Less Than 24 hours in Shanghai

Back in May Hubby and I took a trip to India via Shanghai for our 20th wedding anniversary. 

When traveling when on  your way to another location you can stop in China for 72 hours without getting a visa so we took advantage of this since Visa's for China a pretty pricy! 

We arrived into China after dark - after hoping on a bus and getting dropped off in some location that was not near our hotel we flagged a cab.  The sites of Shanghai at night are amazing!  We drove past several parks where loads of people were doing Thai-chi and dancing!  How fun is that?!

This building light up as a lotus flower caught my eye first!

We were staying in an old hotel off the Bund.  The Astor House Hotel. I swear it was haunted!  It was such a cool old hotel, I would recommend staying here while in Shanghai (even though there are ghost!). 

After checking into our hotel we headed out to check out Shanghai at night.  The Bund was AMAZING!  We were blessed to be here on such a clear night!

I was even able to capture this picture WITHOUT a tripod.

Just roaming around....

We happened upon this intersection where they were selling all kinds of street food! And if you know anything about us, you know how much we love street food.

This guys chicken on a stick was delicious!!

This was not the best dish ever.

The  next morning.  The Bund is so much more beautiful by night, but she's still pretty in the daylight. 

We saw tons of people getting their wedding pictures taken in the Bund area, but the red dresses struck me.  We so no less than 20 ladies in red dresses.  A quick google search tells me that in China red is a symbol of love and prosperity. 

So after hearing about all the crazy things you can eat in China I was a bit disappointed as this is the strangest thing we had found all morning.  Fish cakes....been there, done that.

I loved this area...you can see old and new China.

Hubby couldn't wait to introduce me to 'drinking' dumplings.  We were so excited to find a place that serves them.  In fact we ordered this "Seven taste color set".

To my delight the drinking dumplings were everything I was expecting and a little more!

Dumpling making!

Our lunchtime view!
Notice the Starbucks? They are EVERYWHERE.

Taking it to the streets:

So, we did it, we tried starfish.
Take it from us, you don't EVER need to try starfish.

Laundry.

Lost?  No worries, they have signs.
Haha!

So, China was pretty amazing.

Here are a few things I will leave you with:

Shanghai was much cleaner than I imagined it was, but with that being said I did see a mom holding her toddler over a trashcan in a very busy area to let him poop.  I'm talking I had a FULL view of him pooping.  When mom got tired of holding him up, his dad came over and held him up.

I saw barbershops in alleys.  No buildings, just barber chairs in alleys.

I did not get or even see one fortune cookie.

I really wish I had learn a few simple phrases before going to China. 

There is very little internet in China.

I suck at conversions and haggling wears me out.

Next stop....India!