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Published: December 6th 2005
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Including her amazing experiences:
On the loooong bus ride to Shanghai
Visiting the Shanghai History Museum and Pearl Tower
Checking out the Sex Museum (I know you'll all read it now!)
Meeting up with some blondies and a giant
Zigzagging her way across a bridge
Shopping... and shopping... and shopping
Adopting her own fighting cricket
Pretending to be a guest at the Hyatt
& Hitting the Disco Tunnel
... among others.
Friday morning dawned bright and early and we were at the local bus stop just after 8am, ready to make our way back to Shanghai for the weekend. We got on the bus straight away... and waited...and waited. Over two hours later, we managed to actually leave Haimen for the big smoke. The time in between was spent riding around town, watching the driver and his mates try to either convince people that they should go to Shanghai for the day, or physically drag them onto the bus. I didn't think they were going to have much success, as most of the people they asked seemed to be going about their daily business and didn't look remotely interested in heading off to the city, but it's amazing what a
Newsboy
Shanghai History Museum little pep talk will do, and the bus eventually filled up. Due to the time delay, the trip took about twice as long as our original journey from Shanghai to Haimen, but we made it to our hotel, and after checking in, set off again to fit as much sightseeing as we could into the rest of the day.
Shanghai is divided by the river running down its middle into the old area, including the Bund, where we were staying, and a more modern section of town. I had previously only visited the older area, so we made our way across the river to the new section. First stop: Pearl Tower. It's amazing how new the modern section actually is. Judging by the photos at the base of the tower, when Pearl Tower was built in 1994, there was maybe one skyscraper in the area, and now it's full of them. Mum decided to take some time out to relax while Dad and I headed down into the base of the tower to the Shanghai History Museum, an amazing display focusing on (surprise surprise) the history of Shanghai and its growth as a multicultural city that combines Eastern and
Run, Emi, Run!
Local women take great interest in Emerson's attempt at using the exercise machine in the park. Western elements. It was complete with models of different areas of the city over time and different scenes of days gone by, and featured movies, picture boxes and even jukeboxes playing the school songs from various educational institutions around Shanghai. I definitely recommend a visit if you're in the area.
We then made our way to the Sex Exhibition / Museum that is in another underground area near the river. It was a display of artefacts relating to sex throughout China and the world, and was also fairly interesting. There were statues, tapestries and other objects, including seemingly innocent teacups that revealed sexual scenes when filled with hot liquid, supposedly meant to embarrass whoever was holding them at the time, and each exhibit had an explanation card alongside, which was quite useful, as many objects had uses that probably wouldn't have sprung to mind (and no, that's NOT what I meant!).
By that time it was getting dark, so we made our way back to the hotel for tea... another great meal, including a dish of delicious, peeled prawns that were a wonderful change to the many different dishes with bones throughout that we've had to endure over
Family Photo
Steph, Emerson, Dad, Lindsay, Ben and Mum on the Zig-Zag bridge. the past week (or in Mum and Dad's case, months). When we ordered, the English speaking trainee at the hotel (who had been called over to help us), suggested that they might be too expensive as they were one of the highest-priced dishes on the menu. At only around $9 Australian, we figured we could splurge, but later felt like ugly foregners when we realised that 58 yuan was more than he, as a trainee, would probably receive in a month. According to one of the teachers at Mum and Dad's school, he may not have even been paid, only receiving free accommodation and food. It's hard not to feel bad in a situation like that, but what can you do?
Mum and I then went shopping while Dad headed to the airport to meet his brother Lindsay and family: wife Stephanie and kids Ben and Emi, who live in Tokyo and had flown out to China for a week's holiday. After picking up some bargain DVDs, we met them back at the hotel before taking an introductory walk around the area and hitting the sack.
Following a buffet breakfast in the hotel the next morning, we set
What are they doing!?!
Ben checks out the cricket fights. off in two taxis for a day in Shanghai. First stop was an area of the town featuring old architecture, lots of shops selling various Chinese wares and a zig-zag bridge across the river that is apparently very lucky due to demons not being able to follow the people who cross it around its corners. Perhaps due to this superstition, as well as the traditional idea that crossing a bridge brings a new start, it proved to be a popular tourist destination, as demonstrated by the crowds of people making their way across. It was here that Ben and Emerson had their first taste of what it's like to be cute and blonde in China, and were not only touched and stared at, but took prime position in a fair number of other people's photos.
After taking some snaps on the bridge, we wandered through the surrounding markets, where Lindsay picked up a bargain watch, but only after the lot of us had been locked into the salesman's "warehouse" somewhere in the back streets of Shanghai, much to Emerson's despair. It wasn't a great introduction to bargaining for her, and despite being told constantly that it was a 'game'
Fight! Fight! Fight!
The crickets are provoked. where people had to 'pretend to argue' so that everyone could be happy (us with a good price, them with a sale), she got a bit scared and upset everytime we tried to buy something for the rest of the day.
The next stop was Xintiandi, the expat area, where we had lunch at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf before venturing back out into the streets to the antique and pet markets that I had visited the previous weekend. Both were fairly similar to my previous experiences, but we did get closer to the cricket-fighting action, which was great. One bug owner this time was so proud to have us foreigners interested that he forced one of his bugs onto me and wouldn't let me give it back. I tried passing it on to various other people over the next half an hour, before abandoning it at a telephone booth. Hopefully the little guy's ok, and his fighting skills are doing him good out on the streets.
More markets and bargaining that afternoon, and I picked up a couple of new watches before tea back at the hotel. We made friends with a Chinese family at the
next table whose little girl kept toddling over to visit. She was a gorgeous little kid and even had her own tricks to show off with, but I think Ben and Emi were more entertaining to them than she was to us, and that's a pretty tough feat.
That night, we headed to the Bund to check out the lights, before riding under the river through the Disco Tunnel, a big tunnel (yes, a tunnel!) lit up by neon lights that supposedly represented different scenes such as "Heaven and Hell." Not too unexciting, but a bit of a let-down for Emerson and me, having practised our disco tunes and dance steps the whole way there.
Once on the other side, we walked around for a while and took some snaps near Pearl Tower, dodging the large number of people trying to sell us glass replicas with some difficulty. Finding ourselves on the opposite side of the road to where we wanted to be, we somehow managed to make our way across (the attempt made all the more difficult considering the Chinese driving style). After a bit of a walk, we reached our destination and headed up the elevator to the Hyatt Hotel lobby, which is quite high (90 floors up?) and offers a great view of Pearl Tower and the lights of Shanghai.
And so it was... another couple of busy days in Shanghai and we headed back through the Disco Tunnel to the hotel, where I packed the last of my things and said goodbye to the others, ready to head to Beijing alone the following morning.
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Jon and Jenny
non-member comment
Wow
Did we do all that? Makes us tired just reading about it. Hope you enjoy the rest of the world.