Sunday, June 10, 2018
Today was the day we were all looking forward to after the assignment-heavy last week. With no scheduled events (I think our first entirely free day so far) and lots of suggestions, I was ready to wake up early and head out. After taking heavy advantage of the free coffee at the hotel, I set out with Josh and Isaac. We wandered through the city until we arrived at The Bund, the famed skyline along the river. On one side of the river is a lot of colonial architecture that gives the street a European feel, while along the other is the famous Pearl Tower and other high-rises. After Alejandro and Chris met up with us, we had a quick lunch of wontons and then set out to go to the top of the Shanghai World Financial Center, the tallest building in China. Though it was cloudy, the view was astonishing.
We decided to meet up with some other classmates at the underground shopping mall, just a few subways stops away from the Financial Center. This mall is known as a bargainer's paradise; it's not common to get the prices down to half of what the initial price was. Leanne, Winnie, and I wanted a new pair of prescription glasses and managed to get them for Y180 (a little under $30), a huge drop from the initial Y450 they asked for. I couldn't believe that they can make prescription lenses so quickly, or for so cheap! Leanne and Winnie were disappointed with my bargaining skills and insisted that we could have got the price down to Y160, but this was my first time at a market like this, so they forgave me. After all, this was a great deal and now we all have brand new glasses.
After what felt like three days at this market, we parted ways with most of our classmates at the mall. A few of us went to a restaurant that Benny recommended as his favorite in Shanghai. It's apparently very popular, as we had to wait almost 45 minutes for a table, the first time I've had to wait to eat since coming to China. Safe to say that the food was delicious and definitely worth the wait! We ate the steamed egg with yellow croakers (a small local shrimp-like fish), eggplant stir-fried with peanuts, roasted duck, and some more croakers, but these were sautéed. After dinner, we returned to the hotel where Isaac called it a night and Josh and I met up with Alejandro. We walked back to the Bund to see the skyline at night and get a taste of the local nightlife, and then returned to the hotel. All in all, a great free day! I ended the day with a comfortable 36,915 steps and about 16 miles of walking, overtaking my first day in Beijing as the most walking I've done in one day since arriving in China.
Tomorrow we're off to some dialogue visits, so, for now, I'll go sleep. Thanks for reading!
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