DAY 14, SATURDAY, JANUARY 18TH
Today is our last full day exploring Shanghai! Our first stop was the Shanghai museum which covered history and contained a lot of artifacts and art. Some of the coolest parts: jade from 4000 BC, an ancient bronze exhibit, and an ancient seals exhibit. One of the more surprising exhibits contained art from minority groups in China (95% of the people in China are Han, however their are numerous minority ethnic groups that make up the last 5%); one of the ethnic minorities featured is the Uyghar muslim. I was shocked to see an exhibit with their work as that ethnic group is currently being suppressed and held in concentration camps by the Chinese government. After the museum we went to the Jiangnan silk museum which was basically a small silk workshop. The tour guide gave like a 5 minute intro on how silk worms and where silk comes from, but then she just tried to sell us silk items in the store. It definitely felt a little like a trap since they basically just brought us there to shop. It also seems like maybe our tour guide is getting a commission from bringing us there, but the little we learned about silk making was definitely interesting. After everyone was done shopping we went to lunch before heading to the Bund, a popular area in Shanghai, that is a sort of waterside walkway/area.
On the way there we walked through the British area of Shanghai which his heavily influenced by British architecture. After the Bund we took the bus to the French quarter. The French quarter I could honestly only describe as an overall odd experience. It really felt like a mini French street with French restaurants and cafes in the middle of Shanghai. In the French quarter we stopped in the Shikumen Wulixiang Museum which showcased what a home would look like in this area. After the museum we had about an hour to walk around. There wasn’t much to see so we sat in a cafe for a bit to relax before we met back up with the group to head to dinner. Like lunch today, dinner was MUCH better than yesterday. After dinner we got back to the hotel at a decent time, so some of us walked to a bar to hang out for a bit. It was nice to just hang out and relax with all of the new people we've met on this trip, as we will be heading home in just a couple days.
DAY 15, SUNDAY, JANUARY 19TH
Today we had another quick hotel breakfast before checking out. Before leaving Shanghai we made one more stop at Tianzifang . It is a traditional neighborhood that is now is a market where you can buy trinkets and crafts.
We're a little tired of all the shopping (Shanghai doesn't have as much history as Beijing, so a lot of the tourist spots end up being shopping spots), but it was a cute area to walk around. We then went to lunch at the same spot as yesterday (luckily the food was good there) before heading to the train station. We took the 5 hour bullet train back so I was able to finish another book and sleep a little. When we got back we ate at a dumpling restaurant in the Beijing train station which actually was pretty tasty. We then headed back to the same dorm building we stayed in originally and checked back in to the same rooms for one night. I just spend the night repacking and consolidating everything into the right bags before going to sleep.
DAY 16, MONDAY, JANUARY 20TH
We met at 10 AM in the lobby today to check out and then hopped on the bus. We stopped a Silk Street mall to do some last minute shopping and eat our last meal all together! We left at about 1:30 to get back on the bus and head to the airport where we split up to board our long flights home, and thus is the end of a wonderful trip to China. I definitely have learned some of the cons of traveling in such a big group, but I am also very thankful for the opportunity to have taken a class and have had a tour guide with us while we were out and about. I am very grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Thank you W&M & BNU!
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