Detour: Shanghai’d in Shanghai
Shanghai felt like a bonus level during the credit sequence of a video game. Chip, a friend from university, spent some time there last year and gave me an amazing, breakneck itinerary for my nearly 16 hour layover. I came off my flight with only four short hours of sleep, but committed to giving my final destination a decent go before flying home.
I caught the metro towards People’s Park after getting stamped with a 24-hour visa and storing my bag. My first stop was a renowned soup dumpling (xiao long bao) spot just a few blocks from the park where elderly Chinese people slowly practiced their ballroom dance moves in pairs or on their own. I barely beat the breakfast rush, sitting at a cramped low table with three others as a staff of six women handmade dumplings for their hungry customers.
Next stop: the iconic Oriental Pearl Tower, with a breathtaking view of the surrounding and a section with glass flooring allowing visitors to peer 40+ stories down to the ground.
I hopped back on the metro towards the Bund Tourist Tunnel, where I sat in a small trolley that went through an underwater tunnel that offered a psychedelic light-show. When I arrived on the other side, I was greeted with the classic view of downtown Shanghai from across the water. The air was a bit smoggy, giving it an almost hallucinatory feeling to look at, and with the sun reflecting light off the buildings, the need to squint doubled the effect.
I spent an hour wandering around looking for a cafe run by Tibetan refugees. It was fun speaking Chinese to ask for help, the first time I’d been able to communicate with Asian locals in a language I knew other than English. Unfortunately, the cafe was closed for the day. I hopped into a cab instead and made my way to Xintiandi, an old Shanghainese neighborhood turned luxury eatery and mall where I tired some Foie Gras risotto. I broke my vegetarian practice that day, so I decided to go all out.
I caught another cab to a more cultural (and affordable) shikumen and proceeded to walk to a really cool cafe on a beautiful street that Chip used to live on. WOW Cafe was run by a Chinese guy named DC who grew up in New York and spoke perfect english. His spot is the highest rated cafe on tripadvisor and he’s looking forward to opening a second. I had a delicious Chinese double IPA before taking off for the MagLev station, a super fast magnetic train. I was exhausted by the long day, especially since I was running on only four hours of sleep. I immediately fell asleep on the train, waking up just 20 minutes later to find myself back at the airport already. The MagLev was FAST, I just wish I had been awake to see it!
I boarded my flight back to the states, sleeping most of the way back to the United States. I felt overjoyed seeing the blue and green of California. The hills and sky. The familiar landscape after six months of foreign terrain. But this was LAX, I still had to navigate through a ton of security and nearly missed the plane to SF (they called my name over the loudspeaker twice). Finally homebound, I watched a beautiful coastal sunset for the entirety of my hour-long flight. A fitting end for a beautiful life chapter.
