Continued from Shanghai Day 3.

We need a break from traveling. We feel less stressed here at Shanghai than we’ve felt in a while. We thought about crossing the river and checking out Pudong today, but fuck that. We will devote today to just chilling out like a lazy weekend day in Austin.

What we did last night. One of many vintage photos along the hallways of our hotel.

Look! The sky is almost blue today.

We walked around the whole block around our hotel and discovered that this area is quite happening. This place is crowded, lunch sounds good. They serve Guilin style rice noodles.

Cheap prices, and filled only by locals.

It also has the mediocre food safety grade to go with it.

My food was ok, nothing to write home about. RL liked her soup/noodle dish though. But it was cheap, and the atmosphere was fun.

Sitting elbow to elbow with strangers. I think a group of Taiwanese sat right next to us.

OH MY GOD, is that a 7 Eleven!!??

WWWHHHHYYYY!!!! It’s not open yet!!!

That’s a very nice Starbucks in the shade. Maybe we’ll come here later. This is literally right by our hotel, but just on the side that we never walk towards.

No 7 Eleven, but we did discover this Family Mart.

YES!!! Pudding from Taiwan!!!! This is a Taiwanese style convenience store, and it’s amazing!!! In heaven.

Go ahead and make fun of me. I don’t care. This egg pudding is heavenly. It is simply one of the best foods ever. Food orgasm nonstop.

Then, it’s time to try the room temperature vacuum sealed chicken leg that I’ve been carrying around in my luggage for a couple of weeks…I see Chinese locals eat these all the time, hopefully it won’t kill me.

It’s coated in a thin layer of gelatin.

Actually, not too bad. I’d eat it again.

RL also found her favorite rice triangles at the Familymart. Winning all around.

Then we spent part of the afternoon watching a movie while lying in bed. This feels like a lazy Sunday in Austin.

Another one of the photos in the hallway of our hotel. This one is Bertrand Russell. He stayed at our hotel at one point, as did Charlie Chaplin and Einstein.

Taking a break from our lounging around in our hotel room, some coffee.

Yes, I shall read my The Economist!

I am two months behind on news.

This place has a nice breeze, it’s in the shade, and it’s got a nice view. Feels amazing over here.

KL points! The sky is almost blue.

The other areas around our hotel. Too bad we are too lazy to go exploring today.

Back to the Familymart. Found more of those room temp sausages…no thanks. We did buy more egg puddings though!

The perfect lazy afternoon setup. Drinks, snacks, and a movie out in the solarium of our room.

Out looking for dinner now.

This will do. We think this is the sister restaurant to the other Shanghai cuisine restaurant we had the other day.

Wontons, it’s so good. The broth is awesome. I think I’m going to start ordering wonton soups back in Austin.

Back at our hotel.

Yup, we are halfway across the world in a world class city. We didn’t venture more than two blocks from our hotel today, and it feels pretty grand. Gotta have one of these lazy days once in a while.

To be continued at Seoul Day 1.