Lengthy blog post... GO!

Yllen, Cireena, and I popped on over to Shanghai this weekend for lunch. Then we decided to stay because, ain't no big thang. I had been craving some ethnic food, and we got to eat at some of the best restaurants in the city. Italian, Indian, Greek, Thai, Mexican, and one of the best burgers around topped it all off. The Thai one I was especially excited about, because this place had tons of awards plastered on their wall for "Best Thai in Shanghai 2010", 2011, etc. So for the folks back home - Yes, Mai Thai in Florence has better Pad Thai than Simply Thai in Shanghai. Try saying that three times fast.

I pulled a Dan and every time I saw a beverage in a vending machine I was clueless about, I decided I must have it immediately. This is how that went down most of the time.

I was also privileged enough to meet Cireena's friend Lucy, who stuck with us for most of the trip. Lucy is an amazing person. Completely bilingual, like she had lived in America since she was a kid. She also knows everyone, knows the town like the back of her hand, is strikingly beautiful, and amazingly friendly. Simply put, if you're going to do Shanghai, SHE is the one to do it with.

And thanks to Lucy, I got to party at one of the hottest clubs right on the Bund, which I guess kind of means one of the hottest clubs on the planet.
 It cost 100 RMB (~$17) just to get into the place, and that's a not insignificant portion of an average persons monthly salary here in Xiaoshan. When midnight hit, we were on the river to ring in the New Year.

Lucy found us an amazing hotel right in the heart of the city which cost me about $10 a night. $10. A night. In the heart of Shanghai. Did I mention how amazing she was? So after we all stumbled back to her place on New Years, we found out her power was out. No heat is practically a death sentence in this cold, so we had to bring everyone back to the hotel. Of course before we did we had to collect all of her wine and liquor and continue the party.

I wanted to do some Christmas shopping, so we also popped on into this giant pedestrian area. I can't really do it justice in words, you'll just have to look at the pictures.

To top it off, the night before we left we had traditional Mexican food at Lucy's old job. This just so happens  to be at an old Mexican style mansion. She also knows the head chef, who personally made a drink for us. It was kind of a Bloody Mary with beer and shrimp, which I was kind of on the fence about. However we also got to enjoy all we could eat fajitas, and since it's Lucy, all totally free. I think I'm in love.




There's way too many photos to put on here, so check Facebook if you're interested. I haven't even gotten Yllen's or Cireena's yet.

See you, Shanghai.