Shanghai Pearl

We arrived in Shanghai yesterday afternoon, a little behind schedule due to a slight flight delay. After stowing our luggage at the airport, we took day packs and hopped on the subway. The airport is about 45 minutes away from the city by subway, but the ride is pretty smooth. After getting checked in and settled at our hotel, it was nearly 3:30pm, so we decided to forgo the 2010 Expo Chinese Pavilion tour (until Sat morning, at least) and headed straight for downtown where we planned to see the Shanghai Pearl Tower at night.
Before that we figured we might as well get a bite to eat, so we grabbed a taxi and J struck up a friendly conversation with our driver. The driver was extremely friendly, a woman in her late-30s, and she suggested an area with good food that wasn't as expensive as the area right next to the Pearl. It was still about 4:00 when she dropped us off at a nice looking hotel restaurant, so we noted the spot and then took a stroll around town.
The Pudong area of Shanghai is the central, cosmopolitan area, filled with shopping malls restaurants, newsstands and other small shops. I was a bit surprised to see a big Best Buy, not to mention a Papa John's Pizza (which in Chinese is, Ban! Yuehan, which roughly translates to "Great! John"). We ended up finding another restaurant that J thought looked like it might be good, and since it was 5:00 and the dinner places were all opening, we decided to give it a try. Lang Yi Fang had stupendous food, at least what we tried of it: a papaya-coconut appetizer, sweet & sour pork ribs, a tofu and crabmeat dish, tofu-chicken eggrolls, and pumpkin fried bread.
After dinner, we kept an eye on the Shanghai Pearl Tower and walked for about 20 minutes until we got there. Seeing it up close was even more impressive than seeing it lit up from afar. It is truly an amazing structure, with a massive sphere near the bottom, a mid-size sphere in the center, and one more near the top. You can take an elevator up to the second sphere for 120 Yuan, but we decided to stroll down to the riverside instead. From there, we could see much of the skyline on both sides. It was a beautiful and unseasonably warm evening, and it felt great to be outside.
Shanghai made a great impression on both of us, and we went back to our hotel looking forward to what tomorrow would bring.