Girl's Weekend in Shanghai!!

After week-long travel in Taiwan with Fulbrighters, I fly to Shanghai via Beijing to meet Zan and Kate for a girls weekend! We arrived late night on Friday.

Saturday morning, we got up and walked down Nanjing Lu, Shanghai's biggest and most touristy walking street.

Kate and I on Nanjing Lu

Then we headed to Egghead Bagels for a delicious brunch. I had a lattee, fresh squeezed juice, and a classic bagels w/ lox and cream cheese (Kate, our adorable Aussie bffls, didn't know what lox were!)

After that, we went to the French Concession, and, with the help of an awesome Time Out Shanghai article, we discovered tons of adorable little shops and cafes.

Besties forever!!!!

secret garden

Zan lounging

Zan thinks my future house should include this doorframe. I'm not that tacky! 

Then we stumbled on the Shanghai Propoganda Poster Museum, which is possibly the coolest museum in the world (at least for China nerds like me).

Mao Character Cult Worship

"Brotherly love" between the Soviets and the Chinese

The Museum itself looked a bit like a Middle School Art project. The posters were lamented and backed on black foam board, with printer paper descriptions next to them. 

An example of the "Shanghai Lady Poster", which were used during the 1920s and 30s to promote western products in China by romanticizing and orientalizing Chinese women. 

A photograph of the 大字报 (Big Character Posters), which were used during the Cultural Revolution to condemn others and show your support for the enduring communist revolution and Mao. It was illegal to take them down so the streets ended up looking like this. 

The posters spanned from the 20s to the 80s, when propoganda posters were phased out by Deng Xiaoping. Most of the posters hate on America, and the west in general, with slogans like "Down with the Western Imperialists!". It was a fascinating insight into the Mao era.

After that, we headed to Tianzifang, an adorable section of Shanghai most similar to Beijing's Hutongs. It's a series of small alleyways that still have a lot of Shanghai's old-stlye Shikumen houses. Like the hutongs, it's turned into a bunch of cute shops and restaurants. Of course, Zan was freaking out and loved it. She even got interviewed by some students for a fashion magazine! Zan, fashionable?! Kate and I were loving it, hahaha.

They had fro-yo. I was so happy!

Kate, Zan, and I were Zan's fashion interviewer

Zan loving Tianzifang

Then it started to rain so we headed back to the hotel to change for the evening. We met up with Sam, one of Rebecca's friends from High School who lives in Beijing and was traveling the same weekend to Shanghai. We all had dinner at a traditional Shanghai restaurant, then headed to the Bund for a view of Pudong at night! Unfortunately it was still rainy and a bit foggy so the view wasn't great.

Next we went to Vue Bar at the Hyatt on the Bund, but sadly the weather wasn't good so we couldn't see much. Afterwards we went dancing!

Sunday morning we went to a delicious (and boozey) brunch at Maya, a mexican restaurant. They had bottomless margaritas and sangria, which we of course had to sample! It was super fun. Despite the continuing rain, we headed to Yu Yuan gardens, traditional old-style Shanghai gardens. Afterwards Zan and Kate had to head to the airport to get back for work on Monday. I stayed on in Shanghai until Tuesday for a Vassar Networking meeting. That night I went and got a mani-pedi and a massage! It was a wonderful end to the weekend.

On Monday, I went shopping and got a ton of DVDs, a scarf, and a new purse! That evening I attended the Vassar in China Shanghai networking event, where our president, Cappy, and some other Vassar admins spoke! Most of the event actually seemed geared towards convincing Chinese prospies to come to Vassar, but it was still fun. Zan and I are going to try to organize more informal get togethers in Beijing with the help of a lovely Vassar development women I met there. I also ran into Caryn, another Vassar '12 graduate who is working at an education consulting firm in Shanghai. After the event ended, we went and got burgers and beer. It was great to catch up!

Tuesday morning I headed back to Shanghai after almost 3 weeks of travel!

Photos courtesy of Zan Schmidt