Thanks for unlocking an old memory. Many years ago, I was going to Shanghai for the first time. I knew nothing about the city other than it was bigger than the small town I was living in. We could only access Shanghai by an overnight boat at the time.
I was about to go to sleep in the bottom area of the boat, in a room full of bunk beds. A seemingly friendly pair of men approached me and sat in the bunk across from me. One of them with a sincere smile took out a beer and said in English, "Beer?" Before I could accept or decline, another man appeared and started berating those two men in their dialect. The two men yelled back at him. Others nearby came to share their input. I felt confused as I couldn't understand a thing. The man who came to intervene spoke English and said, "I heard those two men saying they want you to get drunk so they can rob you. You need to be careful on the boat, there are sometimes bad people. Please be careful with your bag tonight." I thanked him and wrapped by bag's strap around my arm and went to bed with one eye open. Early morning I woke up to find that beer man trying to separate me from my bag. I quickly sat up clutching to my bag and he apologized for the misunderstanding. I took that as a cue to go up to the deck to look around.
It was around 6am and I noticed we were now on a river. I couldn't see much as there was thick fog all around us. I stood leaning on the railing as I stared out in the distance. Then out of nowhere, this futuristic looking building just popped out right in front of me. At the time, I had no idea what I was looking at, but my heart started beating with excitement. I later found out it was called the Oriental Pearl Tower. Tall skyscraper after tall skyscraper emerged from the fog one after another. I've never again experienced such a rush. I thanked the young man who saved me from a potential unfortunate situation and he invited me for breakfast. He brought me to a "Jidan bing" stall and it was there that I had my forever favourite breakfast. I tried paying for us and he angrily refused to let me pay. We sat down on a stool and he shared all sort of recommendations on things to do in Shanghai.