Chinese Food

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Posted from NZ; we have been home about 10 days.

Sunday, October 21, 2007 - Oh how I wish we had one more day in London just to catch up with Ian and Annette. They are two of the people promising a visit and we hope to see them soon to repay their always-generous hospitality. But we had a plane to catch with lots of luggage. We were able to get exit seats and they seemed to ignore the overweight on the luggage, so we considered ourselves blessed.

Monday, October 22, 2007 - Shanghai. Yep, we made it. But I have to confess the Immigration officer looked at my passport for a suspiciously long time. I must be paranoid. We were recommended to take the train into town, and then catch a cab to the hotel. Let me tell you about this train. At top speed, reached in about 5 minutes, you are going 430 kph, or 270 mph. You are flying! But you don’t feel it until you pass the train heading the other way. It is the fastest train in the world and truly amazing. So, we got into the train station and showed the taxi driver where we needed to go, which was written in Chinese, and we got to the hotel with no trouble. And check-in was easy, though English on the front desk is limited. The room is nicely appointed, with beds hard as rocks, and 2 English channels, ESPN and HBO. No BBC News or CNN, this is a Communist country. But you would never know it by all the conspicuous consumption going on. And talk about the buildings going up! The architecture of the new high-rises is incredible and very innovative.
After a couple of hours napping, we went out and connoitered just to get a feel for the place. We are on the main shopping road, with all the big names and the prices to match. Kevin will look for the knock-off bazaars online. An early night tonight, to adjust the internal clocks.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - We had a bit of a sleep-in and almost missed breakfast! We got organized, though, and decided we would make our way over to the Bund, after going to the Shanghai Museum. We were in the People’s Park, trying to figure out where we were when this nice young couple came up to us and started speaking reasonable English, talking about how they were students and wanted to practice it, very chatty, asking what we had seen, telling us about themselves. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Then the girl mentioned that they were off to try and find a tea house they had heard about and would we like to join them? I had never been to a tea ceremony, and was all for it as was Kevin, although bells kept going off in our heads. We got there and were shown the price list, which we thought was a little steep, but oh well, let’s do it! After about an hour, and five types of wonderful teas, we were told prices if we wanted to buy. I chose one that would make a great Iced Tea for summer. We were then presented with the bill, and the girl said that since they were students perhaps we should pay for their part of the ceremony, though they would buy their own tea. At this point, Kevin said NO and we realized we had been scammed, well and truly! Ten small cups of tea and 130 g. cost us about $107 US. We parted ways with little woven thingies on our bags for “good luck” (which we realized later were to let others know we had already been scammed). We laugh about it now. We could feel we were being set up but went along anyway. Don’t know why! But I don’t feel that bad, because I did get my tea ceremony, and some nice tea to take home. From there we went to the Shanghai Museum, full of old bronzes, carvings, furniture, minorities’ artifacts. The jade section was closed unfortunately. We caught a cab to the Bund, which is the waterfront, full of pre-war European architecture. Quite a contrast to the massive high-rises that dominate the Shanghai skyline. Across the river is the newly developed business area, the Pudong (which sounds like an Asian intestine problem if you ask me), so we took an underwater tram in a tunnel to the other side and took pictures. That being the extent of what you can do there, we came back. We walked down the Bund to check information about river cruises and decided to head back to the hotel and get into dinner mode. NEVER try and catch a cab in Shanghai between 5-6:30 PM. I say no more.

We walked around the area of our hotel for a restaurant and although all the menus had pictures, most were hard to distinguish. We found a place that had great pictures and great food, with fabulous prices and a wonderful dessert menu. I have to mention that one of China’s staples for dessert is sago (tapioca) and those of you who know me well know this is path to my heart. Back to the restaurant, the bill came in at less than $20 US for the two of us. This is making up for Italy, big-time, good food AND low prices! We will be back here again this week.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - Kevin found where the knock-off bazaars had been moved, as they had been closed down at the old location. They were within walking distance, so off we went. Now, bargaining is Kevin’s specialty - he does it for the fun, sees how low he can get them and then walks off. I can’t stand being accosted by everyone as you walk past their stall, being told I need belts or wallets or whatever and “cheap-a, cheap-a”. I saw a couple of things I wanted to get as souvenirs and prezzies, plus I needed a new IPod and headphones. I got what I wanted, Kevin got what he wanted, and it was really fun to watch Kevin. We went back and had lunch at the restaurant from last night, which was again good and cheap, and then went home to play with our new toys.

Tonight for dinner we went to a food court in the basement of one of the department store buildings. All sorts of different food stalls, again inexpensive. I have found a wonderful mango and tapioca dessert made with coconut milk and will try and Google the recipe. We will be back here too!

Thursday, October 25, 2007 - We had to be downstairs at 7:25 AM for our tour of the water town about an hour out of Shanghai. We got picked up and taken to a central tour meeting place, where, to our consternation, we found we were the only ones who spoke English and there was no English-speaking guide in sight. And there wouldn’t be either. And it was starting to rain. All this before 8 AM. We demanded to be taken back to the hotel, as there was no reason to take the tour, got a refund and then decided we would go off to find some place that did offer English tour guides. We had the address of one place and went in search of it, without luck. I was getting testy. We also needed to go back to the bazaar, as there was a problem with a couple of things purchased. Switches were made and everyone was happy, and we bought more stuff. We went into the Crown Plaza Hotel, a huge complex, and were able to book a tour there, more expensive but they promised an English-speaking guide. By this time it was starting to sprinkle (spit) with rain, so we decided to go into the REALLY EXPENSIVE shopping mall, a la Rodeo Drive, and browse. I wanted to ask a question in Piaget so I walked in and asked for someone who spoke English. No one did, can you believe it, which led us to ask who is buying all this stuff????? We finally braved the rain and ran to a trendy Chinese restaurant where a lot of white businessmen were seen. A good meal, but expensive compared to what we have been paying.
After lunch we went to the Jade Temple, a Buddhist temple built in the 1800s to house two white jade Buddhas that had been carved in Burma. We were approached by a “believer”, as they call themselves - people who work at the temple giving tours and then take you to the room that has the expensive items donated to the temple by other believers. Many of these items are antiques, and prices are very good as they are able to take 100% of the sale for the good of the temple, and religion. Many good works are done by the Buddhists in China and around the world - scholarships for needy children, family support, etc. I was surprised to look at all the items they had and see how many were similar to items that my mother had collected over the years and were now in my sisters’ and my possession. It really was a very spiritual place, in spite of the rain, and enjoyed by both of us. We then caught a cab to the “old town”, called thus because it is a part of Shanghai that still has the old architecture. If this is what Shanghai looked like before the coming of the westerners, it would have been an amazing city. As Kevin pointed out, renovations were recent but at least they were keeping the neighborhood up. We almost got scammed again for the famous tea house there, but avoided that, going on our own instead. No tea ceremony this time, and quite a bit less cost. We had some lovely tea though. We spent some time walking around, getting annoyed by people trying to sell us tea pots, candy, calligraphy brushes, combs and (we couldn’t believe this….) leopard skins. We left to find a taxi and have dinner at one of our favorite restaurants again.

Friday, October 26, 2007 - Today we got up and walked down to the hotel to pick up the tour we were taking to the water village. We were also going to another town, Suzhou, known for its gardens. The first garden we went to was the Humble Administrator’s Garden, built after the administrator retired. The garden was huge, and beautifully laid out. The second garden was called the Lion Garden due to the shapes of the rocks resembling lions. This garden, and home, was owned by the family of I. M. Pei, and then “given” to the state during the revolution. We were also taken to a silk factory, where they prepare the silk and then make it into duvets. I was interested in this as it is the same process used as for making silk batting, something I am dying to try quilting. After lunch we headed off to the town of Zhou Zhuang, which is on a lake, and the streets are canals. One can only get around by boats, which are operated by women, who will sing to you for a price. Venice of Asia! The town is a national landmark, which is a good thing, though there are the usual tourist souvenir stands around. Back to the bus, and a long ride back to Shanghai, and another dinner at one of our favorite places.

Saturday, October 27, 2007 - One last day, so what were we going to do? We had heard wonderful things about the Former French Concession, an area of the city that had been where the French and other foreigners lived during the 19th and early 20th Centuries. The architecture was to be renowned for being very western. Firstly, we went to the Sun Yat-Sen house, where the father of Chinese communism lived for a large part of his life. The museum was well-documented, and the actual house had been left as when he had died in the 20s, with fabulous furniture. Next it was off to the Chou en Lai house, so called because he stayed here quite a bit while forming his communist party. Actually it was the party headquarters, where many of the members stayed while conferences were being held in the house. We went in search for the famous architecture but really couldn’t find any, so headed back to the hotel. We then headed off to the river for a cruise at 6:00 PM while it got dark. It lasted an hour, went up the river and came back again, and then we went off for our final meal in Shanghai, again at one of our two favorite restaurants.

Sunday, October 28, 2007 - Final packing this AM to be at the airport by 11:00AM. We are very pleased to be going home. It’s been a wonderful trip, some great highlights, a couple of lowlights, wonderful friends have been made and a great experience overall. But we look forward to our bed and wearing different clothes, and seeing all of our friends at home.
We hope you enjoyed these as much as we enjoyed doing them. Thanks to the folks who suggested doing a diary, and the friend who told us about the website. Let us know if you want to be on the mailing list for the next adventure!

THINGS WE LIKE AND DISLIKE ABOUT CHINA:
1. People chasing us down the street trying to sell us anything from watches to cheap toys. What part of “No” don’t they understand?
2. Drivers and bike riders running lights, even when they are blatantly red for them. This makes it very difficult to cross the street, worse than Italy, at times. Lots of traffic wardens standing at intersections are totally ineffectual with just their whistles and are generally ignored.
3. Watch out for people wanting to practice their English on you. It is the lead-in line to the “scam du jour”.
4. We have been really pleased with the places to eat we have found. And this comes from someone who really dislikes Chinese food. But this doesn’t mean I will eat it at home any time soon.
5. Going home.

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Photos

Tea Ceremony
I think she's smiling at the thought of the payoff....

The Otherside of the Bund
Who's going to occupy all these buildings?

Tug-o-war on the silk batting
It's mine....

Comments

[jean clement]

thank you
thank you very much for all, I hope that the next adventure will be our own.