From what I’ve experienced food is the centerfold of Chinese culture. Eat it, enjoy it, savor it, and a couple pounds later, you will learn more about the culture and Chinese customs than any flip through the Lonely Planet guide could teach you.

We were in Shanghai for two and a half days. This is shopping central my grandmother had told me. I had packed a measely 4 shirts and three shorts for my entire month abroad in preparation to unleash my compulsive shopper within. I didn’t know I’d be arriving in Shanghai 10 days later. So I washed my wardrobe every night letting it air out in the windows of our hotels in Hong Kong and Beijing. I arrived in in Shanghai with no clean clothes and an empty suitcase.

The city was like a Chinese Los Angeles. It was packed with cars to the brim, traffic haunting the streets at every hour. The buildings loomed from every angle, a much more condensed feel than Beijing. And apparently I wasn’t the only one airing laundry – leaving your clothese out to dry was the trend in Shanghai. The facades of every residential building was littered with hanging shirts, socks and pants, from the top floor all the way down the side of the homes.

If Beijing was a first grade English student, Shanghai would be mute. English was for the most part non-existent. Signs were in Chinese only and not even the hotel staff was knowledgeable in anything but Mandarin. Acquiring a towel became the most arduous task of my life. “Towel,” I repeated into the speakerphone, “something to dry myself with.” It was fruitless, housekeeper had to knock on my door for me to show them what I meant.

The city felt crowded and intrusive. Walking down the streets people would spit, pick their noses and burp uncontrollably.

My grandmother like the socialite she is, of course had friends in Shanghai as well, which meant even more dinners. Shaghainese food is spicier and more savory than in Beijing and Hong Kong. We went to one of the most expensive restaurants in the city, LuLu, where each plate was 1000 yuan. We were given tow sets of chopsticks, one to serve ourselves from the round table, and one to eat with. Traditionally Shanghainese food begins with cold-cut appetizers, which weren’t my favorite, but were interesting to savor. One of the plates was lettuce leaves covered in creamy peanut-butter. Another was rolled tofu skin in yet another peanut-buter mixture sauce. There was also salad, which was a first in any of my Chinese meals, also in a peanuty sauce. The tea was too biter for my taste and too concentrated. The plates kept streaming in, crab in a hoysin sauce, tofu and crab stew, sea cucumber, hen, steamed fish, fried crispy noodles. I was getting full just from looking at the plates spinning on the circular round table.

After dinner we went shopping down Nanjing Road, a glitzy iridescent street with everything from imitation purses to the latest trends in clothing.