Day 10: last day in Shanghai

(pics will be updated later, don't have time right this sec)

Slept in a bit today – 8:45-9ish.

Xiao jiu ma took me to my facial down the street at a paul mitchell salon thing. They do hair in the front and have rooms in the back for facials and stuff. Never had one before. It’s pretty relaxing. They don’t squeeze the shit out of your pores at this one though. So essentially I wore this robe thing, had to remove my jewelry, the lady washed my face, and kind of massaged it, steamed it, applied some sort of thin mask thing, then peeled that off, and moisturized my face. She also did a little shoulder, arm, head massage. Nice. I fell asleep. The steam part was a little weird feeling. I know it’s for opening up your pores but felt like they were pumping hot steamy air in my face, kinda like breathing in a sauna. Not sure what my aunt did, but she knows all the people there, even the one customer getting her hair did.

We cabbed it back, ate lunch (liang2 mian4 – cold noodles w/ sesame sauce – like peanut sauce consistency but made w/ sesame seeds, chives, ginger, vinegar I think – still light brownish in color – I think it’s also called dan4 dan4 mian4). Said bye to puo puo before heading out b/c I was pretty sure when we got back she’d be asleep. The 4 of us – uncle fred, aunt sandy, rui, and I, went to the Shanghai World Financial Center. It’s the big bottleopener-shaped building in Pudong. Going in, I thought that it was the second tallest building in the world next to some building in Dubai, but that one isn’t actually finished yet. And Taipei 101 is slightly taller than SWFC (like 501m vs 492m) but only b/c of the spire on top. So technically SWFC has highest occupied space. Offices occupy the first 86 floors or so, then 87-94 are hotel (Park Hyatt, the most expensive hotel in Shanghai), and 95-100 are the observatory/tour areas. Something like that, exact floor numbers may be slightly off. But it’s a 100F building. When you enter the base for the tour, it’s sort of like walking into the entryway for a spaceship… the attendants showing us the way and taking tickets and stuff were dressed in these spacesuits like the jetsons. Purple mock turtleneck w/ long grey vest thing. Rui made a jetson noise as we entered the super fast elevator that took us up.

There’s a walkway where you can walk under the bottleopener opening and look up at the top part (maybe 96 or 97F). The 100F is the Skyway – goes over top of the opening, and there are viewing windows on the floor so you can look down at the bottom part of the building as well as all the tiny cars driving around down below. Looking out across shanghai, you can see everything. It’s amazing. The Oriental Pearl tv tower is closeby, as is the spiky looking Hyatt basically next door (those are west of the building, towards the Bing Jiang Da Dao / Wai Tan area (the bund). And east, more residential stuff – a bunch of small buildings w/ colorful roofs plus some high rises. Apparently the govt bought out a bunch of the older houses in Puxi and relocated the former residents in these colored-roofed places. We were way above everything, and it was quite a view. A bit weird looking down at everything from up there, especially looking down through the clear floor panels. In the walkway, the ceiling in the middle kind of points downward with reflective panels, so looking down the hall you can see the reflection of the buildings around you as well as the people walking around the hallway. It’s all futuristic spaceshippy up in there. Pretty awesome place. I think everyone enjoyed it.

Oh also, I keep seeing ads about the full solar eclipse happening on 7/22. Hopefully I’ll be able to see it. A lot of places are selling tix for breakfast and eclipse viewing, including hotels. And the SWFC was showing some video explanation of eclipses in the gift shop area.

We wandered around the building a little – ate some Yodio (I think?) which Rui and I thought would be like Pinkberry/Yoforia, but it was much more creamy almost like sour cream, and their toppings didn’t include very many fresh fruits. They only have one flavor yogurt, and we got a tiny cup w/ chocolate, which actually made the yogurt’s taste and texture better. We also took a little trip up to the lobby of Park Hyatt to check it out. Looks pretty nice, and great views (87F).

After that, we headed to the Paulaner at Bing1 Jiang1 Da4 Dao4 (pudong side of the bund). We sat inside for the AC but could still see the barges speeding up and down the river. They have 3 paulaner beers – dark, wheat, lager – but also a lot of liquers. We had a couple beers, a shot of jager, and a shot of some sweet kinda fruity german liquor in a tiny bottle (you’re supposed to shake it up, hitting the bottle on the tabletop while you do so, and then drink it). After awhile we moved outside to sit, and it had gotten a lot cooler. Then we walked down the riverfront for a bit as it got dark and the lights from the surrounding buildings became more spectacular. SWFC sparkles at the top every half hour or so. There’s a building more north that changes colors and patterns. We walked, then stopped at a place for dessert. No shaved ice. I got sesame paste (zi1 ma2 tang1 yuan2). Rui and xiao jio ma got fruity things. Then Rui and I got dropped off at the hotel where her friend Peter djs. Can’t remember the hotel, but the bar at the top is Vue Bar (they have a restaurant also). Next to the hyatt, north and on the opposite side of the river in Puxi. Rui changed shirts and put heels on when we got to the hotel.

Peter is from oz, his agency hooked him up w/ this job here where they pay him in USD, put him up in the hotel, give him food allowance, and he works 6 nights a wk. Funny guy – very personable and friendly. He was wearing a white button down short sleeve shirt that he had made here – has those little loops on the shoulders, and a zipper front chest pocket w/ a normal pocket on top, and the top few buttons unbuttoned, which is apparently how he always wears his shirts (says Rui). He couldn’t even button the top button actually. Nice guy. He basically hung out w/ us and played a cd so he didn’t have to pay attention. He’s got thousands of records at home but couldn’t really travel w/ them, so he’s got these 2 cd turntables and his mac hooked up to his mixer. Basically playing lowkey house music not very loud (the rooftop and rest of the bar are really loungy, not like danceclub environment, but there was a tiny little hottub in the middle of the rooftop area). He said in Taipei I should go to a bar called Organo, so I’ll have to look it up. We stayed for a drink (the bartenders are shit here – not very organized or knowledgable, make weak drinks) that Peter put on his tab, it was a nice view from the top (a bit windy though), then headed back by cab to the house. Got there around 11p.

Before leaving in the am I saw that the general public onsale for BC fall shows started 10a 7/17, which would be 10pm for me. I would’ve been able to buy tix for the tabernacle show 10/10 through presale but those were already sold out (started 7/14 – I’ve been thinking about checking on this since I arrived in China but kept forgetting, so when I checked today I started to stress out). I did however get a birmingham tic for the following show 10/11, so that was good. Anyway, I gchatted Tiana and she agreed awesomely to get online at 10a and buy a couple tix. Yay! And when I got back, I also bought a tic just to make sure. Then I wrote some peeps to let em know, but deb was like, um I think that’s Amanda and dylan’s wedding. I was like, shit… I think that sounds right. I keep forgetting what date they finally landed on, but I think (and Julia pretty much confirmed) that 10/10 is correct, and in NC in the afternoon. Dammit. Well I’ll see Amanda soon and ask her for deets… maybe I can make something work out. Sigh.

I hung out w/ rui for a bit. she was pretty sure she wouldn’t get up to say bye to me early in the morning (gotta leave at 8:15 for my 10:50 taipei flight).

I finished up the second batch of China postcards. And then finally went to bed.