Eating and shopping in Shanghai

The bund from the other side of the river
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Tammy arrived in Shanghai on Sunday, to stay one night and two full days before taking the overnight train to Beijing.   It was great to have someone to wander around with, to talk about the strange things we see, and to be in my photos!

On the first day I took her on a walking tour of the main Shanghai area, seeing as I am such an expert now.  We tried the famous Shanghai dumplings that have broth in the middle of them, so you need a straw to eat them, and had lunch at a road side restaurant where we watched the noodles being made by hand.

not much else to do in Shanghai but eat and shop - fine by me!

Food on sticks and Tammy drinking her noodles
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I had been saving crossing the river to the "future Shanghai" for when Tammy was with me, so that night we went across to the Jinmao building - the 4th tallest in the world, with supposedly the highest bar.  The views were fantastic, and the cocktails not so bad either.  We wandered around by the side of the river, enjoying the views of the Bund on the other side, with the old style buildings attractively lit up, so much so that we missed the last train home so had to fork out for a taxi.

Jinmao tower, from the bottom
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For my last day in Shanghai we went to the markets - not much else to do in Shanghai but eat and shop - fine by me!  We had another great lunch at another road side eatery, this time where we selected the food we wanted from a selection spiked on sticks, which is cooked in a broth infront of you - yummy.

I did try to see some of Shanghais cultural sites - on my free day between the tour and Tammy arriving I went to the largest temple in Shanghai the Longhua temple.  The journey was slightly complicated by my maps being out of date, and there being a whole new subway line passing it, so trying to determine my position on the map with reference to subway stops that I didnt realise weren't on it was a challenge!  The temples are generally all similar, but I still enjoy looking at them, with many many buddha and incense.