Jade Buddha Temple

Third day in Shanghai

Today I decided to go to a temple, while Beth did some studying.
Turns out: every temple is starting to look alike. It's just another lovely building, Chinese style, with just some more Buddha's in it. It was a nice temple. Well decorated and peaceful. I loved the lion/dragon statues, but other than that... it didn't feel very different.
This bothered me and I didn't like the feeling of not being able to appreciate the historical building. On the other hand, I have seen so many temples that it is not very strange that I feel this way.

Nontheless my mood was a little bit down and I was just not feeling very well.
So I was very glad that in the afternoon Beth, Richard (my Dutch friend) and I went to a totally different thing: the Propaganda poster museum. Very interesting.
After this Beth decided to go back, while Richard showed me around Shanghai a little bit more. I was able to enjoy this wonderful view on his 30th floor apartment. We had dinner together and shared 'China experience' stories and for the first time I was able to compare cultures with someone from home. This was also the first time that I was actually talking Dutch for a long time with someone in person. It felt a little bit strange at first, but was so very nice. It was also a lot of fun to view the cultural differences from another perspective. Richard has a totally different mindset then I have.

I had to run for the last subway and find my way back to the hostel. Back in our dormroom a new girl had joined us. She was also from the Netherlands and I ended up talking to her for an hour or so as well.

I discovered this is also why I love hostels. You meet so many new and interesting people.