SHANGHAI

It was Autumn so it was getting cooler and the temperature drops after every rain. My one week of work in Shanghai was good and we had the chance to check some of the cities' famous sites.

Here's a picture of me at Pudong. Right across are the beautiful night lights of Puxi (the East side):



We never missed The Bund of course:



And there were other wonderful sites:



The food was nothing so different because Chinese food is also common in the Philippines but it was my first time to be eating authentic Chinese food and struggling with my chopsticks. We had a few exotic food like frogs and black chicken since we rarely have these on the lunch table. Western food and other types of cuisine are also available. ;)

Shopping is great if you have enough RMB or Yuan. US Dollar wouldn't be hard to exchange but the charges will kill you. We had our money exchanged in Hong Kong which is our last stop to the city. They say it is best to have your money exchanged where you are from so you won't lose too much RMB.

Chinese silk purses and garments are very common and can be cheap. I bought myself purses for only 5 RMB each but it depends on your bargaining skills. At the very first store we came across, I bought the same exact purse at 20 RMB because I was too excited. Our Chinese friends helped us with the bargaining since most of the locals speak only a little bit of English. My Filipino colleague made the best bargains using gestures and calculators to communicate the price she wanted. So if you go shopping in Shanghai make sure you have a lot of energy stored for the action.

On our last day, we strolled back to the hotel and found small bookstores along Weifang Road in Pudong. Paper stationery and pens are cheap and I got myself a diary. If you love stationery then you should check these stores.

Too bad I didn't find yarn or craft stuff in the places we checked. There must be a lot of them lying somewhere. In one of the malls we visited, I saw a lady knitting while she was waiting for a customer.

Overall, Shanghai is a highly urbanized city and less traditional than I've expected. However, Chinese culture is still everywhere which makes the city very unique. I would still want to visit the place again and hopefully see more of the traditional places.