Shanghai getaway

Craig has traditionally had meetings in Shanghai, China at the end of the calender year. Each time he goes, he does alot of fun shopping so last year I decided that next time I was going to join him. Luckily there was a next time and I got my Shanghai shopping experience. I also felt like this would be a good chance for me to go to China as I'm not sure we'll make it there as a family (visa's are very expensive).

Shanghai is probably not a great representation of China as a whole as it's really just a big, modern city. However, it is full of some very unique buildings - I enjoyed looking at all the creative architecture.

I did alot of shopping while there - on many streets that look something like this. It's funny because they have this famous street with every store you could imagine on it and then right in the middle is a big mall full of 'knock 0ff's' of the same items.

The Bund is a beautiful area with colonial architecture - from the French occupation. Unfortunately there isn't much history left in Shanghai as most old buildings were destroyed after the Cultural Revolution due to lack of upkeep and widespread destruction.
Luckily there is an 'Old Town' with some historical and very traditional Chinese architecture and shops.

One of my favorite places was the Yu Gardens - beautiful, traditional chinese gardens right in the middle of this big city. I also loved the Shanghai Museum.
A friend from our Arizona days, Bekki Lyman, lives an hour outside of Shanghai and came in to spend a day with me there. It was fun to spend some time visiting, exploring and shopping with her. Funny thing is, I had just seen her a few days before as she was in Singapore with her husband. Overall, a fabulous trip. It was fun to experience cold weather again - something I haven't felt for 2 years!