A Day In The Life

A few days ago, we got out relatively early (around 1pm…the heat usually keeps us inside until around 4 haha) to find more tourist sites. I saw Yuyuan Garden (豫园) on the map before, and it seemed to be really popular so we decided to go there. Not surprisingly, Yuyuan Garden turned out not to be a garden at all, but rather a shopping center. I’ve come to realize that EVERY tourist attraction in Shanghai is a shopping mall, center, or the longest commercial road in the world. After going to historically rich cities, Beijing and Xian, I took it for granted that every city would be the same. Despite the fact that it wasn’t what I expected, it was still immaculate and full of beautiful architecture. Walking through the buildings, a Chinese man stopped us to talk for a few moments before inviting us inside to view a gallery of calligraphy and paintings. There were three rooms of artwork and it was beautiful, but we had to make a speedy escape when he began bartering prices with us…Chinese art is not included in my college budget!) We also had the chance to visit another world famous Xiaolongbao restaurant, Nanxiang Dumplings. We chose to stand in the line outside (it was 10 RMB cheaper per person than going inside) to buy 16 xiaolongbao for only 20 RMB, the heat is oppressive but after a while you get used to it. I’m so glad that we ate xiaolongbao at Ding Tai Feng first, because even though the Nanxiang dumplings tasted ok, nothing could measure up to Ding Tai Feng’s.

After Yuyuan Garden, Luke, Diana, and I headed in a taxi to a mysterious location to meet a Chinese guy to eat. A few nights before, Diana met this guy, Fu Lei, at a club called True Love Club（真爱俱乐部）, he seemed pretty nice, and we have been texting him since, so he wanted to take us out to eat. My policy is never turn down free food! He wanted to take Diana out obviously but they couldn’t go alone because that’s too forward in Chinese culture, so it was a group date if you will (with me as the translator at times haha). Fu Lei met us at a Xinjiang themed restaurant, eating food from different regions of China is amazing, from Province to Province it can seem like a different country. Xinjiang features many different versions of goat meat and goat milk, it was exotic, and there were three dance performances as well (including a belly dance….I want to take up belly-dancing now). Fu Lei brought presents for each of us and bought a bottle f wine for us to drink as well; he was pulling out all of the stops to impress Diana. She was pretty silent, actually, but Luke and I made up for this by asking him more questions. Afterwards, he drove us to TianZiFang to tour around.　TianZiFang（田子防）is an area of some of the oldest buildings in Shanghai, they have been shelled out to make room for shops and no one lives there anymore, but it still has the old, quaint environment.  We had fun walking into different stores and seeing the interesting gifts you could buy, like a face that eats coins and makes munching noises, haha.

After this he dropped us off at a train station (did I mention he also has his own car? In China that must mean he has cash money!), we took it back to our hotel, and then took a cab over to his favorite club, Muse 2. The music sounded really good, but unfortunately it was 100 RMB per person to get in (with three drinks included…so in retrospect that’s not too bad a price, it’s usually 50 RMB for a drink everywhere) so we hopped next door to a bar/club called One Pub. Not to sound like an alcoholic, but I HATE going into clubs sober, when you’re not even tipsy it takes forever to feel comfortable enough to dance. So we ended up buying some of those expensive drinks anyway (one we bought for Fu Lei since he was so nice). After that we started dancing, and Chinese girls always love to dance with me, whenever I would look up, a Chinese girl would connect eyes with me, then next thing I know they are in front of me dancing. It was hilarious. Also, this was a good way to get in with a group at a table, I would dance with a girl, shout some conversation, then she would introduce me to her friends, and share their drinks. It worked three times~ Thinking back about the night, I might have gotten a few bi-curious girls or straight up lesbians, because some enjoyed dancing with me a bit too much, getting crazy. Luke even told me that the girl he was dancing with thought I was, “Sexy”…..oh gosh. Diana’s guy is nice, but she’s not to interested, so she’s deflected his further attempts to meet up, she’s weak against ignoring people though so I will see how long she lasts 😛

I’ve been to several clubs and bars here in Shanghai, my favorite so far is True Love Club, and every Wednesday is ladies night, so free open bar! Also the crowd seems a bit better than in other places. I don’t really like the overall feel of clubs here in Shanghai though; it’s always packed with horny westerners and gold-digging Chinese girls, to be honest. I’ve never seen so much making out in the club before…