Shanghai, last day of our journey
We are getting burnt. It is tough to be gone from home for more than 10 days but being in places halfway across the globe where everything is an experience we are not familiar with can be exhausting. We cut the trip short by two days and although I promised I wouldn’t, I was wrong. Lots of observations to come about this journey.
Today, we opted for pure luxury and had a car take us everywhere we wanted to go. We really got to see Shanghai from a different view as neighborhoods collided into each other. We started our day on the West Bund, Cultural Corridor. It is quite amazing. You can literally go from one culture experience to the next. Lots of thought has been put into this area of the city.
The Long Museum is the second museum founded by Liu Yiqian and his wife Wang Wei. There was an Antony Gormley installation that was absolutely incredible particularly in this space.
Architecturally the space is just incredible.
We walked around in awe. This speaks volumes.
Our next stop was the Yuz Museum which is literally down the street. This museum was founded by Budi Tek. They were in the midst of an installation but there was one large room with pieces by Qin Yifeng. He took photos of furniture from Ming’s dynasty and created these really interesting pieces.
You walk into this glass structure museum with a cafe inside.
To the left, there is a permanent piece by Maurizio Cattelan that was made in 1998 for the Biennale in Venice.
We drove over to the Power Station of Art from there. The structure is also incredible. This museum is the first state-run museum dedicated to contemporary art in China. This huge hanging installation when you walk in is from Li Shan. I liked this quote from Shan. “What an artist does, in his or her own way of thinking and doing, is really about finding a different mode of interpretation of life.”
Everything was else was about DNA and nature.
Had to do a bit of shopping while we are here. One of my new favorite designers happens to be from Shanghai and has a few stores here. We went to her first store and did some damage before heading to lunch.
Din Tai Fung we went to in Hong Kong and also LA but even our driver was giving them praise so we went. They are just so good.
It happens to be fashion week in Shanghai right now. This area we were in had some of the new brands out of China. I had not heard of a few of them. We hit up a few stores there just to see what people are doing. Malls rule in Shanghai.
We stopped into Corso Como, my favorite store in Milan, that has grown into other cities. I believe they just opened up one in NYC which I need to get to. A fantastic concept store that is similar in vibe to Dover Street Market.
Last stop was a ceramic store called Spin. Didn’t do much for us.
As we made our way back to the hotel we saw another couple taking wedding photos. Lots of that on the Bund at night. I believe these are pre-wedding photos. Saw a few grooms in these striped suits and the brides in really cutting edges dresses that are not white. I like it!
Last meal was at Mr and Mrs. Bund. I’d love to say that it was so amazing but it was not. The best thing was the two drinks we had at the bar. Perhaps this restaurant peaked a few years back? The food was ok and the service was sub-par. I was not the only one who felt that way. Alas. It really is time to go home and roast a chicken.
Comments (Archived):
Save travels.Asia simply a very different place.Interesting and when I used to go there once a month, I learned to like and appreciate it but it was always a bit foreign to me in a way that I never really bridged.
I can’t imagine going there monthly. It is far!
I was younger.I also ran Europe as GM and N.A as channels so i invariably headed out for 10-14 days a month and Singapore was part of it.
Wow
third world countries are another experience…
for sure
I so wish you had a nicer experience in Shanghai, but you did well considering how challenging it was for you to navigate the language barrier and dizzying-size metropolis at the tail end of your long time on the road. I know you’re probably feeling that you’re done with that area — but it would be great to line up a local host to guide you through the neighborhoods as well as business and commercial districts — and give you more of a feeling of what it’s like living there as a native for whom the Shanghai region is home. You can imagine how chancy it would be to show up in NYC as a Chinese visitor and not speak or read English or have any local connections, and have a good experience that gave you a rich insight into the City… Perhaps tie in other parts of the region on a future visit, such as Hangzhou or Suzhou, which are tech centers now as well as sites with thousands of years of history?Shanghai, as with all of urban China, has changed enormously over recent years and that doesn’t help with seeing what is unique about its people and culture. I’m a Jooysey boy (with a bit of Queens thrown in) myself with minimal Chinese language skills, but the night-and-day transformation of Shanghai and especially Beijing from my first visits there forty years ago is both breathtaking and heartbreaking.
I really liked Shanghai. I thought a lot about how someone from China would just show up in NYC and How that would beIt’s a fascinating place amd reminds me of big cities in the states.The language barrier and culture barrier is not seamless for sure
Sounds like you’re ready for that burger 😉
Thanks for sharing this 10day journey! Traveling vicariously through you is one of my hobbies. Hope to one day do it for myself (and you) in the future.