In recent years, the way I travel has changed significantly. Before, a layover in Shanghai might be spent exhausting myself in the markets on a shopping marathon followed by a much-needed massage. These days, I approach things more calmly. On my last visit, I started the day with a walk through the “Yu Garden”, a beautifully landscaped Chinese garden created back in the days of the Ming Dynasty.
In the afternoon I treated myself to a taxi ride, in Asia still a fraction of what it would cost in Europe, and headed to West Bund. Here, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, is the Long Museum, opened just last year. Already from a distance, the architecture impressed me: located right on the river, the museum buildings are constructed around an old industrial bridge used earlier to transport coal for the cargo ships. Inside, of course, the rooms are quite spectacular and wonderfully complement the works of art on display.
I had long been waiting for an opportunity to visit my Shanghai-based friend Daliah, so for dinner I headed to her newly opened restaurant of the same name. Daliah, who is from Austria, prepares not only traditional dishes from her home culture, but also new interpretations of them, and has very quickly earned herself a reputation in the local food scene. How lovely, then, to see a familiar face so far from home and to finish the evening off with a “white spritzer”.
