2009-02 New Adventures in Asia--Shanghai

After arriving late afternoon, I walked from the hotel to the subway station to take the subway down to the Oriental Pearl Tower. As I got close, I looked across the street to see a reminder of my hometown--a Best Buy store in Shanghai. Luckily it was written in both English and Chinese so I knew what it said. I wandered through the local shopping center and had a bite to eat before heading back.

As I got off the subway to go back to the hotel, it exited to a fashion market, a large series of stands selling all sorts of clothing and gear at inexpensive prices--if you are good at barganing as they start their prices about 3 to 4 times higher than the final price. I did end up getting a Twins and Vikings jersey while I was there. Being an indoor market, it is a different experience than the previous outdoor market that we had gone to.

Around the hotel was nice shopping and eating area with various local restaruants and many food choices including Itialian, American, and Irish. There was also a lot of statues scattered throughout the area.

On the way to the airport, we decided to take the Maglev high speed train. It goes about 20 miles in just 8 minutes. It is a convenient way to get to the airport without any traffic worries. The maglev station is only about 5 minutes from the hotel.