Friday was a fantastic, fun, and full day! We started off the morning with a visit to Eastday Company, which was an incredibly eye-opening experience. I don’t think that there is any American company that even comes close to Eastday in terms of market penetration – they actually had a foot in every sort of business imaginable. It was like Amazon but so, so much more – the guy that showed us around, for example, was in charge of the art and culture side of Eastday. He gave us a tour of the company’s building and then chatted with us at a nearby tea house/art museum (also owned by the company). Afterwards, he treated us to a huge lunch – in the middle of eating he found out that it was my birthday, and then he proceeded to have one of his henchmen purchase a birthday cake and bring it to the restaurant for us to enjoy after eating. He was a very impressive man that was part of an even more impressive company, so it was altogether a very interesting visit – and perhaps the most eye-opening of the week.
Also because it was my birthday, my parents and younger brother came to visit for a few days (they live in Taiwan, so it’s a short and inexpensive flight for them). They joined our group on our afternoon and nighttime “cultural tour” to the Songjiang Mosque and Zhujiajiao, and it was really nice to spend a bit of time with my family. The Songjiang Mosque was one of my favorite places we visited over the week in Shanghai, because it was incredibly old (initially built 700 years ago!) and the people there were warm, welcoming, and more than willing to show us around and let us take pictures. Zhujiajiao, however, was slightly disappointing, for several reasons. Firstly, it was very, very cold (obviously this has nothing to do with the place itself, but it made the experience significantly less enjoyable nonetheless). Secondly, and possibly because of the cold, it was not very lively – only a handful of shops were open, and it was slightly awkward to walk around because we were some of the only people visiting the area. Thirdly, it felt like we were intruding on peoples’ lives – people actually live in that area, and because it is less popular and therefore less touristy than other areas in and around Shanghai, it sort of felt like we were being intrusive.
Despite my slight disappointment with Zhujiajiao (I don’t think the others shared this sentiment, so it was still a fun excursion!), it was a wonderful day – especially because we went to karaoke after we returned to the city to celebrate my birthday! Asian karaoke is so incredibly fun, and it was a perfect conclusion to the day as well as the whole trip.
Great