Shanghai----Went to Shanghai for a week of orientation.  By far the largest city I have ever seen 22+ million people and a skyscraper on every corner.  Made NYC look like Buxton, or maybe Hollis.  Had both the very modern and the very old.  In one of the ancient Chinese-style gardens you were in the shadow of huge skyscrapers...."High Beauties" as Freddie, one of our university tour guides called them.  "Do you like the high beauties of Shanghai?" he would ask. 

The old part of the city that we travelled to was just as I had imagined this country to be like...crowded, narrow streets with shops and vendors everywhere.  One of the very first phrases that we were taught in our survival chinese course was "Bu yao" --I don't want it --or something to that effect.  It worked and some of the vendors would recoil in surprise to hear a westerner using it as they flaunted goods in your face.  Everywhere we went we were offered all manner of things...even looking into some of the small shops on the street would elicit a sales pitch and someone following you.  Who could have guessed that Rolex watches were so common in China --- poor vendors seemed to have dozens of them. 

In addition to "bu yao" we were also taught how to haggle on the prices....this was my personal favorite.  I enjoyed the drama of appearing disgusted at the price and his/her refusal to budge on it and walking away (sometimes several times in one transaction) in mock disgust.  You could usually cut the price from 50 -75% of what they initally offered. 

Did some other sightseeing, 2nd tallest building in the world -- went up some 88 stories in 45 seconds -- Shanghai museum (was one of the few places I remembered the camera), night boat cruise of the river, Yuyuan Garden (ancient Chinese style garden) and the old German concession known as The Bund.  This was basically a riverfront street and was made up of German style buildings...lots of bars and again, lots of vendors. 

Will travel back to Shanghai, whenever I get the need to feel western again.