Travel Log: Shanghai in May

Hurray for the weekend!  The last week and weekend were very busy for me, because I was once again working from my company's Shanghai office.  If you follow me on Instagram, you already knew that because of my many Shanghai posts.  Many of you also know that I have been traveling to and from this amazing city for work, and I am so blessed to have made five trips over the last year as part of a project.  This phase of the project is completed, and I won't be going back in near future unless I'm asked to work on the next phase of the project.  I'm crossing my fingers that they want me back, of course!  This trip was a quick one, with a bit of rain during the weekend (May is Shanghai's wettest month).  However, the weather cleared nicely the last couple of days so that my colleague and I could have a lovely dinner on the 58th floor of the building housing the Ritz Carlton on the Pudong side.  Please scroll on down for photos and more details.

Jacket: Arc'teryx (old), similar Arc'teryx "Solano Windstopper Hooded Jacket," $225 at Nordstrom here
Jeans: Joe's (old), similar AG Adriano Goldschmied "Piper Blue Souchy Slim Crop Boyfriend Jeans," $149 (on sale!) at Bluefly here
Bag: Phillip Lim for Target (old), I am loving this "Reversible Vegan Leather Oversized Tote Bag" (comes in 4 colors!), $59 at Urban Outfitters here
Flats: Purchased in Hong Kong, similar "Ashley Bow Ballet Flat" in dusty gold, $74 (on sale!) at Banana Republic here
 

We left Seattle Thursday morning, meaning we arrived in Shanghai on Friday evening and had the weekend to prepare some work and sightsee.  The Bund is a must-stop, especially for first-time visitors.  Here I am with the Bund Bull (also known as the Bund Financial Bull), which is the same size as Arturo Di Modica's "Charging Bull" on Wall Street, New York City, except that it leans to the right instead of the left.  Fun Shanghai fact!

The flower walls along the Bund Promenade are always worth a stop and a photo.  I just love this vibrant purple.

It was a cloudy with light rain last Saturday when we walked along the Bund promenade, but luckily I had my light Arc'teryx rain jacket to ward off the few drops of rain and wind!  Seattleites always have a good light rain jacket in our closets.

The gloomy weather didn't stop families from enjoying the fountain in front of the Shanghai Museum, People's Square.  Children were enamored with the rotating water bursts, and it reminded me of the Seattle Center fountain that yields the same effect in my home city.

The beautiful glittering lights of West Nanjing Road.  This is one of the major streets, with large and expensive shopping malls.  However, the trees are covered in various lights that twinkle every night and make such a lovely scene.

 One of the restaurants I had not yet tried in Shanghai was Din Tai Fung.  We are very fortunate to have not one, but two Din Tai Fung locations in Seattle, so I wanted to compare the Seattle locations to the Shanghai one.  The food was perfect, with the same menu and all of my favorite dishes.  Din Tai Fung is a pricey option for xiao long bao in Shanghai, but it was fantastic.

I also had delicious dumplings on the opposite end of the pricing scale during this trip.  These are sheng jian bao, pan-fried dumplings with thicker dough and juicy pork inside from Yang's Dumplings.  The price?  Six rmb for four dumplings, which equals one US dollar.  So we splurged for two orders.  =)

Our wonderful coworkers also took us to a local restaurant for xiao long bao.  These were also very inexpensive and just as good (if not better) than the Din Tai Fung versions!  We had stacks of pork and crab dumplings, and all were delicious!  I definitely want to return to this restaurant the next time I'm working at our Shanghai office.

The final night of a trip to Shanghai is always the night for a little splurge.  My colleague on this trip had not been to Shanghai before, and he was gracious to let me choose all of our dinner restaurants.  I felt like I had some pressure to show him the best of the city, and was so pleased when this last Thursday turned out to be a clear and comfortably warm evening!  I took him to Flair Rooftop on recommendation from another colleague, which is located in the Ritz Carlton Shanghai.  The view from this 58th floor rooftop was amazing!  It's on the Pudong side of the river, so the view is looking straight ahead at the Pearl Tower and then down to the left on the Bund.  We arrived about 6:30pm, when it was fully light with a fantastic view.

One of our notable dishes of the evening: spicy papaya salad with soft-shell crab.  Yummy!

Flair Rooftop has several pages of sushi and sashimi in their menu, so we had to try one dish.  I picked salmon, my favorite, and it was amazing.  The presentation didn't hurt either.

I took several photos of the view over the evening, because it was just so pretty.  This was after sunset, when all of the buildings started to light up for the evening.

Dessert was definitely my favorite dish of the night.  The menu said mango pudding with fresh mango, which sounded great, but when it arrived it was actually a mango creme brulee!  To-die-for.  If you like mango and you visit Flair Rooftop, do me a favor and order this dish.

One final photo of the view, when the sky was fully dark and the city was fully lit up.  This is just a small piece of the panoramic view that is just breathtaking.  I am so thankful that we had this clear and perfect evening to enjoy in the city.  

I hope you enjoyed this peek into my latest Shanghai trip!  Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you have a fabulous weekend!