Making Every Minute Count

Hi, it's Shannon again!

Since today was one of only two days we have in Shanghai and our second-to-last day in China, we packed in a whole bunch of stuff. We started out this morning with a small breakfast at a coffee shop downstairs. Then, we took a taxi to Yu Yuan Garden. That's probably my favorite place in the city; it's very peaceful and beautiful and in the middle of what's known as "Old Shanghai." Above is a picture of me in one part - you may notice the tour group in the background. Apparently every guided tour in Shanghai wanted to start their day at Yu Yuan.

After that, Matt and I walked around Old Shanghai for a little bit and then took a taxi to the Bund. We had gorgeous weather today, as you'll see in the picture of Matt in front of the Pudong side of Shanghai. The very tall structure with the orbs is the Oriental Pearl Tower (aka Shanghai Tower, aka TV Tower)...more on that in a second.

Then, we went back to the hotel and met up with my dad and Jet, his business associate who's been a wonderful tour guide for us this week. We went over to some of their colleague's offices to meet up with another one of them for lunch. After that, we drove over to Pudong and went up to the top of the Tower. It's the second tallest building in the world, and you can see for miles on a clear day. Unfortunately, it was pretty hazy today, but it was still an amazing view.

Following that, we went to the museum of the city of Shanghai in the basement of the tower. Then we walked over to the Shanghai Hyatt, another incredibly tall building, and had drinks in the bar on the 86th floor. We walked around on that side of the river again after it got dark so we could see the Bund all lit up. Then we drove back to the other side of the river and went to dinner. We went to a Thai restaurant so my dad could get one of his favorites, shark fin soup. Matt had that as well (I passed, thank you very much), and then we headed back to the hotel, 12 hours after when we first left. We're exhausted but we feel like we got to see a lot of the best of Shanghai.