Shanghai, Part 1

Day 1- June 9th
So after a very long flight for Mom, Dad, and I, we all made it to the Shanghai Airport! Sean and Charlene picked us up, exchanged our money for us, then we headed out for dinner! I tried a delicious yellow curry! We were all pretty drained so we headed straight to bed after our scrumptious meal!!

Day 2- June 10th
The next morning we enjoyed Charlene’s crepes with yummy jams (like a nice mango jam I had brought back from Puerto Rico for Seaners) with fruit and whipped cream! We then explored the  "wet market”, a seafood and vegetable market near to Sean’s apartment. There were lots of strange and interesting sights there for sure, and even some new fruit to try in the supermarkets like the Durian, a prickly fruit that smells terrible but tastes pretty good. Let me tell you, China has a tonnnnn of shopping. I’ve never seen so many stores packed into such a small area, along the streets or in giant malls! Other first impressions of China; crazy driving and questionable sanitation in the local markets-should you really be smoking next to your produce!?! We popped inside the mall for a quick tour of Asian style and tried a “black" (dark) chocolate and strawberry ‘cronut’. Probably not as good as the real ones in New York, I’ll let you know when I try one there! ;) On the other side of the mall was a nice park and we took a stroll around the lake, admiring the skyscrapers. 


Chinese buildings often have two dragons guarding the front door, the female lion has a cub under her paw, and the male has a ball under his, a symbol for power. Hmm….. a bit chauvinistic and sexist in my opinion but perhaps I take things too literally when it comes to gender roles. I’m blessed to enjoy a life free from this oppression (except for pay equality, but that’s a WHOLE other blog subject!) and I am reminded constantly of this right when I experience cultures who are still stuck in the past. We may not be perfect, but I love America and how much we’ve grown as a country! :D 
For lunch we had a variety of delicious pizzas; walnuts, honey, & pear pizza, and red onion & pepper cheese. NOM NOM I love touring in search of the World’s Best Pizza!!! The hunt is not over….
What I am over already is the bathrooms here. Stinky, nasty, dirty. No toilet paper. No soap. I constantly get headaches from the bad ones and the “good ones” are barely tolerable. Like Momma said, “I’m going to kiss my toilet when I get home” HAHA

Speaking of toilets….has anyone heard of this crazy coffee tradition from Indonesia? Ok, have an open mind for this next bit ;) So apparently there’s a small fox/raccoon/skunk looking animal called a civet eats the coffee cherry, then people collect the feces and harvest it for coffee. The civets digest the flesh of the cherry but the beans are passed thru and their stomach enzymes provide an aroma and flavor that people are willing to pay $100 a cup for!!! Luckily ours was not that much, we tried this strange and exotic type of coffee for $23, still the most expensive coffee I’ve ever purchased!!! 

Sean has been inspiring me (and shaming me) with his amazing Mandarin! And to think, I took years of Spanish and I can’t remember a thing! I really need to dive fully into a language, the rest of the world is at least bilingual, and I feel it holds me back from communicating with so many. I will be taking Spanish classes when I’m in New York, and really committing to it. There’s no more excuses, I have a Honduran boyfriend that I can practice with, it’s far past time!

We toured the Jing-an temple in the middle of city. It was pretty cool to see such an ancient architectural beauty amongst the vast modern structures. 

We also made a stop at Chairman Mao’s house, father of the Chinese communist party. They’ve since turned the building into a museum with several “art” pieces created using his face repetitively. 

Later, we headed out to see the skyline lights grow brilliantly in the night. 
We met with Sean’s friend for a traditional Shanghai dinner where I had eggplant, tofu, broccoli and rice, vegetables, crab meat on sesame bread, and the famous thousand year egg. Legend has it that this egg rests in the ashes of a fire for a thousand years before it is eaten. I think they just make it black in the ash and serve it when it is ready though. Our drink was very strong rice wine that reminded me of saki. 


Day 3- June 11th
Today was the tour of the Zotter Austrian chocolate factory on the banks of Shanghai. They have hundreds of varieties from goji berry, and caipirinha to fish or recycled bread! WOW! Sean’s friend is the daughter of Mr. Zotter, who now has one of the top chocolate companies in Europe. She gave us a private tour, showing us how they make the chocolate from the cocoa plant. 

Zotter has several cocoa farms around the world, and I made inquires about if they had any in Honduras but she said that unfortunately, Honduras and El Salvador have severe drug lord issues and that any attempt to establish farms have been met with death threats. They were able to begin a very successful campaign to promote growing cocoa not cocaine in Columbia. The government there sprays poison from a plane on illegal fields, killing all crops. This devastates the farmers, since their produce is their entire life line, so it definitely helps them to have an equally beneficial, legal product to tend to. We sampled all stages from bean, a mix with cocoa butter but without sugar or milk, to chocolate with all percentages of sugar added, even 100% pure chocolate, which is super bitter. I never thought I would need a break from chocolate but after a day of sampling, phew, I needed a few days chocolate free! 

That night, Sean treated us to an amazing acrobat show with motorcycles, tumblers and beautiful contortionists. I am aware of the difference in theatre etiquette for various cultures, having experienced it myself on the cruise ship. But I couldn’t believe the noise that was filling the theater when these talented people were performing. I almost snapped at the person behind me, who kept their phone light shining even though she had found her seat. I gave her a look and angrily said that was incredibly dangerous for the people on the stage. There is just nothing better than performing for an audience that appreciates and understands. After the show, we headed to a little brewery for some salsa dancing. 

Day 4- June 12th
My breakfast to start off another day in Shanghai was eggs, potatoes, and a watermelon-banana smoothie.We stopped at the tallest tower in Shanghai and rode the elevator to the 87th floor for a stunning view of the city below. There was a nice walkway below where could walk perpendicular to the skyline and admire the architectural achievements. 
For lunch, we ate delicious Chinese cuisine with dumpling samplers, a "carrot cake” which was more like a white radish croissant, and a lovely pot of tea. It is Chinese custom to not eat everything, to leave a bit of food on your plate. When somebody hosts a table for you, they will continue to feed you if you have an empty plate, because they don’t want you to go hungry. 

We headed thru the walking streets full of hundreds of shops to have tea and snacks "with" Sean's student Winnie and her mom. Winnie was so wound up, she did not stay for long and her mother sat on the other side of the wall from our table, but popped over to take pictures with her “new friends”. So freaking weird. According to Sean, she likes to host these tea parties with her friends to brag about how much money she has and how much she spends on everything. We were awkwardly stuck there for awhile because it is Chinese custom to stay until your host gets up to leave or says you can go. 

The Doherty clan (and Patinos) walked in a nice garden with a small walk thru cave and along the lily pad lake. We made our way to Tianzifang, a “Pirate” city, for the market and food exploration. This city was absolutely beautiful, especially as the sun went down and the lights illuminated the pond and the floating structures. 

I was able to find my tea set and Sean's great bargaining skills got me a wonderful deal. I’ve noticed a few places have a token Western toilet, you just have to look at the signs on the door. However, the Chinese that use our style of toilet still resort to their squatting ways, despite the signs saying do not stand on the toilet bowl! I remember finding that an odd request when I first arrived, but now that I’ve witnessed the squatting toilets in all their “glory”, I completely understand! 

We headed to a Pirate themed restaurant for dinner, complete with Pirate maps as menus and ship decor. It was quite a random, worldly meal of sweet potato fries, Thai curry, papaya salad, spicy Spanish seafood paella, Persian/Turkish kababs, and Italian margarita pizza. Another wonderful day of touring Shanghai with my family; tomorrow is Sean’s big presentation to his group of fellow avid entrepenuaers about his business plan!


 Avast Ye, Scallywag! Clean up your Chinese kitchen, OR ELSE!!! ARGGGGGGG MATEY!!!!