden City.
Nearby the Forbidden City.
More hutong.
Buick is sooo popular.
Wangfujing shopping street.
Old church near Wangfujing.
Wangfujing night market food street. Mostly normal fried and grilled to-go foods with a few bizarre things (see below).
Cow stomach, grubs, and squid.
Scorpion kabobs... yes scorpions.
Centipedes... no joke.
Everyday at dusk the People's Liberation Army lowers the flag in Tiananmen Square.
Preparing for flag lowering, it appears some non-army kids have joined in.
People waiting for the flag lowering.
Keeping back the crowds. Some of the soldiers look very young.
After the flag lowering.
Night shot of Tiananmen.
Inside the hotel lobby.
Inside my hotel room.
Outside the hotel.
A man taking is packages off the bus.
Nearby the Great Wall.
Small shops on the way to the Great Wall.
Part of any trip to a tourist location it is customary to get a photo with a random laowai.
The walkable portion ended here. Notice the rest is crumbling.
Hmmm...
On the bus back to Beijing.
Dust storm in Beijing.
Deep fried pumpkin, yum.
Temple of Heaven (Tian Tan).
Japanese ramen, comfort food.
Returning to Shanghai.
Do not spit.
More Shanghai.
Chicken feet.
