Shanghai once again

So once again I'm in the city of Shanghai. I start feeling like I could update the guidebooks, or write my own. But more about this later. It's snowing, and a little depressing. We asked the cleaner where we should go when the weather is like that, and she said to stay in and sleep. And she pointed out that we have a TV so we can watch it. But I really wanted to show Shanghai to my mum, so we went out. First we went to the People's square (again) and although it was pouring with rain, I still really liked it. This time we discovered a Starbucks and had a nice coffee. Oh then we set out for the Shanghai Museum, which I have never seen before. Unfortunately, (here starts the guidebook) you can only buy tickets till 4am, and it was already 5, so we never got to see it. Normal tickets were 20 kuai, and student tickets were 5. I am very very disappointed not to have seen old vases and paintings. Then we took the metro to the Pudong area, and went into the big shopping mall. Even if you are set on spending money, a thin T-shirt for 400 kuai feels like a 'slight' exaggeration. So we went for food, and I must say that the place we chose wasn't the best choice either. Afterwards we were heading for the Jin Mao tower, and a bar on the 87^th floor. Jin Mao tower has 88 flors. And the 88^th floor is an observatory for 88 kuai. (88 in China is pronounced ba ba, somehow similar to bye bye, and therefore it's widely used online to say bye. Funny that in Europe it can mean Hail Hitler (H being the 8^th letter in the alphabet.) and neo-nazis use it.) That's just an interesting thing, I wanted to write. Well, so, on the 87^th floor there is a bar. You have to spend at least 120 kuai there + 15% service fee. The drinks they serve aren't outstanding, neither is the coffee nor the ice-cream. Surrounded by businessmen and rich people, it's easy to feel a bit 'out'. The bar's atmosphere is a bit scary, but definitely something worth experiencing. Being so high up, you can't really see down, Shanghai is a very polluted city, and you'd have to be lucky to experience a clear day. I don't really like the skyscrapers, I really prefer the pagodas and temples. Shanghai is a little bit pathetic I think. Showing the enormous economical success, building towers to show it's greatness, having expensive western shops, while there are beggars just around the corner from all this richness. And all I see is the huge economical gap instead of thinking 'wow, this city really is awesome'. No, I don't think so. And I don't think it will be able to impress me in a long time. But then, who am I to impress? I'm not sure a businessman, who gets to live in a hundred star hotel, on the 80^th floor is able to see outside the world he's used to. But hmm.. I got into this whole discussion with myself.

I hope this all doesn't sound too pessimistic. Even if I am rather disappointed, this day was a good lesson for me, and gave me a lot to think about.

But in the end, all I really want is just a nice, sunny, warm day to enjoy, and not to freeze.