Partial Day of Sightseeing

Well, it's 3:50, and embarassingly enough, we've been back in our hotel room for since about 1:15.  Jet leg has struck again.  We got up this a.m. (for me, at 4:15 -- Troy about 45 minutes after that) and after a little stroll down a pedestrian street we agreed to visit later, we went and found some breakfast. It was at a restraunt where nobody spoke English and there was no English menu.  So, we pointed, smiled, nodded and successfully ordered.  It was delicious.  And all for a grand total of about $3!

No, I am *NOT* drooling.  That's the soup inside the bun shooting out as I bit into it.

Across the street was a beautiful park, The Peoples' Park, naturally.  We walked that for about an hour.  It was fascinating to watch everybody out doing their morning activities and exercise in such a beautiful setting in the midst of the megalopolis that is Shanghai.

After that we decided The Bund and the Pearl Tower were on the agenda, so we headed back down the pedestrian street, Nanjing Road -- famous by all accounts, I guess, who knew? -- only to be marginally accosted by every trinket and knock-off "salesperson" along the way.  We are seriously two of about a dozen caucasions we have seen out and about except at our hotel.  It is interesting.  I wouldn't expect this in such a metropolitan city like Shanghai, but we do seem to stand out and receive more than our fair share of stares.  It is a lesson for sure--what it feels like being a minority.  

Once we got to The Bund, we had another interesting civics lesson.  A man was marching along the elevated river "promenade" bellowing something over a mini-speaker attached to his belt. Troy and I were actually marginally alarmed.  Of course we had not an inkling what he was hollering, and I kept thinking, "Is he running US down? What could we have done?  Is he deranged?" Everybody along the way froze in their paths and stared. We finally stepped to the side and turned around to witness it too.  He was, as I said, marching but fairly calmly down the walkway, saying whatever it was he had to say, and punctuating his speech with a fist pump.  Whatever.  He hurt nobody and was very obviously passionate about what he had to say.  I wish I knew what that was because minutes later we saw he was surrounded by police.  He didn't resist; he merely looked sad, head down.  There was no resisting, no violence on either side.  Moments later, he was gone -- in a cop car and drvien away.  Fascinating.  I wish I knew what had actually transpired.  

However, on either side of that incident, we got pictures of the iconic Shanghai landmark.  

After that little excursion (what we determined to be about a 4 mile walk round-trip) we were starting to get hungry and headed back in the direction of our hotel. We even managed to do a (very) little jade shopping on the return. The front desk had given us a couple of suggestions for where we could eat.  We found what we will now lovingingly call our Food Street.  Again, all in Chinese, not an English-speaker to be found, and we were two of about a half-dozen white people in the area.  Always a good sign.  Another good sign? Long lines of locals.  We picked one of those lines, navigated this restaurant's unusual custom of getting food, and realized the wisdom of stepping outside our comfort zones again.  De. Licious! And a belly-full for a grand total of $5.00

Now, we have to summon the energy to go back out into the fray and adventure some more.  Or not..... zzzzzzzzzzzzz