Birthday on the Bund

   We had a busy weekend with a variety of activities and just enough relaxation to get us ready to start school on Thursday.  Saturday began with a bus to a shopping area not too far down the street we live on.  After some searching we found a phone place to unlock my iphone from the ATT network so that I could use it on the networks in China.  The process took a long time so we were hungry and that meant a cab ride to a Shanghai landmark, Yang's Fry Dumplings.  Four orders of dumplings filled our bellies and only set us back 24 yuan...$3.75.

Everyone orders the fried dumplings so after ordering outside as the counter you get in line with your receipt where a man fills the orders as fast as he can get the dumplings into the plate.  In the middle of the shot you see someone cooking the dumplings.  Behind him three or four men are preparing the next pan full of dumplings.

Adriana is enjoying a dumpling and our company.  The dumplings are filled with ground pork and green onion.  They're pan fried in some sort of fat, not deep fried so you get both soft and crunchy texture.  The tea pot on the table actually has some sort of vinegar in it that you dip the dumplings in as you eat them.  The acidity of the vinegar cuts through the richness of the pork fat in the dumpling.  I need to work on eating dumplings with chopsticks and these dumplings were delicious so we'll definitely be returning to this place.

 

 

 

    After dumplings we were off in search of a street of art stores for Bri to buy art supplies.  We experienced a slight oddity on the short cab ride to the art store street.  For a block or two at a time you would see nothing but small shops of tools, then it would be scooter parts, then it would be something else for a block.  The odd part was every shop on that street seemed to have the exact same things with very little variation.  The pattern held true when we reached the art store street.  Every shop had paint supplies, calligraphy supplies and paper.  Bri was able to find everything that she needed to start painting and dickered the price down to 450 yuan.  She figured that the supplies would have cost between $200-$250 in the states but only set us back $70.

The salesman Bri bargained with is taping the canvases to the easel so it would be easier to carry home.  You can see how beaten down and weary he looks after Bri finished negotiating the price down :)

    After a relaxing Saturday night we were up early to go shopping at Carrefour on Sunday morning.  It was good to get everything off our list and not have to wait in long lines.  After I spent some time at work and finished getting my phone set up at the local China Unicom store Bri suggested that we go have dinner on the Bund to celebrate my birthday.  She called and made reservations at M on the Bund which is a pretty hoity toity restaurant but a good place for foodies to splurge when celebrating a birthday.  It was a little different to have a waiter who spoke a lot of english after eating at places where that was not the case.  We said ni hao and he said hello :)  Then I was just about to ask for bing shway and he asked if we needed some water.  Dinner was good but the atmosphere and view were spectacular.

We swapped picture taking with some english speaking white faces as we were walking along the Bund to dinner.  The tallest building on the right is one of the tallest in the world.  The Shanghai World Finance Center is 1,614 ft high, about a football field taller than the Empire State Building.  It has the worlds tallest outdoor observation deck.

Just an amazing view from the restaurant which was on the 7th floor of a building at the Bund.  It was great to see everything in the daylight and then after dinner get to see it all lit up.