putting the knit in shizknitz

I found a Coffee Bean AND a BK in one place!

… “you don’t have an American name?” I’m still not sure what the Chinese obsession is over having an American name. This is true back home with my international colleagues from parts of China, they all have American names. T’s officemates here all have American names, and were surprised to find out that I don’t have one too. This came after the surprise that I’m not Chinese. I must have that stereotypical E. Asian look since people mistake me for Korean, Chinese, but not Japanese.

Duck tongue, snails and suppon (turtle) soup. Check out the paw in my bowl.

Although prevalent in most large and growing cities around the world, the struggle between old and the new seem to be even more rampant here in Shanghai. They are building at unhuman speeds, with skyscrapers and high-rise apartments/condos towering the skyline. The older buildings are being torn down to make room for more. During my city tour today, the tour operator mentioned the government regulating the tear down of older buildings (well, this is a communist country, after all) which seemed to be a shame - certain historical areas such as the Russian, Japanese concession will be replaced by modern high rises. One thing I’ve realized is that although the cost of living seems inexpensive here, these high rises aren’t cheap - on the Pudong side, a 1300 sq ft condo can cost you an easy $400K USD which is pretty close to prices in the westside in Los Angeles.

Stark differences between the old and the new.

One of the things I love about the old is the hole in the wall food places. We went to the most amazing dumpling house yesterday (there were two next to each other) with lines down the street. You pay (about 1 USD for 8 huge pan fried dumplings), then get in line to get your food. You can take it to go, or eat there - but you gotta be quick, people have no qualms over cutting in front of you in line (if there even is one) or grab a table fast (there is no such thing as being nice, hesitation or looking tacky). We walked up 3 flights of these tiny, tiny stairs (I have small feet and still had problems) and each floor had a small room with tables. I have to say that my experience from eating at Titos had trained me well for this particular task. There is a tea pot at each table filled with vinegar that you drench over your dumplings - then you eat. Caveat, the juices inside these delicious little suckers can get all over you if you’re not careful.

I visited the Shanghai Aquarium the other day, which was perfect for a rainy afternoon. It was a multi-level adventure which was quite interesting because I went during feeding time (3:30 PM). The beginning of the exhibit features many smaller tanks of animals, similar to the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla, but once you take the tunnel like escalator down, you’re surrounded by tanks of various fish, sharks, corrals, etc. It’s all quite beautiful.

This could have been dinner.

A trip to the Chinese National Museum was also well worth the trip, especially the travelling exhibit on gemstones. I got to see a 600K carat rudelized quartz as well as many other pretties that were purely amazing (unfortunately, no photos in that exhibit).