Quick Shanghai trip

Last weekend we made a short trip to Shanghai. Well, it was longer than my last trip there, where I only saw the inside of Ikea and went there and back in one day. This weekend was all about fun and seeing the city and getting away for a couple days. It was also about the Shanghai Marathon on Sunday, where four teachers from our school ran the half marathon with 20,000 of their closest friends!

Since there was a large group of us going to run the race or cheer the race, we hired a private bus for the weekend. After the long ride there Friday night and the even longer bedtime battle once we got to the hotel, we woke up Saturday with a view of the Shanghai skyline.

Milan was very impressed by the view and wanted to know everything about every building in sight. Once we were up and motivated we went for a walk to the Bund, the pedestrian area near the river, with all of the tall fancy buildings on the other side. Unfortunately, this was all we could see:


The whole city is under major construction and renovation in preparation for the World Expo in the Spring/Summer.

After breakfast the bus took us across the river to an area where many Western expatriates live so we could shop and drink Starbucks. The shopping mall was indeed very Western:

This sign covers all the bases

A bit of Kenya in the sports equipment store (Kalenjin is the tribe from Kenya famous for long distance runners)

Shanghai is a really interesting place, and I was torn the whole weekend because I want to see the "China" side of the city. But at the same time Starbucks, Mexican food, microbrewery, and gelato sound really good right about now. This trip turned out to be more about the Western luxuries that we can't find in Beilun or Ningbo, but I know we will be back and promise to see more of the sights and tourist attractions. But I can't promise that I'll stay out of Starbucks.

A reassuring sign in Shanghai Starbucks

In the States I am usually not a coffee addict and don't visit Starbucks on a regular basis, but here it is a beacon of yummy home goodness. I went into three different Starbucks in Shanghai on Saturday (but I only made purchases in two of them, if that makes any difference).

Krispy Kreme is "coming soon"

Spells Milan!

On Sunday we managed to completely miss our friends at the starting line of the marathon because Milan slept until 7am and we certainly weren't waking him up. The plan was to have breakfast and then make it to the finish line, but after a leisurely and delicious breakfast at Element Fresh (fruit smoothies, coffee, smoked salmon and potatoes and bacon) and a trip to the Western grocery store (where vegan chocolate chips and vegan margarine were the exciting purchases of the day), the runners called to tell us they were over the finish line and that we should turn around and go back to the hotel because the stadium was too crazy. So we did. And then we did a little Christmas shopping!

One of the many Christmas decoration stores in the shopping area not far from our hotel

The shopping neighborhood

And, of course, the bus had to make a quick trip to Ikea before heading back home. I am happy to say that we only spent an hour and a half there, including lunch, and didn't break the bank this time.


It was a nice trip and a good introduction to the city. Thanks to all our China veteran friends who showed us the ropes!