Shanghai, China

Shanghai, on China’s central coast, is the country's biggest city and a global financial hub. Its heart is the Bund, a famed waterfront promenade lined with colonial-era buildings. Across the Huangpu River rises the Pudong district’s futuristic skyline, including 632m Shanghai Tower and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, with distinctive pink spheres. Sprawling Yu Garden has traditional pavilions, towers and ponds.

What can I say about Shanghai. Its loud, chaotic, dirty, etc, etc… Can you tell yet that its not one of my favorite places?! This was a work trip, but, I made sure to get a little time to tour around. I made it to the Bund, Tian Zi Fang and ate some amazing dim sum (dumplings).

The Bund

An NYC/Time Square style waterfront property where Chinese people go to watch each other (jokes). However, this time they were watching me…! I had four people/ groups of people follow me around taking photos whenever they could. Only after three minutes of this young girl following me did she get the confidence to come up and ask for a photo with me. (I’m famous on the internet somewhere. Find me!) It's an interesting experience to be around people who had never seen a foreigner/white person before in real life.

Tian Zi Fang

A boutique, hidden shopping area. It’s a few alleyways of small shops that cannot be seen from the road. If someone had not pointed it out to me, I would have gone wandering aimlessly around. I bought a few necklaces that seem to be one of a kind, but cheap enough it doesn’t matter if they are not! You can find souvenirs or unique goods. Its also nice just to go and grab a coffee and get lost.