Last weekend me and Si went to Shanghai for 3 days. It's only an hour and a half flight so we had plenty of time for the trip. We got there early on Saturday morning and got to ride the Maglev Train across the city to our hostel. The Maglev train is the fastest in the world. It is run by magnets, and gets up to 450 km per hour. The trip across the city only took 8 minutes! We then had to figure out the Shanghai subway system, 
and walk around People's Square, another touristy area, until we found our hostel. There were people selling this everywhere. Some had things laid out on the ground and others were carrying around bags of knock off watches and things. A man came up to Si and squirted white gunk on his shoe, proceding to give him a shoe shine. Si kept insisting he didn't need the shine but the man would not go away! He kept saying, "Very good, very good, no money, no money," but of course after he finished assulting Si's shoes he expected money. I will never forget the look on Si's face when this man kept squirting his shoes with white gunk and rubbing them clean. Haha!
We finally found and checked into our hostel, then set out to see the city. One of the most well known attractions in Shanghai is the Pearl Tower, so we went there first. We went all the way to the top after waiting in a million lines, but it was worth it because you could see an amazing view of the city! We have tons of pictures of the Pearl Tower, so if you've looked at my pictures i'm sure you've seen it! Next we walked around the city for awhile, and headed back to the hostel to rest. It was such a long day! That night we went to a jazz bar with live music which was really good. I met people who spoke Spanish at the bar, so of course I had to practice my skills! We also met a nice older couple from Turkey who let us share their table and bought all of our drinks, can't beat that!On our second day I was determined to shop until I dropped! China is sooooo cheap and you
bargain until you get the prices way down, so it's fun to do! We went to Yu Gardens, which is the oldest city in Shanghai, and also a huge shopping district. We spent most of the day there, looking at the buildings and shopping of course! There were random people walking around secretly asking you if you wanted name brand bags, watches, shirts etc. We were weary at first, 
but finally gave in to see what they were all about. They led us down allies and through secret doors into their little shops where they had all the knock off merchandise you can imagine! This is where I did most of my damage, on purses and watches etc. But hey, you only live once! I'm not sure why this area is called Yu Gardens because there are absolutely no gardens...but we went with it.Shopping and haggling prices is tiring! That night we hung out with other travelers at our hostel. They had a bar and a pool table so it was pretty fun. Staying in hostels isn't quite as nice as staying in hotels, but you always get to meet really cool people from all over the world.
Our last day was spent doing more site seeing and more shopping! We went to the Bund, which is another older area of the city on the water. You could see the city skyline accross the water,
which are newer buildings, and the old buildings at the Bund. It was interesting how the city was split like that...new and old. There were also people selling things at the Bund, like everywhere else in the city. We had heard about a tunnel you could ride through with neon lights and scary noises. We read that it was so tacky you had to do it...so of course we did! It lived up to all of our expectations...tacky to say the least, but fun none the less.It was finally time to check out of our hostel and make our way back to the airport. We had to buy a new bag to put all of our purchases in! When we got back to Si's apartment, we covered his queen size bed with every thing we bought...heaven for me of course! Shanghai was amazing and different, like every place i've been able to see in Asia and I can't wait to do more travelling!
Love you and miss you all!
