Day 2: Clouds, but still a great day!

Mystery meat on a stick = pepto bismal chewables! That's how my night went after not being able to fall asleep until 3:30am.

I awoke around 7:30 and decided to go to the same dumpling lady on the corner as the day before and actually bought one. Actually, I bought two. As I was walking back to the hostel eating the first, it was so effing good I turned right back around and got the 2nd one. And for 25¢ each, you can't beat that. The lady laughed when I asked for another and she held up two fingers jokingly saying I should get two more instead of just one. I find the Chinese to be very warm, outgoing, and playfully friendly when I act like a helpless tourist, which is a nice change of pace compared to the mean babushkas of Eastern Europe.

After mapping out my day, I headed off in the direction of the Jade Buddha Temple. The same metro security lady who helped me with my ticket yesterday was there again and smiled and waved at me! I'm such a celebrity! There were many beggars on road to temple and I was in a less "refined" part of town but still very nice

Inside temple a man who appeared to work there ushered me upstairs to the "Buddha" which wasn't actually the Buddha I wanted to see but a smaller one leading into a gift shop. If I have one problem with Chinese traditional/ancient sites is that they over modernize everything and put a gift store in every nook and cranie they can. The jade Buddhas were impressive, both cut from single rocks: one in the upright meditation pose and the other lounging on its side.

After, i rode the metro to the Pudang  new area to see the towers. I had 3 to pick from and I read online that Jin Mao was the cheapest at 50y vs. 150 for the other two. What did we learn? Don't trust the Internet. It was 120y to go up. The Ritz Carlton Hotel lobby is 30+ story's high and doesnt start until the 50th floor or so, and at the top you could look down onto it. The skyline is impressive but it being a cloudy day it shrouded the view of Puxi side of river.

Hoppee back across the river to the Xiantindi district where the site of the creation of Chinese communist party is located: in French concession area. Lovely neighborhoods and I imagine the museum has just a bit of its fair share of propaganda in it.  Walked over past Shanghai museum (decided to skip) and instead went to the Shanghai Exhibit of Urban Planning and Development. Not regretting it one bit. Absolutely awesome. On the third floor was a full scale 1:1500 model of Shanghai with all current buildings and future projects mapped on it. It had displays about all green building and urban renewal projects the city os undertaking. A lot of the stuff they are doing really does make Shanghai feel like a city of the future! There were also sections on the new deepwater port 15 miles offshore and Pudong Airport's future expansion.

I decided to call it a day and headed back to the hostel, stopping on the way to try some more street food. Fortunately, no incidents like I had the first night!