Paradise and Hell, Meteor Shower

      So this past weekend was pretty exciting! On Thursday night, I was invited to go to karaoke with a government official! His name is Wallace and it is his job to make sure Americans in Shanghai love it! Karaoke was a blast! We had a great group and we got lots of food and whiskey and sang our little hearts out, or in my case, sang my voice out. And it was all paid for by the Chinese government! I got Wallace's number and I hope to get coffee with him so he can help me get an internship here next summer.
     After Karaoke, we went to a club called Fame. A guy in CIEE has an internship with them and they were having a free open bar until 11. Obviously we cashed in on that! After Fame, we went to a Blues and Jazz bar. It was my first time going and it was absolutely amazing!! The performers were really talented and we even hung out with them some! After that I went to Bar Rouge, which is a super nice bar on the Bund. The bouncer almost didn't let me in because I was wearing "flip flops". They were actually sandals. I didn't bother trying to explain the difference. Bar Rouge was super cool though. They have an outdoor patio with a view that looks over the Huangpu River and into Putong. It was pretty empty by the time I got there so I could really enjoy the view.
        Friday we had a field trip to the Pearl Tower.  The Pearl Tower is in Putong and it very interesting looking.  We went up to the observation deck and the view was pretty cool, but a bit hazy. On the upper observation deck the outside of the floor was glass. Walking on it really freaked me out. Especially when I noticed how there was a lot of tape where the glass connected to the floor.  There was a museum on the first floor that showed the progression of Shanghai modernizing. There were a lot of wax type figures and models of the city. It was really cool. That night we went to a nice dinner at Coconut Paradise, an Indian restaurant. Then we went to New Heights, which is a pretty upscale bar. It is also on the Bund and has a pretty good view. After New Heights, we went to Glamour, which is right across the street. It was super posh and they had amazing breadstick type things that I ate about 20 of.

The Pearl Tower

Ah! I'm falling!

      Saturday we went a had a dim-sun brunch at a nice restaurant. It was pretty good, but one of the custard filled buns exploded when I bit into it and burnt my hand.  Since it's China, there weren't any napkins and Laura had to pour water on my hand and then I just wiped it off on the table cloth. 对不起 (Duibuqi, Sorry) It was one of the funniest and most painful experiences of my life. After brunch we went to the Fabric Market.  It was my first time there and I had a ball. I am getting custom paid cords and a custom made coat. I have big plans for that place. That night we went to a bar near school called OZNZ and played Truth or Dare Jenga. Then we went to a club called the Apartment. It was not very fun. It was all Westerners and weirdly cold inside. However, we did go get late night Hot Pot right down the street, which was amazing and delicious!
       On Sunday, we got up and went to brunch at Malone's. That was an experience. The food was pretty bad. Lucy ordered a Salmon and asparagus omelet and they brought her the completely wrong omelet. When she told them it was the wrong thing, they took it away, but then bought back the same omelet with Salmon put in it. One of the waiters tried to convince her that it was what she ordered, even though it clearly wasn't. Finally they took the wrong one away and made the right thing for her. It was so ridiculous that we just had to laugh about it! After that we went back to the Bund to do the Bund sightseeing tunnel. It was one of the most Chinese things I have done here. The tunnel goes under the Huangpu River. We got into a glass cart that kind of looked like the elevator in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  It took us through this tunnel that had all these weird bright lights and odd narration that said things like "Paradise and Hell" and "Meteor Shower". Randomly, about halfway through the tunnel, there were 3 blow up people things. It was the most bizarre thing I have ever done in my life.

Our Glass Elevator