As I've mentioned before, the last couple weeks of our trip were markedly less energetic than the earlier parts had been. Our pace was pretty leisurely in Shanghai. We lingered over the exhibits of antique seals at the Shanghai Museum and bizarre historical ephemera at the Propaganda Museum. We spent an evening walking along the Bund, eating candied fruit in the chilly wind off the neon-lit Huangpu River. Best of all, we met up with a group of friends of friends, who were wonderful enough to take us in — or out, I should say — for a couple nights on the town.

Not only was it incredibly awesome to have some normal conversations about non-travel-related topics, it was also pretty great to let some other people, people with some actual knowledge of local cuisine and language, do the ordering. We went out to two massive dinners, and I honestly can't tell you what half these dishes are, but I can tell you they were delicious, and I didn't have to point or gesture or guess about one of them. In fact, the two items I had a role in selecting — cold pickled chicken feet and pickled duck tongues — were probably the only disappointments of the lot. Unsurprisingly, I like them both better hot in temperature and flavor.