Shanghai Shenanigans

Over the next few days, Ellie and I roam Shanghai and become really good friends. We go to the propaganda museum to explore China's anti-US sentiment. The museum is tucked under what looks like an apartment building. It shows the different posters used by the Chinese government to advertise how to be a model citizen. After that we head to a bar in the posh section of town. We have a couple of drinks and then realize that we're in a bar that western men come to in order to pick up Asian women.
Our few days in Shanghai are very low key. On Sunday we wander over to the park where traditionally people place ads up for their single kids. There are hundreds of hand-written posters pinned up along wires that run along the bushes. Parents gather in groups discussing their children, and showing pictures to one another to see if their children are a match. I wish I could understand what they're saying! Ellie and I go get an ice cream and sit on the grass trying to name the country that each western passerby is from.
My last day in Shanghai Ellie and I decide to invite my new roommate Shane out for the day. Shand is from Canada and visiting China for the month. We end up at this huge shrine in the middle of the city. It is very beautiful, and we all bond over missing western food. At the end of the day I hurry back to the hostel because I have a flight to Australia in the evening. Ellie and I have a teary goodbye, and agree to try to meet up in Thailand. We didn't know it would be so difficult to say goodbye, but hopefully we'll see each other again.