My cousin and his girlfriend took me out the other day to a newly developed commercial/tech district in Shanghai. The place was beautiful: wide clean plazas and boulevards, vibrant arrays of neon lights, and what else but gleaming skyscrapers. The landmark of the district is something they call "the egg." An elevated roadway passes through massive oval lighting structure that wraps around the road. During the day, the lights broadcast ads and news, but at night, it turns into a giant neon light show. Below the egg is a large central plaza, on the ground a huge map of the district is engraved. It is a really amazing design.

This is also the district where the Shanghai Walmart opened up a couple years back. I couldn't help taking a peek. They had special Walmart shuttle buses that brought customers to the store. I didn't get to go inside (we were off to dinner), but i took pictures from the outside, which i will post later.

I will be arriving in Beijing on Friday. Can't wait to meet everyone!