Day 6 Shanghai

IT SURE IS HOT HERE
I wake up excited to see the best of Shanghai. As we leave tomorrow and head back to Nanjing, it’s my last day here. I feel like I wasted Wednesday. Today I decide to take it easy, drink lots of water, stop when I’m hungry, and most of all, take a taxi instead of walking everywhere. My body just isn’t used to this extreme heat and humidity, and there’s no sense in pushing it so hard. It’s so hot here that when you’re just standing you sweat - it pours down your face. The only other place I’ve experience this type of heat was in Belize a few months ago. Somehow this heat is worse tho - most likely because I’m not within a short walk of a beach!

YU GARDENS, BAZAAR AND TEAHOUSE
The sun is out today, and I take it as a good omen. After a short walk to the store to grab my yoghurt (kiwi today), I hail a taxi. I show him the picture in my guidebook of Yu Gardens and Bazaar and off we go. The cab fare is the standard 11 RMB rate. As soon as I step in the market, I’m tempted to start buying things. This bazaar seems more focused on tourists than the Confuscious market in Nanjing. I see postcards and keychains, and I’m drawn to strings of colorful animals. This will make a great mobile over the crib or changing table. The asking price is 95 RMB. Feeling like I’m not starting low enough, I counter with 1/2 the price, 50 RMB. We move in 5 to 10 RMB intervals and end at 65 RMB. It’s not super cheap, but cheaper than a mobile would have been at home. And it has 12 animals. I’m sure the baby will love it.

As in all of China, people are constantly coming up to me and trying to sell me things. I’m not interested in buying anything else though, figuring I’ll wait for Jesse to really do the bargaining. Instead, I’m in search of lunch. My guidebook says I’ll find restaurants near the Huxington Teahouse. I spy a Starbucks, Dairy Queen and a Chinese restaurant. They have pictures on the tables and wall - one of my prerequisites for a restaurant. In I go. I sit and then when a waitress doesn’t come over to me, I pay attention to what others are doing. They order first, then sit. I head to the counter, and do it right. Then my waitress tries to find me a table, which isn’t easy in the lunchtime crowd. She sits me next to a Chinese couple who smile.

I see many more Westerners in the Bazaar than I have yet while I’ve been in China. While the number of Easterners and Westerners is not equal, I don’t stick out as much. At the famous Huxington Teahouse and make my way to the second floor, there are only Westerners in there for the first 1/2 hour. When I ask my waiter what the most popular tea is folks from two tables chime in trying to help me explain what “popular” means. Favorite. One people order most. Best. Despite three of us giving it our best effort, it doesn’t work and I decide randomly pick a tea. A cold tea would be good because of the heat. There’s only one on the menu. Iced black tea it is. I’m surprised it is sweetened. It is much better than Nestea.

Such famous folks as the Queen of England and President of the United States have sipped tea in the very room I sat in. Wow. The building dates to 1784 when it was constructed by cotton merchants. It became a teahouse in the late 19th century. A crazy zig-zag bridge crosses a pond to the teahouse, thwarting evil spirits which can’t turn corners. While not as many Easterners crossed into the teahouse, they all stopped for a photo op in front of the structure. I watched them from my two-story window, grateful for the air conditioning there. When I leaned close to the window to get a better view, I was nearly stung by the heat of the glass.

For a time, I chatted with a man visiting from Oregon. I was green with envy over his digital Nikon camera and long lense. He’s apparently an amateur photographer because he doesn’t want to take just the photos others will pay for. As he left he snapped a picture of me and told me it would appear on his web site in a few weeks (scottwestphotographer.com). I was mostly grateful to him for educating me on teas, however.

He was drinking Oolong tea, which he’d come to love while in Vietnam. The ceremony with oolong is a bit more complicated. The tea leaves are placed in a teapot fashioned from pottery. There they stew for just a few minutes before you pour it into a clear pot, leaving the leaves behind. Apparently too much time with the leaves is bad for you. To drink it, you pour it into a little glass that is tall. Then you put a little cup that is wide and short on top, turn it without spilling any tea, and pull the tall glass up and off. It looked like a fun way to drink tea.

He tends to stay away from the flower teas, he said, because they are sweeter. Ah, ha! Just the taste experience I was looking for.

The tea prices ranged from 50 to 128 RMB. My second cup of tea was a hot one. The presentation of the flower teas was beautiful. A whole flower sat in a clear glass, slowly influsing the water with its scent. I could have sat there all day and I think they would have kept refilling my hot water!

MY FAVORITE PLACE IN CHINA
After about an 1 1/2, I decided it was time to move on. I crossed the bridge and headed into the famous rockery known as Yu Gardens. The cost was 30 RMB to enter, but it was worth it. So far, this is my favorite place in Shanghai, really in China, hands down. I finally found peace in the city.

Despite being surrounded by the bazaar and located smack in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world, it was quiet in the gardens. The paths wound round and round, past limestone formations, waterfalls, canals, ancient trees and other plants. Dragons rose from the rooftops, and on others tiny Chinese figures fished. Coy swam, flashing orange as they moved. I wandered for a time, admiring the old buildings with their intricate carvings and rich wood. When asked, I snapped pictures of couples. And I made sure to see the 400-year-old Gingko tree and 200-year-old Magnolia, which rose tall and proud. When I reached an area with a steady breeze, I found a bench and sat down to read. Ah, this is what I call vacation.

I really would have stayed in that peaceful garden all afternoon, but there were still things on my To-Do in Shanghai list and I was running out of time.

At 3 p.m., I rose and headed out, albiet finding an exit was not easy. There were no signs, and no straight paths in the garden. When I made it out I was hungry (of course), and being there was a Dairy Queen right there I couldn’t pass it by. I was amazed that the ice cream smelled the same as at home. One wiff and I was 16 again learning how to make Blizzards at my first job. They take the slogan of being able to hold the Blizzard upside down without it falling out seriously in China. As they handed each Blizzard off to the customer, the worker held it upside down. If the ice cream falls out, the treat is free. (SEE VIDEO)

MOST EXPENSIVE TAXI RIDE EVER
I hailed another taxi driver and set off for Pudung. Had I known ahead of time how expensive the ride was going to be, I would have found another way across the Huangpu River. From the Old City we headed south to one of the two bridges that cross the river. The Nanpu Bridge is perched high in the air, and to access it, vehicles drive in large, uphill circles. Across the river, my taxi driver pointed out the area heavily populated by Japanese. When we reached my stop, the fare had ticked to a whopping 128 RMB, nearly $30. Jesse was going to have a heart attack. At least I didn’t have to walk in the heat.

IMPRESSIVE VIEW FROM THE HILTON
Pudung, as it is know, is a relatively new part of the city. It is one skyscraper after another. Twenty years ago, there was nothing but farmers and gangsters in this area. Then the government declared the area across from the Bund as Special Economic Zone. Construction and business has flourished since, proceeding at a frenetic pace. According to our companions at dinner the night before, 20 years ago the highest structure in Shanghai was the Park Hotel at 35 floors. Now it’s hard to find in the sea of towers. It was Luic who advised me to grab a cup of coffee at the 56th floor of the Hilton instead of going up the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, the popular tourist spot. The view from the Hilton was phenomenal, and I enjoyed my third cup of tea, this time Iced Black Mango. I hadn’t realized there were just as many skyscrapers on my side of the Huangpu River as there were on the Pudung side. But the sea of glass and shining metal stretched on as far as the eye could see. I was about directly across the river from my hotel. Because of the thunderstorm the day before, the air had cleared out and the sun shone down. I even glimpsed a little blue sky. Wish I could have worked on my tan.

SIGHTSEEING TUNNEL
I wasn’t about to spend that much on another taxi, so I set off walking from the Hilton, determined to finally locate the elusive Sightseeing Tunnel. Five blocks took me to the river, where a newer promenade lined the river than on the Bund side. It was closer to the water, and much less crowded. I couldn’t resist grabbing a cone from the McDonald’s near the water. At 2.5 RMB how could anyone refuse? And I’d been looking for a twist cone for years (the New Brighton McD’s doesn’t have twist anymore and looked at me like I was crazy for asking). I rested for awhile by the river, enjoying the cool breeze. I’m having a hard time breathing in this city, and the air tears through my lungs. I’m not sure if the pollution or heat or a combination of the two, but I’m easily winded. Is this what asthma feels like? With the goal of getting back to my hotel to see Jesse at 6 p.m. I continue walking, cutting back inland when I figure I’m about directly across the Peace Hotel on the Bund. Luic said the tunnel crossed about here. A woman offers me a watch, but instead I ask her for directions. I’m on the right track and it’s just in front of me. I wonder why the only sign I saw for the tunnel was about 7 blocks back pointing to the river. There’s no way I would have found it without help, but now that I know what I’m looking for I see the opening.

The tunnel crosses underwater. Folks pay 40 RMB to ride in train cars imported from France and are treated to a light show going through. (SEE VIDEO) It wasn’t amazing, but I enjoyed it. Plus it was cheaper than that cab!

I was curious about where I’d rise up on the Bund side as I had been unsuccessful at finding the tunnel the day before. Sure enough, I came out through the long, plain corridor I’d glanced down and wondered what it was. When I arose back on the street, I looked across and saw an obvious entry point on the river side. However, signs on the Bund side weren’t in English. I came out right in front of the imposing Bank of China.

Taking the escalator up, two mothers with toddlers motioned that they wanted a picture. I was a celebrity!

Walking back on the Bund, I made sure to go past the impressive Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank at the corner of Zhongshan Dong Lu (The Bund) and Fuzhou Lu. Built in 1920, it was vaunted as the most beautiful building in Asia. I guess it helps to have an unlimited construction budget! It was closed so I couldn’t peer in at the restored murals, but I did rub the head of a bronze lion at the door for good luck.

I was exhausted by the time I hit the hotel having walked half the way back from the tunnel. We decided not to take a evening river cruise, but instead opted for supper nearby along Fuzhou Lu. The restaurant, Singapore Cafe, looked promising, with a menu that had tons of pictures and English descriptions. However, nearly everything had some sort of seafood or was considered spicy - neither of which work for me. I mostly ate pineapple fried rice, while Jesse polished off the crispy chicken and sweet and sour soup. Something there did not sit well with him, and he wound up pretty sick in the middle of the night. It was a far cry from our expensive dinner the night before. It’s just sad someone doesn't spend $400 on your meal every night :)

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