Day 2 (Jiao Tong, French Concession & Pudong)

Jiao Tong University

On the second day we decided to go to our university to get registered. The university has an enormous campus area and the institute where were we will be studying is state of the art. It was built in 2009. I don't have a lot of pictures yet as it was simply too hot to do anything when we got there.

As you can see the humidity in Shanghai can be overwhelming. It got the best of my camera when we exited Jiao Tong metro station.

When we got to the university the noise from the cicadas was intense. One of them surrendered to the heat and dropped from the tree next to where we were walking. We decided to take some pictures of it climbing Peter's iPhone.  

As you can see the heat was intenese! Our bodies decided to start sweating uncontrollably, so we quickly left the campus area after some rigorous fighting with Chinese university beurocracy, i.e. oblivious office clerks guiding us through dead ends and detours down long corridors with empty offices. 

We escaped the university and sought refuge at the nearest Starbucks. Here we allowed ourselves a small break . We took out our Shanghai survival kit to find a proper place to have lunch.

Shanghai is sometimes covered in a blanket of heavy smog. Some Chinese take precautions as this woman who we saw on our way to find a taxi. 

The taxi drivers are all ranked ranging from zero to five stars. I have yet to experience a five star taxi but according to Peter and Christian they are quite luxurious!

French Concession

We finally arrived in French Concession - Shanghai's bohemian quarter. Its influence is actually English and Russian rather than French. The district is known for its relatively low buildings, avenues, restaurants and hipster mentality. 

At Mummy's Kitchen to get some well deserved lunch and some synchronised tea drinking. Yes we have the same colored shirt on. No we are not millionaires or movie stars, just insanely good looking!

At least the tea cups are pretty.  The content however, is not exactly my cup of tea...

The notorious and infamous chop sticks (or Kuàzi in mandarin). I still experience the occasional chop stick cramp when trying to eat too fast.

Our Lonely Planet Shanghai City Guide. Obviously written by people who've never set foot in the places they describe. I dare say 30% of the content is gibberish. 

When all else fails...

We were hungry and ordered three dishes of chicken. The waitress gave us a puzzled look followed by some gestures to make sure that we understood that all dishes contained chicken. When we confirmed our order she laughed.

After we left the restaurant we were passed by a "pack" of Chinese construction workers. They elaborately investigated Katja who by her mere presence nearly caused a dozen neck injuries. She was of course completely oblivious to the entire incident. I decided to take a picture of them.   

Chinese women posing.

Yet another electrical installation worthy of the CERN particle accelarator.

Street vendor selling all types of delicious food. Among these chicken feet. Compared to how much the Chinese love chicken feet, the dish is actually quite boring and nothing more than skin on bones... Guess I could've told my self.

Ahhh... Sea cucumber - a dish we have yet to try. If it is anything like jellyfish, which is really delicious, I think I might like it a lot. 

Yup, it says juvenile article store. Engrish/Chenglish win!

Pudong

Later we went to the Pudong financial district. It is easily noticeable that this district is no more than 15 years old. As with most things new it lacks charm. However, it makes up for that with awesome skyscrapers galore. 

The two tallest building in Shanghai. The one furthest away is a staggering 474 m tall.

Posing picture nr. 1

Posing pic nr. 2

Peter is ambushed by a couple of Japanese who wants to have their picture taken with him. He was as much an attraction as the 500 m tall buildings.

The CCTV tower in all its erect glory!

Pudong roundabout

At night company sponsored boats sail up and down the Huangpu river.

Some of these are more impressive than others!

Katja points back too the metro and so we head on home from Shanghai's Amager!