Shanghai Day 1 - 10.15

My aunt's place was nice, 3 bedrooms, big living room, sectioned off balconies with nice views, with curtains billowing in the warm fall breezes. Shanghai felt so surprisingly warm with daytime temperature at 24C. The apartment was built right beside a tributary of the main river that runs through Shanghai, minutes away from Hong Kou park and the Hong Kou stadium. Dark stained hardwood that lined the floor was also used on the doors. I thought the color coordination was a little off. But the place was much nicer than my usual expectation of lodging in China.

My aunt was super hospitable, pampering us in every single way. Breakfast was so good, my favorite Shen Jian Bao, with sweet Da Bing!! Sinyee on the other hand much preferred the savory ones. OMG my uncle just picked it up from their local free market but it beats all the places I have tried in the west, together. A little congee, some preserved vegies and shredded pork, classic SH breakfast.

We took their bicycles out to open a bank account and exchange my USD. We got a real kick out of riding the old bikes down busy shanghai streets, weaving and dodging and generally learning survival tactics. It was wild. Too bad I couldn't get some shots while on the bike.

Outside of Bank of China, my aunt hooked up with a Huang Niu (yellow cow), slang for a black market exchange person. The bank was offering 8.00 rate, and the guy in black was ready to deal 8.05 for us. Out of his single-strap bag, he counted out two huge bundles of 100-yuan bills and handed them to me right in the middle of the bank, with the security guard not two-feet away. If he wasn't dealing on the bank on the other end, I'll be damned. Anyway, we got the account open after about 12 entries of my pin number and had the money deposited and an ATM card ready. I didn't think that could be done in 1 day.

Hopped over to a travel agency by the park entrance to arrange tickets to Chengdu and more importantly to JiuZhaiGou. But we found out all flights to JZG were apparently sold out for all the days we could stretch for. We would end up having everyone single one of my relatives trying to get us tickets, to no avail. And I would learn the frustration of trying to get tickets online in china, especially over my uncle's 28.8 dialup. Eventually we decided to just get to Chengdu and see what other options we could dig up, being prepared to take the 10 hour bus to JZG as a last resort.

All my relatives from my dad's side came over for lunch. They brought over freshly produce and a shanghai classic: freshwater blue crab. We came to china at the perfect time to enjoy this famous delicacy: lunar september is when the female crabs get belly-full with golden crab roes. Lunch started with a dozen dishes of mostly vegies, which suited our palate just fine being still tired from travel and jet lag, and very very tasty ones at that. The fresh shittakes and the Shanghainese greens were particularly delicious. I also had a cup of chinese red wine that was surprisingly good.

Then came the crab, probably 2 dozen of them in two batches. Syl was much surprised as she thought the first dozen or so dishes was a feast enough. Eating crab was a ritual to be enjoyed in leisure, so when the clock struck three we were just finishing up the last of the crustaceans. Then, the final course of noodles in broth made from the crab water. Flecks of orange oil (crab roe oil) floated on the golden broth setting off the pearly flat noodle. I saved up my (crab) leg meats for the noodle. Oh it was soup heaven. So yummo! I could have had two other bowls of the broth and literally busted my belly.

A lengthy and family picture time followed that tested much patience. Then off to the Bund by old fasioned bus hopping. The late afternoon was gray for the sun has set behind cloud/smog. We walked down Nan Jing road to idle away some time until 7 so we could go back to the bund to see all the lights get turned on. More pictures. By then we were both gravely exhausted and in no more mood for posing. Still we had to bear through a fairly lengthy and crappy dinner at a restaurant within the Huang He "gourmet street." Taxi home, shower and pass out immediately.

Overnight train to Huang Shan mid & lower bunks 169 & 174. (Bus to bund 1Y. 7 appetizer 8 main course 3 dessert dinner ~150Y)

	This one's for gabe