SHANGHAI

I recently got back from a rough 9 to 10 days trip to Shanghai, China. Probably the most urbanized cities in China and the world. The weather was pretty comfortable since I went there during the start of their winter season. It was a cool 6°-12°C. This was a family trip thus the itinerary was pretty much worked out and we simply had to follow it. However, unlike everyone in my family, I do not like Chinese food. I mean, I can eat it, After all, I am Chinese but the cuisine just isn't for my taste buds. Hence, I really stuffed myself with the one Asian food you can never do wrong. Dumplings. (And baos, I mean, obviously) And let me tell you, the dumplings here are SO SO GOOD.

Here the colors have yet to change. Stuck in its fall foliage with the colors' incompetence to catch up with the seasonal drops in temperature, they stayed like these. An array of trees filled with nothing but orange leaves and waiting for their turn to let gravity take them out of their branches. It was rare, to come by scenes like these. Since the only time I ever get to travel were during the Summer and Winter periods, I had to indulge in every Fall moment in the midst of Winter. The sky was usually a uniform color of white.  

The sunsets are usually purple and on days where the sun won in hide-and-seek. The moon that lost and would then show itself, still in the midst of a bright sky. The purple tint spreading across the city almost every 4.30 pm. The mountains slowly losing its shades of greens, oranges, yellows and reds. They slowly turned to silhouettes. The forests that rest below these mountains silently switched on their fog machines. Everything became darker and the night arrived 2 to 3 hours earlier than usual in this season.  

Of course in China, the cultures are rich. The history in every tiny nook and crook was nothing but informative and humbling. Folk tales for every different caves and mountains and pagodas. Museums that brought foreigners back from one dynasty to another. Temples that represent their predominant religion among the people. A richness in history so infused with everyday surroundings it almost felt as if its tangible. Like you could feel and hold the past souls that once lived in this very country.  

Obviously in Shanghai, majority of its views were not nature-scenic since it had been so urbanized. The city never sleeps in China. The buildings and roads shining throughout the darkest hours of the night. The lights giving color to a painting of black in the sky. Streets still busy and little tiny food stalls that still opened after midnight. The night life here was definitely alive and exciting.

Well, that is Shanghai in a nutshell. You had been great despite the fact that you kinda banned Google, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp. And even though it was a horrible experience to be disconnected with your friends for 9 days, with these views, I'll let you slide.