Bond Bund Bundt

June 17, 2019

Late Start

We were all going to meet for the day around 12, so Mikey and I decided to walk around a little after breakfast while we waited. Breakfast was really good. There were dumplings and spring rolls. During the walk, we went about a mile and found a garden in the middle of the city. It felt like a mini Central Park. A plaque told some history and explained the garden was made after over 4,000 families were moved to another area. After the garden we walked back to the hotel (and only had to look at our map once).

My Feet Hurt

Next, we walked to the People's Square and Nanjing Road which has one of the largest shopping malls in the world. Mikey and I found a cute little noodles places for lunch. I forget the name of what I got, but they were these little steamed buns with rice and pork. The whole meal only cost about $5.00. I'm still amazed how cheap the food is, but when we asked Professor Liu about other living costs, apartments and houses are extremely expensive.

After lunch we walked to the Bund. It was cool because on one side were these really old buildings built by a lot of different countries who had claimed spaces in China. On the other side of the river, all the modern buildings were built in the last 30 years. The night cruise we went on really let you see the contrast of historical and modern buildings. The historical side had a soft gold glow while the modern side was lit up with so many different bright colors and messages projected on the buildings.

I Don't Know What Just Happened

Dinner was an experience. It was really the first time the language barrier was super obvious, but also Professor Liu wasn't there at first. It was this really cool restaurant with these foam looking walls and the eating area was in the basement. The bring food out on skewers and they cook in front of you. They seated our group first, and it was a struggle to understand how to order the food. I'm not really sure if we actually ordered anything, but they started bringing out all kinds of food. There were skewers of chicken feet, silt warms, sardines, and some things that I'm really not sure what they were. Overall, it was a really cool experience. They also gave free ice cream at the end, so I would definitely go back.