Roxanne just got back from Shanghai, where she was shooting an assignment (it’s top secret for the time being). And given how much she’s traveled—and how many worldly people she’s photographed—I was surprised to learn it was her first visit there. But from what she told me today, it won’t be her last.
Here are some of her recollections, along with some snaps she took.
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“It was incredibly exciting and interesting, because I’ve never been to Shanghai and I had no idea what it would be like. When I arrived, the driver took me to the Park Hyatt, Shanghai [there's a Travel & Leisure article on it here], which is the tallest hotel there right now. My room was on the 81st floor. It had a view like out of an airplane. And the elevators—it didn’t feel like the elevators were moving. The only way you knew they were zooming up was because your ears were popping slightly.
“I did a lot of research, and I found an assistant who was American who spoke perfect Chinese. He works with a lot of bands and shows a lot of hip people around, so I thought, Oh, he’s perfect for me. The first thing he did was take me to a section of town where the locals shop. That was lots of fun. I got a great black silk jacket there. He haggled for the price, which was very surprising to me because it was a real store. I expected the price to be the price. But he told them, ‘Oh, that’s too much.’ I paid, like, $15 for the jacket.
“Of course, the hotel was so sumptuous and gorgeous. Downstairs, they had five floors of exquisite stores. Practically every building I saw in Shanghai had malls underneath, so you didn’t really see stores outside—you saw all these clean buildings. Though they did have ads on them in lights. When you looked out the window at night, all the buildings had different light shows going on.
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The view from the hotel. All photos courtesy of Roxanne Lowit.
Taking the ferry to the historic Bund section of Shanghai.
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“We went to the World Expo one morning and saw some of the pavilions. The British pavilion looks like a gray seed pod.”
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“It’s made of transparent rods with seeds inside. It was really surreal.” [There’s a cool video of the U.K. pavilion here.]
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“My favorite pavilion was Spain. They had three different rooms that take you through the history of the country. The last one had a huge, giant baby that closed its eyes and blew bubbles and its hands moved.” [The baby is called Miguelin and represents the future of Spain’s cities.]
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“I loved Shanghai. There was so much do to and see there. I’d love to go back!”
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Thanks for sharing your trip with us, Roxanne!
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