The many faces of Shanghai

Shanghai is an extremely modern city with a spectacular history and lovely skyline (smog permitting), we just didn't find it very interesting. Most of the city seemed like a high end shoppers paradise which isn't really budget friendly. Don't get me wrong, we did find some cool neighborhoods and friendly people while visiting. One major highlight was Boxing Cat Brewery. The head master brewer was from Portland, Oregon and the beer was delicious, although expensive. We had three beers and some western food that went down very nicely together. 

Another thing we enjoyed was when we got lost looking for a historic area, we found a cozy Chinese neighborhood instead. There were groups of old men playing cards on their front porch and women drying their clothes outside their windows. Reminding us that while most of Shanghi is modern, not all the city has seen the same amount of change.

Easily our favorite site we visited was the Propaganda Poster Art Museum. While most of these posters have been destroyed the owner of this gallery has collected an impressive collection. The collection is from Maoist period of communist China. The museum was extremely hard to find, but well worth the effort. It was in the basement of a massive condo complex with no sign. Luckily we got directions in Mandarin before we went searching for it. (No photos allowed).