Emery and I moved into our luxurious budget room (that came with no windows) in the Riverside Bund Hotel on the intersection of Beijing Lu and Shandong Lu, where we were delighted to find that our shower was truly separate from our bathtub. Our hotel was also conveniently located next to the Bank of China (yay, in case we run low on money!). The poopy part of all this was that Internet access was charged by the minute and our hotel was located in a cesspit of construction work. Supposedly it was a mere 5 minute walk from Nanjing Pedestrian Street but there seemed to be no boutiques or even convenience stores nearby. Instead, we were surrounded by stretches of scaffolding and shops selling manufacturing parts. And we stayed there for 5 days. Yeck.

Our real highlight of the day began when we made it to the Shanghai Museum to meet up Becky-Jay, Scott, and a few others who were staying in the city for a bit longer. This 5-floor museum has a collection of over 120,000 of China's oldest bronze work, ceramics, calligraphy, paintings, furniture, jade and stone sculptures. It even had a teahouse-style cafe that sells drinks and charming little cakes. The cherry on top was that admission was free.

Below I've included a few of my favorite pieces:


Shared Expenses
cab fare to the museum 11Y
cab fare back 11Y
cake at museum cafe 20Y
convenience store snacks 13Y
Cake Demonstration bakery 36Y
convenience store by 2nd hotel 27Y
pig ears and chicken 25Y
juices and water 15Y
bananas 15Y

Total = 173Y approx. $25US

* Thursday, May 14, 2009