Shanghai Surprise

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Welcome to China - Sort of

We flew China Eastern Airlines from Hong Kong to Shanghai. It was a pleasant and quiet flight, and we had exit row seats and a decent hot meal. Everything went well, until we arrived. It was pouring rain when we landed and, like in many international airports, they parked the plane on the tarmac and then we were expected to file into a bus to drive us to the terminal. We were held on the plane for some time, and were unsure what we were waiting for. At one point, they told us to sit down and relax, it would take some time.

Turned out, they were driving out rain ponchos for us to wear on the way to the shuttle bus. It was a nice thought, but they were so light I spent more time trying to hold it in place to keep me dry than it was worth. To top it off, the tarmac was so uneven that we had to wade through water almost up to my ankle to make our way to the bus. Could the bus not have parked closer? Could the plane not have parked on more even ground? I picked the wrong day to wear my Merrill walking shoes. I was soaked and heard my feet slosh around inside my socks. Then, we were told our bags were delayed because of the weather. We landed in China around 2:45 and finally left the airport at close to 4:30, just in time for rush hour traffic. Welcome to China.

We checked ahead and were told the ride to the hotel should be around 45 minutes and should cost around RMB 180-190, less than $30. We had the name and address of the hotel, with directions, all printed out in Chinese. We were set. We were not, however, set for the backseat of the cab being soaking wet, as if the driver were driving through the rain storm with all of the windows down. For 45 minutes, that should be fun. The first part of the trip was fairly normal, driving in our old Volkswagen Sentana (kind of like the old VW Fox) through the outskirts of Shanghai. There was nothing to see and nothing really unique, we just hoped we were going in the right direction. When we exited the highway, we stood still. Apparently there was a tunnel we needed to go through and the lanes merged to create a ton of traffic in the rush hour. It must have taken us 45 minutes to go about 1 km. So, after our plane touched down a little before 3, we finally checked into our hotel around 6:30after an almost 2 hour soggy behind taxi ride.

We stayed at the Four Points by Sheraton on points, of course, which was a little north of the city center in an area called Daning. The hotel was nestled among a very American looking shopping center called Life Hub at Daning. Seriously. The hotel had a tapas bar called Siempre Tapas on the ground level and as a Platinum Starwood member we received not only a two room corner suite with windows overlooking the surrounding city, but free flow of draft beer at Siempre Tapas during happy hour. The restaurant had outdoor, café style seating, so for our first night we drank some beer and enjoyed the view. Our view directly ahead across from the restaurant included Burger King and Dairy Queen. There was a bakery chain from Asia called Bread Talk, and through the rest of the shopping area were a Pizza Hut, Haagen Das, and even of all things, a Papa John’s. There were also a lot of stores that were not American, thank goodness. And, the second level of the development included all Chinese restaurants sprinkled with some SE Asian and Japanese. We felt like we were sitting outside Champs Sports Bar in Pentagon Row overlooking the shops in Arlington, Virginia. But, this area was not touristy at all. It was all local Chinese shopping and eating every night, usually in the Burger King or sitting in the café seating at Haagen Daz. It was surreal. Aside from all of the Chinese people, I hardly felt like we were in China at all. That was until dinner.

We walked Life Hub looking for some non-American food, preferably with an English menu. We stumbled upon Shi Wei Guan, a restaurant specializing in our favorite - Shanghai style soup dumplings, usually referred to as xiao long bao. We saw the dumplings first on, of course, Anthony Bourdain, we tracked them down at a dim sum restaurant in San Francisco, and occasionally they will have them at Phoenix in Chinatown Chicago. But, they are hard to come by. This is one of the two main reasons we came to Shanghai. At Shi Wei Guan, we found a table outside on the ground level and ordered some tasty dumplings. The dumplings were similar to the ones we ate in Singapore with Laura, with hot soup inside the dumpling, so you must eat them carefully. They were fantastic. We also got to feel like animals in a zoo. We say outside overlooking the walkway and people were sort of staring at us, and they would bring their kids over to say hello. I was a bit surprised, thinking that Shanghai is such a cosmopolitan city. Over the next several days we ate at Shi Wei Guan three times. We also found a hole in the wall locals’ joint across from Life Hub where we had a more traditional dumpling experience.

We crossed the main road to drop off laundry one morning, walking by a guy stir frying dumplings in a store front. After dropping off our laundry to a gentleman who tried his best to communicate with us and wrote the number of items we had in our little notebook, giving us a price for the full load (no receipt), we wandered back to the restaurant. There was an employee with a cash register sitting in a window at the front. We tried to explain that we wanted 8 of the stir fried dumplings. There was, of course, no English menu. We pointed to the guy making the stir fried dumplings and we pointed to the menu board above us to show we wanted 8 of them. They were all very patient, including a customer waiting on line with us who helped us order what we pointed to on the menu. How bad could it be? We sat at a table with our receipt and one of the waitresses took our receipt to the dumpling window. We had no idea what was on the receipt, but it looked like we ordered two dishes. Who knew? Almost immediately, a plate with 4 stir fried dumplings came out. We attacked them, trying not to spill any of the juices on the table. The stir fried dumplings are different from pot stickers in the US. These are thick and round with a thick stir fried bottom. As we devoured the 4 dumplings, without burning the inside of our mouths, we waited to see what else we were getting because we thought we ordered 8 of the stir fried. Eventually, an order of 8 pork soup dumplings came out and they were delectable, and much much cheaper than the restaurant at Life Hub, probably because of the ambiance. Shi Wei Guan was fancy, with tables, strings of lights, music, etc. This place was dingy, with wet floors, and tiny orange stools to sit on. Who cares though, it was cheap and good. We returned to this place a second time, when we picked up our laundry. We saw a picture on the wall of the 8 soup dumplings, and we pointed to it and asked for 2. Our receipt showed, though, that it was more expensive than last time and we were again not sure what we ordered. When they arrived we realized that they were pork and shrimp, but it was no big deal. We were charged more for the shrimp, but they were tasty.

On our last night at Life Hub we ventured to the 5th floor of our hotel for the first time. It was listed as “Food Forum” and I assumed it was an ever popular Asian food court. Instead, it was an entire floor of different kinds of restaurants, including hot pot, called Din Lao Fang. This was the other reason we came to China. We love the hot pot. We sat down and there were no English menus and no pictures on the wall. The server approached with a note pad of all Chinese writing. The customer generally ticks off which items they want from a column with meats, fish, vegetables, noodles, etc. We were about to give up when our waitress spoke no English and did not turn to ask another server who possibly spoke a little English to help out. Discouraged, we started to leave the table when a Good Samaritan at the next table offered to help us out. She said she spoke “a little” English, but that’s what they all say. Between us asking about specific items and her finding them on the menu, and just looking at some of the veggies she had at her table, we were on our way to tasty hot pot. We sent them a beer as a thank you, although I knew it was more for her boyfriend than her.

Din Lao Fang had small individual hot pots, instead of one large one in the center of the table, which is the norm. It was like having an individual fondue pot with spicy broth. We ordered thinly sliced beef and pork to cook up in the pot, along with pencil thin white mushrooms, some green leafy vegetables, and potatoes. It was all incredibly tasty. But, I was disappointed there were no sauces. The hot pot we have had in the past had some sort of sweet or spicy sauce on the side to dunk your meat in when it is removed from the broth. Just as I was thinking this, and was about to express it to Eric, our Good Samaritan came by the table. She asked if maybe we wanted some “flavor.” I was not sure what that meant, but I followed her across the restaurant to a line of different sauces and spices. There must have been at least 20 jars. I brought two bowls from the table and filled one with soy, peanut sauce, and crushed peanuts, for a little bit sweet, and the other I filled with crushed red pepper, fried garlic, and a spicy red pepper sauce. I thanked her profusely, it really made the meal. This was actually our last meal in Shanghai, and we went out with a bang! Our lips were hot and tingly for the next hour, but we were satisfied to finally have our hot pot experience.

Emerging from Life Hub

Although we spent every evening enjoying our draft beer and eating in the Life Hub, we did explore the rest of Shanghai. Our hotel was a little far out, so if we went down to the city center during the day for 4 or 5 hours, we were not in the mood to stay out late down there, or come back to the hotel and return. Besides, the area we were in was not touristy at all. The hotel was filled with Asian tourists and businessmen, and a few bus loads of Indian businessmen. But, during the days we explored the other side of Shanghai - the touristy side and the business side.

Our first day we explored an alley off of West Nanjing Road, which is the 5th Ave or Rodeo Drive of Shanghai. Wujiang Road was described in the book as a “food street.” As much as there was glitz and glam from shopping malls and boutiques up the road, this alley was what I expected a lot of food streets in China to be. There was one food stall after another serving good looking food. It was lunch time and the crowds from local businesses converged. We walked almost the full length of the street to get our bearings before making a decision. When we saw the line at Yang S’Fry Dumplings, we knew we had to hit it. There were two identical restaurants almost next door to one another, both with long lines. We waited and placed our order for 8 dumplings. These were the same as the fried dumplings we had near Life Hub, but were so much better. They were juicier and the dumpling was more tender. Amazing, even if hard to eat. They are large, dense, slippery and eaten with some of the most flimsy chopsticks ever. After, we walked up the street some more to have almost a satay - small pieces of tender meat on a stick grilled on an open flame in front of a restaurant. This line moved much slower, but the mound of meat we received was worth it - fresh and tasty.

We walked through Peoples’ Park, which is the Central Park of Shanghai, filled with museums, restaurants, and gardens. We visited the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum, mostly to view the giant model of Shanghai. The mass of streets and buildings on this model was enormous. It was so big and detailed we could not even find out hotel or the Life Hub, despite its location near a large stadium. And, the model was very up to date, including a building that just broke ground that will be Shanghai’s tallest.

We also walked through Yu Yuan Gardens. We were told to take a taxi there because it was not near any metro line, but we walked from the closest subway station. It was a long walk, but gave us the opportunity to experience something we had seen on TV around the time of the Olympics - construction dorms. When large construction projects are started, temporary dorms are built close by so that men can come in from the country side and stay at the site while they work, often not seeing family for great lengths of time. We walked directly next to one of these dorms, and I tried not to stare, but they were some of the most pitiful excuses of housing I have seen, particularly only a few blocks from the famous Bund and the financial capital of China. There were several beds piled against the wall, they were dark and dingy, and looked and smelt damp. There were clothes hanging everywhere and no glass in the windows. They looked like temporary slums, but they are all over the country, often with blue roofs, and can be seen next to any decent sized construction project. It highlights the competitive nature of the job market here and the dedication to the country, the company, and to family.

The Yu Yuan Gardens themselves are almost hid among the Chinese “bazaar” - a maze of old looking, but newly built buildings. They were built to look like everyone’s image of traditional China, but they house high priced souvenir and jewelry shops, along with the always present KFC, Starbucks, and two Dairy Queens. I knew it would be crowded going on a weekend, but apparently, we were told, it is crowded every day. We made our way through the crowds to a crooked bridge leading to the Huxinting Tea House at the center of a pond. The bridge was crooked to protect the tea house from evil spirits, who only run in a straight line. We paid a premium to enjoy our tea on the second floor with a view of the shopping area. We both enjoyed our chrysanthemum tea and the air conditioning for quite awhile. We wandered the gardens for a bit, which I believe would be beautiful and tranquil when they were not crowded with people. I was unsure whether most of this was newly built to look old, or actually original. It was exactly what you would imagine in China - dragon crested roof tops, stone bridges climbing over ponds filled with lotus flowers and large fish.

After the gardens we hit Nan Xiang dumpling house, which, according to some has the best soup dumplings in the city. They must have some reputation because the line for the takeaway area snaked around the building. We figured we would only be in Shanghai once, so we might as well wait on the line. Then, we noticed a restaurant upstairs. I held our spot in line while Eric investigated. It was a RMB 60 minimum per person (about $10) but we could sit down right away. We were sold. We ordered a round of pork soup dumplings, spicy pork dumplings, sticky rice wrapped in dumpling dough, and a large soup dumpling, which comes with a straw to suck out the soup. I have to say, the regular pork dumplings were not as good as our restaurant in Life Hub. The broth was clear and not as flavorful. The spicy dumplings were great, though, with crushed red pepper cooked into the pork filling. We coughed a few times as we slurped out the juice and inhaled the spice, but it was worth it. The large dumpling, I was totally disappointed in. Every time we saw it on the menu of a restaurant it had crab or crab roe inside. We finally ordered it here even though it had pork and crab roe, and it was fishy tasting - totally ruining the experience for me.

A Friendly Face

My former law firm has an office in Shanghai, and I was put in touch with one of the associates in the tax department, Nancy. I had never met Nancy while working at the firm, but was introduced to her through another good friend, Angie. Nancy was nice enough to meet us for tea with her husband, Bert, on one of her few precious vacation days. Nancy also took us on a tour of the office, in Jinmao Tower, one of the tallest buildings in Shanghai that towers across the skyline. We saw the surrounding view of nonstop construction and cranes, as far as the eye could see. She also took us for a dim sum style lunch, where she ordered some more traditional delicacies. She ordered chicken feet for herself assuming we would not want any, and was surprised when we told her we have had them before in the US. It is not one of my favorite things because you need to suck around the tiny bits of bone but I always enjoy the flavor of the skin and tangy sauce.

It is always great to see a local and to be able to ask questions, get suggestions, and just to speak to someone other than Eric while in a country that does not speak English. This was especially true in China because we did feel a little overwhelmed when we arrived. It was great spending time with Nancy and Bert. It made our trip to Shanghai.

Shanghai Sardines

Life Hub was a quick train ride out of the down town area, depending on when you took that ride. The system itself is fairly new and easy to get around. We bought a transit card to allow us to swipe the card to enter each time we took the train rather than purchasing a ticket each time. We felt like locals. All the signs have English translations and the station announcements on the train were also read in English. On our first full day we took the train to the main interchange of three train lines, at Peoples’ Square. We needed to change to a different line to head over the West Nanjing Road. Similar to Singapore, each exit from the station was numbered. When you ascend from the train platform you can look at a map and see which exit number you should use. The size of this interchange was immense - there were something like 18 different exits from the station. The paths and tunnels emanating from the center must be under several city blocks. It was after 10 am, so not rush hour, but the number of people moving in every direction in the main hall between lines 1 and 2 made my head spin. It was the first time that I truly felt the population aspect of China.

One afternoon we hoped the train back to Daning during rush hour. Now, this was an experience. I have commuted to work, in D.C. and in Chicago, and I can attest to experiencing situations when perfectly civilized people on a train platform will suddenly become heathens when a train arrives and they push their way on. This becomes even more pleasant in Chicago when the trains’ air conditioning quits during a steam August evening. Eric has not experienced a commute in quite some time. He is out of practice.
But, nothing could compare to what we saw in Shanghai. The train pulled up at Peoples’ Square for us to connect up to the hotel. When the train pulled in it was packed, I mean packed to the brim. Frustrated, we figured we would wait until the next train. Despite how crowded it was, people pushed their way on the train and made room, sometimes hanging out the door being closed in when it shut. If people tried to exit the train they pushed their way off the same time people pushed their way on. I felt like I needed a combination of football shoulder pads and a cow prod, like on the front of a cowboy’s truck. Eric just stood, laughed, and shook his head. During one of our rush hour trips, we agreed that I would take the first train, and Eric the next one, and that we would meet at the other station. It was maddening. Everyone was packed in like sardines.

What was most frustrating was that on that first rush hour train, we finally elbowed our way on to the train and it moved through two stops, stopping at the third stop, another interchange. Everyone exited the train. We joked that the train must not have been full enough, which was apparently the situation. We figured out that they run extra trains on the downtown areas during rush hour, leaving less trains to heat north of the city, where we were staying. It basically meant that a train that was already full to the brim, stood on the platform waiting for the next train that was also filled to the brim, to then pile all into that new train. It was pure madness. It took us a few more trains before we could even manage to push our way in to make it the last two stops. I was happy I was as tall as I am so that I could at least poke my head above the crowds. It was easier to see who was feeling up my rear. We purposely booked our flight out of Shanghai in the middle of the day, because we could not imagine taking the train with our big backpacks during rush hour! But, we survived the trek.

On our way to the airport we took the train almost to the end of the line in the eastern rim of the city. From there we hoped on the Maglev, a magnetically elevated train that makes the rum from the edge of the city to suburban airport in an amazing 6 minutes. We zoomed along at rates up to 431 km/hour. It was a blur making our way through the city. They say it is the “train of tomorrow” but it is pretty expensive to run and tickets are similarly expensive, which would make it difficult to use on a regular basis for commuting. There were talks about connecting Beijing to Shanghai via a Maglev, but they have been shelved temporarily. It was a totally cool 6 minute experience.

Day Tripping - “Small” Town Life

Shanghai is a city of 16 million people. Put that in your pipe and smoke it NYC. When someone suggests a city in China to see outside of Shanghai or Beijing, they often say “It is a small city” meaning it has a population closer to 5 million people. A thirty minute train ride from Shanghai we toured Suzhou, a small city of just about 6 million people. Suzhou is the largest of a series of canal towns famous outside of Shanghai, the most famous of which was featured in the movie Mission Impossible III. They are often regarded as the Venice of the east, but several cities hold that distinction. I think Suzhou was under a big building spree, similar to Shanghai as they prepare for the 2010 World Expo. The main tourist drag, a long street with shops and restaurants, bordered by canals and bridges, was under construction from one end to the other. We visited the Beisi Ta, a pagoda that was a remnant of an earlier temple complex. The tower has been rebuilt, but beautiful nonetheless. We were able to climb up the steps, 76 meters or 249 feet up.

We also visited the most popular attraction in Suzhou, the Humble Administrator’s Garden. Considering its size, he was not so humble. After having some tea and dumplings at a restaurant outside the gate we spent the rest of the afternoon inside. Although you can wander through the gardens in about an hour, we took our time. We sat for awhile during a big rainstorm, and sat and read for a bit in another corner watching the tourists stroll by. Then, we found a traditional tea house and listed to some Chinese traditional music while sipping our jasmine flower tea. A great benefit of the tea houses so far in China has been that they constantly refill your water. As a result, we can sit for hours and read and relax with hot tea the entire time. It was a nice break being in the “small” city away from the bustle of Shanghai.

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Photos

Stirfried Dumplings
Where there's a line . . .

Fried and Juicy
Totally worth the wait.

Soup Dumplings
A little bit of heaven in each bite.

Chefs Hard at Work
Taking their time grilling mass quantities of meat.

Urban Planning Museum
The monstrous model that is Shanghai

Godzilla
Eric pretending to stomp around on the model of the city.

"Tradtional" Yu Yuan Gardens
Complete with KFC, Starbucks, two Dairy Queens, etc.

Our Fancy Tea
Chrysanthemum Tea, with flowers and all.

Peaceful Gardens
Actually, the Bazaar outside the gardens. This was the view from the tea house. Craziness. I felt like all 1B people were in that square, swarming the bridge.

Yu Yuan Gardens
Many of my Shanghai photos have a strange white glare in the top, I think from the hazy smoggy air.

Large Soup Dumpling
With a straw that reads "Caution Hot"

Careful Hot!
Trying to slurp the soup out of the dumplings.

Nancy and Me
In Pudong, overlooking the Bund.

The TV Tower
The symbol of Shanghai.

Shanghai Expo
This is Eric with the blue mascot of next year's world expo in Shanghai.

Not Even Rush Hour
And the metro station is still mobbed!

Happy Buddha
In Suzhou; this is the pagoda we climbed. See the haze again?

At the Humble Administrator's Gardens
In Suzhou

Fancy Jasmine Flower Tea
It arrives in a green ball and the water makes the flower come alive. It is becoming my favorite.