Shanghai From A Foreigner's View

After lunch at a Chinese restaurant, we headed to the Beijing Olympic Park where the 2008 Beijing Olympics were hosted.

Olympic park entrance

Olympic Tower

Water Cube

Camila

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The Magnificent Great Wall

I'm currently in Beijing and visited the Great Wall of China (Badaling) yesterday. It was incredibly mind blowing. It is believed that the Great Wall is one of the few man made structures back in ancient dynasty. However, until today it is still a myth and nobody really knows how this great wall was built. This wall is about 8,850 kilometers in length and runs across the Northern Chinese frontier a the Southern edge of the Mongolian plain, from Hebei province in the East of Gansu province in the West.

According to our tour guide, this wall was built by the different dynaties, beginning with Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin Dynasty. The wall then continue to be built until the Ming Dynasty.

There were different sections of the Great Wall where visitors could climb and hike on. We visited the Badaling (八达岭 – bā dá lǐng) section. I believe this section was the easiest as most of the steps were well developed for walking.

The entrance to the Badaling section of Great Wall

Door to the entrance

Exit from the Great Wall

However, it was packed with people on that section of the wall. Be prepared to be pushed by people. Tourist from other parts of China and the world came with their family to hike the great wall. The sun was blazing hot that day, some of us even got sunburns.

Nervado and his hat

Me on the Great Wall

Camila on the Great Wall

John on the Great Wall

Look at the number of people on the wall.

We hiked all the way to the 5th tower and went down on a mini roller coaster.

The mini roller coasters

John all buckled up for the ride

They bought the hats made out of coconut

The after look of the climb up the Great wall

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The most popular fried dumplings in Shanghai

Have you ever had Shanghai Sheng Jian Bao (生煎包 - Fried Dumplings)?

Together with my classmates, we tried Friend dumplings at a restaurant close to our Mandarin class - Yang's restaurant.

Fried dumplings are similar to the famous Xiao Long Bao (小笼包 - Soup Dumplings). The only major difference is that the bottom of Sheng Jian Bao is pan-fried and crispy. The pork filling adds a salty taste to it while the sesame seeds enhances the taste of the dumplings. Although I have tried Xiao Long Bao numerous times, the crispy bottom of the Sheng Jian Bao adds a whole new dimension to dumplings.

We can actually see how the dumplings were made in the kitchen. They had people making the dumplings and people frying the dumplings.

The lady is making the dumplings

The guy is pan-frying the dumplings in a big pan.

Sheng Jian Bao - Fried Dumplings

The usually way I eat a dumpling is to first drink the soup inside the dumpling at first bite. I believe that the soup must not go to waste as the flavor of the dumplings come from the soup itself. It was a great meal of dumplings.

I strongly recommend anyone who comes to Shanghai to try their Sheng Jian Bao as it's one of the best dumplings in the world!

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TBWA\

Our visit to TBWA headquarters in Shanghai was insightful and interesting. TBWA is ranked one of the top 10 advertising agencies in the world.

Instead of sticking to the Convention, TBWA starts with Disruption everything they do to achieve their Vision.

According to TBWA, Disruption is the art of asking better questions, challenging conventional wisdom and overturning assumptions and prejudices that get in the way of imagining new possibilities and visionary ideas. It is not limited to marketing and communications but can also be applied to deeper levels of an organization, including products and services or the core business offering.

Disruption

The presentation our speaker gave that day was interesting and insightful. He talked about how brands like McDonald's, Apple, Adidas and many more. The reason why all these brands were successful worldwide because they believed in disruption when they showcase their brand to the world. Below is a commercial in the States which went beyond the convention.

After the presentation, we were brought around the building to see the different departments they had. The design of their office was simple yet creative. I would definitely love to intern in a place like this.

Interior of their office

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The world is becoming border-less as human beings on Earth are becoming more global and interconnected. China is a country which have over 2000 years worth of culture and tradition, however with globalization sweeping in, there is an increase in Western shops and stores along the streets in Shanghai.

Coca cola, a soft drink company originated from Georgia in the United States is now present in everywhere in the world except in Cuba and North Korea. As seen in the above picture, this picture was taken during the Chinese New Year in one of the streets in Shanghai. It represents how Coca Cola has been decorated to adapt to the Chinese new year occasion.

The Apple Store in Shanghai is one of the most profitable Apple store in the world. The store in built beside an expensive shopping mall, IFC which featured branded stores around the world. This store mimics the looks of the New York Apple Store. Instead of a glass cube, the Shanghai store has a glass cylinder. Known for its big space and clean environment in the store, the globalization of Apple products have taken place for Chinese consumers.

Besides that, as one passes by the cargo ports in China, you can see how massive it is. I believe Shanghai is one of the world's busiest port as it handles a few million containers every year. The containers were destined for different parts of the world.

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On Sunday, Nervado, John, Ebony, Camila, Justine and I took the ferry from Puxi to Pudong to visit Shanghai's largest aquarium. We walked from our hotel to the bund. We were so lucky that day as the weather was clear and the buildings on the Bund could be seen clearly.

The Bund!

And of course, they received lots of attention from the tourist

The Ferry we rode on.

Inside the ferry.

The Shanghai Ocean Aquarium (上海海洋水族馆) is located near the Huangpu river in Pudong close to Lujiazui Metro. If you are traveling with your kids to Shanghai, definitely bring them here. Although it is slightly high-priced, about RMB160 for an adult, the aquarium is huge and well-maintained. Plus, it is completely indoors.

The aquarium is divided into a few exhibits namely, China, South America, Australia, Africa, Cold Water, Polar Zone and Deep Ocean Zone. All these exhibits have descriptions at the side to educate visitors about the species.

Out of all the aquariums I have been to, this aquarium has the world's longest underwater tunnel featuring different kinds of marine species in the final stage of our visit. It is about 120 meters in length. I got to admit that it took a little too long as we got bored towards the end of the tunnel.

The longest tunnel!

Before we head back, we got ice cream outside the aquarium.

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3 years ago, I was at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Today, I came back to the China's pavilion again. This time, it was different, less people and we did not have to queue for 5 hours like how I did the last round.

The exhibit mainly consisted of paintings of different famous artists.

At the end of the exhibit, we were greeted with different sculptures. This was the most interesting part for me. Below are a few sculptures we saw in the pavilion.