dukeya!

Even more Shanghai photos - set 3 of 5.

Over the next four days, we went to a really big restaurant, the Bund, Shang-Yang market, the Shanghai Sea Aquarium and generally hung out and ate a lot.

Really big restaurant doesn't begin to describe Lu Far in Pudong. Operationally, it reminded me of a cruise ship. With hundreds of tables on the main floor, there are numerous stations for the wait staff as well as a giant bar just for them to pick up drinks. There's also over a hundred private rooms, and in the corridors another giant bar so that those waiters don't have to walk to the other giant bar. The food was good, but not as impressive as the operations. They don't have menus either. Instead, all the ingredients for the dishes are laid out and someone follows you and takes your order as you point at what you want. And if you want seafood, they have a large room full of tanks for you to pick out your dinner. Fish aren't friends here, they're food! (Seen Nemo?)

New Heights at the top of three on the Bund was absolutely delicious. (Please thank your parents for the recommendation Pete!) Chinese-European fusion, and expensive compared to everywhere else we'd been (about $60 US dollars for Cindy and me). But it would have been more than that for a similar quality meal in the Bay Area. The view was also spectacular even though it was overcast the day we went.

We didn't take any pictures at Shang-Yang market. Imagine a bunch of stalls tightly packed together, and then thousands of people trying to squeeze through while yelling prices and profanities at each other. It's actually not much different than most other flea market type places in Asia, except that this one specialized in counterfeit clothing, handbags, watches, accessories, DVDs, etc. However, it's perhaps the last of its kind in terms of scale. At the end of June, the entire market will be shut down to make way for something newer and fancier and more legitimate. I think they've finally realized they can make a lot more money legally. Too bad for Korea, where all the better quality goods in Shang-Yang come from.

The aquarium and the area around the tower is a tourist hotspot. We didn't go to any other attractions except for a nice meal in the mall across the circular intersection. The aquarium itself was quite nice and much larger than the one at Monterey Bay. But they didn't have any sunfish. I really hate sunfish, but I can't stop looking at them.

Last comment here is that I ate a lot. Every night someone was treating us to a fabulous dinner featuring something wonderful in China and Shanghai. And in between my mom would cook up the most delicious meals from whatever they brought back fresh from the local daily market. On the flight back, I was six pounds heavier than on the flight to Shanghai.

/d