Jing An district

toothpaste/sea creature mascot for shanghai expo

the portman

definitely hustling bustling area of SH. it's pretty much the center of town where many huge companies, skyrises, and expensive hotels are. i saw the highest number of blonde and brunette headed people per square footage today in this area than i have the entire time i have been here. i got lost in the ritz-carlton, which was in the Portman, the same plaza as the MHA meeting i attended was in. i nearly rang the doorbell of room 2407 then thought better of it. i'm sure the patrons who spent tons of money there would not be too happy to be woken up from their beauty rest so early in the morning. i decided this could not be it, then wandered into the East Tower where i thought the meeting was. except there were only 7 floors and i needed the 24th floor. like the 3 bears in goldilock's house, i tried the next building and finally found it. what are the chances there are 2 room 2407's within one single plaza?

after the meeting, i decided to walk around the Jing An District. i was awed. the whole bright lights big city thing gets me every time. from the mall type stores, to the fobby mis-spelled pirated louies vuitton coffee (my photo of the day), to the Jing An temple i was too cheap to go into, to the old lady standing outside the temple convincing me i absolutely NEEDED to get my fortune read b/c i looked troubled and charging the same exact admission amount as the temple (hm..coincidence?), to the beauty store with overpriced hair conditioner and claiming they did not have 1 jiao for change, but gave me a bag instead, i enjoyed this area. i liked how many of the stores were subsumed by the temple itself so it looked like they were part of the temple. i'm sure the monks LOVED that. on the subway home, i watched a woman breastfeed and another one throw up into a small handheld bucket while her bf held her forehead back and i thought..how sweet.