Day 9 — Shanghai speed touristing

Unfortunately, due to flight cancellations, this was our only full day in Shanghai and we had to make the most of it.

We started off the day early with some bougie hair cuts, as we thought Shanghai would probably have the best haircuts. A nice haircut, hair rinse before and after cut, and a style session all for about $20 USD.

For lunch, we went to Yangs Dumplings for “shen jian bao”, which is basically a fried soup dumpling. Very tasty! Also watch out, the soup inside is steaming hot. There’s a nice fried texture with the soupy savory flavor.

Got the shrimp and pork. Highly recommend the shrimp and if you’re feeling green, there’s a pretty underrated vegetable one.

After lunch, we walked around people’s square. Similar to central park with lots of greenery and park area.

Apparently, on the weekends, there’s a “dating market” where the parents and grandparents of adults will go put out classified ads for their son or daughter. This is so they can find a husband/wife. They do this because their kid is too busy with work to actually date.

Also, surprisingly, there were lots of people gambling in the open. I’m pretty sure gambling is illegal in China too.

We found an itty bitty kitty cat which was the cutest thing ever. It tried running into the street and into a sewer so we spent a few minutes coercing it out and back onto the sidewalk. Luckily, it was a curious kitty and wanted to sniff and play with us.

It even smelled our durian and wasn’t completely disgusted by it!

We also were trying durian for the first time in China. The smell is horrible, the taste is only slightly horrible. The taste is manageable but the texture is really what puts you off. It’s almost like a cream that’s been solidified into a fruit.

Later on, we walked through Tian Zi Fang, which is like a hipster/artistic area of the city. There were lots of small shops and restaurants, where you can go in and relax and chill and shop around. Definitely a cool place to get lost in! Also I suggest haggling.

Liz got a little penguin bao zi. Inside was some sweet egg yolk filling.

For dinner that night, we got Chinese “barbecue”, which is essentially grilled meat and seafood. One of the highlights was this crawfish! Very tasty and juicy. Had a nice spicy and salty seasoning to it.

Also got some grilled oysters with a LOT of garlic! Strong flavorings and also so good when fresh from the grill (but also very hot). Highly recommend. We ended up getting another order of this.

Grilled meat skewers. From chicken to beef to lamb, what more could you want?! All except the lamb had light salt and seasoning. The lamb was good and seasonex with cumin, which added a lot of flavoring.

Liz’s favorite was the Chinese version of French toast. Tasted exactly the same. Very sweet and buttery.

To end the night, we went to KTV again (for the last time). This time though it looked like a 5 star hotel instead of a KTV. The best part? It was only 160 RMB. So cheap to sing the night away…