Fly High, Shanghai!

"I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps... and find I'm king of the hill, top of the heap..."

- Frank Sinatra, New York New York

Frank Sinatra obviously hasn't been to Shanghai when he sang that New York is the "city that never sleeps".

And literally, this Chinese centre does NOT sleep.

Nope.

Never.

I was not too keen on hopping onto the next plane bound for Shanghai. Nothing really special, except for the Xiao Long Pao at Yuan Yu Gardens and the (mis)adventures we went through just to find that Neverfull Louis Vuitton bag.

The only thing I liked are the bright lights which are delightfully epicurean to a cam whore like me. 

Gasp! A boutique designed with LV Monogrammed Wallpaper and... it's an actual Louis Vuitton Store.
But nope, the Neverfull and the Alma Vernis patent bags are not found here.

I forgot which mall is this... because of the lots and lots of malls that peppered the city.
But I was struck most with the architecture and design.
So Art Noveau.

Eggs.
Have it your way.
I like mine HARD boiled.
These trays and trays of eggs are actually the wall design of some bar in Xin Tian Di.

Ghost town at day.
Xin Tian Di is the nocturnal hot spot in Shanghai.
This is where the "old" meets the "new" as is used to be the French resettlement area in the district.
It actually reminds me of Manila's Intramuros.

The three kings. errr... Emperors :-)

No, I don't read Chinese. I forgot which building this was, but at night you are transported to a magical realm of lights.

The Shanghai River.
Across, you can see the Orient Pearl Tower. It is actually a TV Station and transmitter which was opened to the public for tourism purposes.
Today, the Tower is an icon of Shanghai. Much like Jeepneys are to Manila.
The river is the part I HATED the MOST because right next to it is The Bund.
The Bund can actually give you an idea as to why China holds the record of having the world's largest population.

Shanghai is still up until the wee hours of the morning. This is the street right across our hotel in Nanjing Road.

The "Europe" in East Asia is actually Shanghai.

Even though we can't read it, we at Nestle know it very well.
It's Nestle's Pure Water.

No, it's not a condom statue. It's the official mascot for the  Shanghai World Expo 2010.

We are lost in translation. I had to text my husband in Manila to translate certain Chinese phrases for me.
Shanghai is the Central Business Capital of Mainland China. Most foreigners are settled here for business and professional reasons, the influx of western travelers are higher compared to other regions, but ironically, the locals can't understand English that well.

Proven: Chinese Magnets!

Goofing around like some celebrities in Xin Tian Di

Shanghai has so much to offer, but it is one city that I may not go back to in another lifetime unless extremely necessary. The culture, however, is more westernized than most parts of China. I was so dazed with the throngs and throngs of people marching and flooding the streets like army ants, at any given time of the day.

We braved the jungle of the streets, the nightmare of the markets and the unfamiliar cuisine to experience what it was like to fly high in Shanghai.

And boy, did we.