The next chapter...Our Arabian Adventure: Take picture?

Ah, the locals, how they make me laugh! Last weekend, on one of my mom's last nights in the city, we decided to head down to the Bund for dinner and to just take in the view. If you don’t know what the Bund is, this comes straight from Wikipedia…

The Bund has dozens of historical buildings, lining the Huangpu River, that once housed numerous banks and trading houses from the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Italy, Russia, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as the consulates of Russia and Britain, a newspaper, the Shanghai Club and the Masonic Club. This was initially a British settlement; later the British and American settlements were combined in the International Settlement. A building boom at the end of 19th century and beginning of 20th century led to the Bund becoming a major financial hub of East Asia.

In my own words…because of this British settlement, when you are walking down there, you can sometimes forget where you are. I like to pretend I am in Europe! The buildings are gorgeous and full of character. And if you look across the other side of the river you can see new Shanghai. There you see skyscrapers with bright lights decorating the night sky. It is an amazing area to be. One side you see historical Shanghai, and the other, new Shanghai, both are equally beautiful and eye catching. It makes me think there is no other place like it. And I call this city home…

So, back to the funny locals…sometimes they love the foreigners and sometimes they don’t. This night was a time they loved us. Many times they ask to take pictures with us. When we first got here, I would get angry and not understand why they were so fascinated with us. Now, I just think it’s funny. Last weekend we met a local man that wanted multiple photos with us. First he asked Travis to be in a picture. He handed me his camera and I took a few pictures of him and Travis with the Pudong skyline in the background. After a couple with Travis, he wanted a couple with me, so Travis and I switched. Again, multiple pictures were taken. Finally he wanted a photo with both of us. This cracked me up. He made sure that each photo was horizontal and vertical. He thanked us many times and had a smile plastered on his face. It was great to make his night and we felt like celebrities!

So, if you ever travel to China and are not Asian, be ready for staring and for photo requests. Don’t over think it, just smile and feel like a celebrity. You will easily make someone’s day by getting in a photo.

Here are some photos of the night. I was practicing my photography skills at night. It was a little frustrating at times, but I ended up with a few good ones.