Tag Archives: Travel

Markets of Shanghai: Part I

8 Jul

Original Post: July 22, 2007

One of my favorite things to do is to go shopping.  Shocking, I know.  Things are no different here in Shanghai so today we embarked on a massive shopping spree that took us to the best, and most random, that the city has to offer.

The vendors here are huge on fakes.  I’m not really interested in the whole debate of is this right or wrong, it simply is what it is at the moment for me.  If you are strongly against buying fake goods, just skip this part.  Beneath the Museum of Science and Technology lives an enormous underground market of all the fake stuff (luxury purses, North Face stuff, name brand jeans etc).  There are a hundreds of vendors and every one is trying to get you to come in and buy from them. Some of the people grab you and literally try to drag you into the store. Justin got a whole set up of new snowboard pants and a parka (funny when it’s 100 degrees out to be trying on snow stuff…) and a bunch of ‘Diesel’ jeans. I got some shoes, fans, etc.  You have to bargain like crazy to get a fair price, it’s a huge process full of dramatics and hand waving and walking away, but you can get some great deals if you’re patient.  I have managed to learn to say ‘how much?’ ‘too much!’ and some numbers, so I can haggle a bit with Jenny and John’s help.  It is exhausting to be there for too long, but it’s amazing how cheap some of it can get. Some of the ladies make a big production of being mad that you were able to bargain them down so much and they yell that you are too clever and not to come back!

To end our shopping extravaganza we went to an older market on Dongtai Lu. I got TONS of stuff here, it’s where they have some more traditional goods, still touristy, but we are still almost the only western people everywhere we go so it doesn’t seem as touristy as I suspect it really is. It reminded me more of a flea market that has a lot of random useless stuff, but some key special pieces tucked in if you are patient enough to look for them.  This place was harder to bargain at, and I didn’t do as great of a job, but I still got some really interesting things – these carved wood hanging pieces that mean (as everything seems to here) “bring you health and riches”, a combination lock that is blocks of Chinese characters (had to get the lady to write the combo really clearly), and a bunch of unusual gifts for people…no Chinatown trinkets here 😉

The market on Dongtai Lu

Jenny checks out a vendor

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Rocking Out, China Style

1 Jul

Original Post: July 21, 2007

We are living it up here in Shanghai…seriously, it’s almost criminal.

Last night, after a long day of wandering around the city, we went to New Heights for dinner. It’s a super fancy (read, normal NYC prices for dinner) restaurant on the top of a building that overlooks the Bund. The Bund is a big promenade of sorts that looks out over the river.  There are many different restaurants and bars and was crowded with all kinds of people, tourists and locals alike.   Food was great, if less than traditionally Chinese, and after we had some drinks on the deck and watched the boats roll on by. At night Shanghai is crazy because everything is all lit up with neon! The highways are outlined in flashing blues and greens, many of the buildings are outlined, and the boats go totally all out.  I have never seen anything like it, and I have to say, I totally love it.

Looking out across the river.

After dinner we went to a bunch of interesting bars, the first was Binjiang, aka the Ice Bar. It’s like a huge meat freezer and the whole inside is made of ice.   They give you a big North Face parka so you don’t freeze.  I must say it’s a bit of a shock to the senses to be outdoors in 100+ degree heat and then put on a parka and enter a room of freezing ice.  In any case, the only drinks Binjiang serves are shots of vodka.  Our driver (Mr. Shen) came in with us where he thankfully declined to have a shot with the table next to us.

Brrrr!

The next bar was Jade on 36, which is in the Shangrila hotel.  Again, super fancy, full of tourists and is fully NYC prices. Jade 36 has these crazy bathrooms that were like big capsules filled with neon lights.  I half expected to be transported somewhere else while inside.

Restroom aglow!

In the lower level of that same hotel is another bar called Bat. It is way more mellow, and has a karaoke thing going on, but they have a couple of girls on standby who sing when no one else wants to. We were pretty trashed at this point so of course John and I karaoked some Red Hot Chili Peppers, which went a little better than the time Justin and I attempted a Bon Jovi song a few years back.  Near the end of the evening, sometime closer to dawn than dusk, Jenny and I took shots that were on fire because really, nothing says a good night on the town like setting your esophagus aflame.

Are you sure this is safe?

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The Last Day of Ouray

3 Jun

Original Post:  July 9th, 2007

The last full day we were in Ouray we went to go see Box Canyon Falls, and Yankee Boy Basin, both right outside of the town. Box Canyon Falls is a tiny little hike away from town that leads to a waterfall.  The water flows through these huge holes in the rock that are almost sculpture like.  You can get pretty close to the falls and there are some great views through the narrow little canyon.

 

Views through the rocks

Rainbows in the falls

Yankee Boy Basin is a valley in between some of the bigger mountains and you have a take a crazy little jeep road to get there. I thought we were going to fall off the cliff pretty much the whole time and Justin, who was sitting cliffside,  was actually attempting to climb over me to get away from the edge.  In the early summer, which is July this high up in the hills, the wildflowers are stunning and the canyon is filled with colorful flowers.  The snow melt is at its peak during this time as well so the rivers are gushing and waterfalls are plentiful.

The road to Yankee Boy Basin...and we thought the road to Silverton was scary!

Waterfalls in the Basin

The Columbine - Colorado's state flower

Mountain meadows in bloom

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Look Ma, No Guardrail!

27 May

Original Post: July 7, 2007

Want to give yourself a heart attack?  Take a drive to Silverton, which is a tiny ‘old west’ style town about 40 miles south of Ouray. You have to go over a huge pass to get there and there is no guardrail and no room for error.  The pictures below do not do justice to how flippin’ steep the cliff is . It’s all tight little switchbacks with no more than 6 inches of shoulder room and it’s terrifying. I can just imagine the tourists from flat lands (say…Nebraska or some such place) getting on this road and just freaking out.

The road is the slice about halfway down the mountains on the left.

Silverton was cute, but the main reason we went is because there is an old narrow-gauge train that you can take to Durango. It’s one of the only trains of its kind left, and it’s old and little and still runs on coal. As a side note, if you happen to ever venture out onto such a train, it’s not the best plan to wear white linen pants, not that I’m speaking from experience or anything. That whole ‘runs on coal’ bit pretty much means that it blows smoke, ash and embers all over the passengers, so we were all quite dirty when we finally got there. The cars are open and it takes 3 1/2 hours to go about 35 miles, which was an hour and a half too long for me, but the views are amazing.

Downtown Silverton

Remember, this was 2007. Silverton has a sense of humor.

Old-school, coal powered, narrow-gauge railroad.

Views from the train.

More views from the train.

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