The Whore of the Orient...Paris of the East

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This blog posting is incredibly, irresponsible late. With that said. Let's see how much I can remember.

Arriving in Shanghai - quite easily - both Dave and I carried minimal carry-ons. *Unlike my usual large backpack - a very limited amount of clothing packed into a small area* We found our way quickly through the Shanghai airport - taking a bus to the MagLev (Magnetic Levitation) train station. In 8 minutes we were whisked away from the outskirts of Shanghai into the heart of the city. For 8 minutes we traveled at speeds up to 340 Km/Hour - the cars appeared to be crawling over the highways.
Eyes wide, we stepped out of the Mag-Lev, exhilarated, and ready to begin our 40 minute subway ride to ZhongShan Station where our hostel was located. The subway system appeared much older and more rickety than Daegu's, but just as speedy, and packed. There was more chatter, less order, less concern for old people on the Shanghai subway. Thankfully though, unlike the Seoul subway system, Shanghai's had permanent plastic tickets, which you had to return in order to leave the transport deck *much more environmentally friendly* Once in ZhongShan, I was a bit annoyed at the rain that refused to let up. We hobbled our way to Le Tour Shanghai Youth Hostel (Double Private Shared Bathroom - $20.58/night, 136 Bailan Road, Putuo District) - about a two block walk from the station. After settling in, admiring our clean, well-lit yellow front triangular room, we headed out to the French Concession for tapas.
TAPAS: Corizo Fritos (45 Y), Albondigas de Carne (35 Y) Croquetas de Panceta (28 Y) *MY FAVORITE* Alcachofas con Jamon (42 Y). I found the website online, and I can't quite find the information now, but this restaurant was wonderful, and certainly cheered me up from the rain.
Prior to our Tapas adventure, we looked around the French Concession for the Shanghai Conservatory - in an effort to hide from the rain and enjoy beautiful, cheap, orchestral music. But nope, the conservatory was no where to be found, however there was a great deal of construction. We were unwilling to spend any length of time wandering around in the rain, especially without any usable mandarin skills, so we headed directly to the Tapas bar.
After Tapas, we headed to venture around the French Concession. Despite the rain, there were many posh looking types wandering around, chatting on cell phones, carrying large paper shopping bags boasting brand names. We searched throughout the streets for a coffee shop, but nope. The best we could do was a Haagen Daaz. The menus were huge, and the prices were preposterous, but the photos of the sundaes prevented any common sense. We ordered two beautiful cascading ice cream fountains and thumbed through our Lonely Planet guide to prepare for the next day.
We woke up, but we were so relaxed by our room, the bed, the quiet of the neighborhood *even being so close to the elevated train tracks, we were never wakened* we didn't get out until 11 AM. We headed for the old Communist headquarters - turned intimidating restaurant - Mei Long Zhen - in the French Concession. We arrived and ordered lunch. There were only a few families with ancient-looking grandparents, and we felt as though we had intruded. Then, the place became a little bit more lively - some children and parents arrived, and then we felt less imposing.
Hmmm, it's getting quite late, and I've done a bit of work on this blog. I'm going to publish, despite being only a day through our trip, and possibly get Dave to do a bit more of the typing.
Enjoy for now, hopefully the pictures will give you a good idea of the rest of the trip, and I'll come back and fill in more details. Hopefully it'll be in the next few days and not months. But with my track record....*wince*

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Photos

Subtle reminders
A harmonious society through citizenship, the electronic message slides over the building across from the ZhongShan metro station. *for English readers first...followed by the Mandarin...read in Shanghainese*

Home sweet hostel
Arrived at our home subway station after the 8 minute maglev ride and the half hour spent in a crowded metro car. Less cell phone chatter and text messaging than in the Daegu and Seoul metros, but a similar unspoken rule of quiet and calm. Hushed voices and the occasional infant shriek.

Bikes wait patiently
At night outside the JinShiang station, bikes appear scattered randomly on the brick square. Each morning, lines of bikes and motorized scooters fill the entire area - at least 75 bikes. If you walk out of the station any time during the day, hoards of taxi-motorcyclists call out to you - sometimes in broken English, "Come, we drive you," "where you go, lady?"

Mao was here.
Inside the restaurant, Meilongzhen Jiujia, near the Jing'an Temple and West Nanjing Road. During the 1930s, this building was Shanghai's Communist Party headquarters.

Diner UNITE.
I prefer to dine with socialists...the communist headquarters were a bit drafty. *ceiling photo here*
We ate a delicious dish with eggplant soaked in soy sauce, another with pork and vegetables, and the famous beggar's soup *not too impressive*
We were served tea by a waiter carrying a tea pot with the longest...nose? spout! - about a foot and a half long - with the water streaming out another six inches past the end. I would have loved to see the waiter practicing his skill in the back of the restaurant, while watering the flowers I'd imagine.

The Great Leap Forward into the pond
From the dining room we spotted these ponds through the gaps in the pillars next to our table. After finishing about half our four dishes *unfortunately keeping with the tradition of over-ordering Chinese food* we wandered over and made friends with the large gold fish.

Massaging Noodles
Walking down West Nanjing toward the Bund *boo-nd*, Dave and I peered into every window, scoffing at the repeating brand name stores - Adidas, Nike, - and admiring the views of noodles, decadent bakeries and traditional Chinese clothing, fans and pottery.

Approaching the bund
A snapshot from West Nanjing Road. We left the Communist headquarters - relieved that the morning rain let up after lunch. We walked back toward the Shimen No. 1 Road subway stop toward People's Square and Redmin Park.

Pedestrian News
Still walking down West Nanjing - a large television screen showed a news channel. I became wildly excited when I saw an interpreter (for the deaf) on the bottom of the screen. "Where is my sister! I have to show her! Why haven't we executed this in America?!" and other deaf-culture-related babble.

Touts or sweet people? We'll never know.
We met two English majors and an English-savvy econ major while heading toward Renmin Ave. They wooed us with their impressive conversation skills and their friendliness. With just a little casual cajoling, they had us walking with them to a private tea ceremony. Did they get commission for this? We'll never know, but it doesn't matter because we had a great time talking with them.

Tea Ceremony
We tried about 8 different types of tea, exchanged pink and green pumpkin seeds (hand over three seeds - I love you - hand over two - you're a valued friend), we watched our tea master fill our glasses and then fill three others - which she emptied onto a tray - sacrificing precious tea to...the tea gods? I was busy asking about the girls' interest in English and future plans...didn't get the complete tea translation.

Auspicious Amphibian
Turn the clay coin in his mouth for luck. Behind the pumpkin seeds are the jars of tea - which come from the tea master's family's fields. Although we wanted to buy some tea to bring home, we were already $75 down from the ceremony itself. Yikes. Should have inquired about the price first, but we were giddy to have met a hysterical crew of English speakers.

Our first glimpse of the Bund
This is point in the afternoon where the clouds began to clear. This was our first, and least impressive, view of the Bund, and we were amazed non-the-less. The semi-circle walkway along the Huangpu River was a refreshing break from the crowds of the Bund - on the opposite side of the street. From here we could stare across at Pudong - the third largest *richest?* financial market in the world after New York City and London.

A Rochester Couple Along the HuangPu
This Rooney-impersonator *looks only* and a cheese-girl only 24 hours into their Shanghai vacation. Oh, the mischief that they will get into.

The Pearl against clouds
Oriental Pearl TV Tower - 468 meters tall - has been referred to as the hypodermic needle of Shanghai, but I think its nighttime flashing/pulsing 80s lights relieve it from the drab medical comparison.

East Meets Architecture
Shanghai was a great destination for someone from Daegu - where building designs are painfully practical.

The Bowels of Nanjing
Sesame Street in China.

Space Age Towers near Remnin
Captioning is getting a bit tedious.

Night view of the rocketship
We sat in Renmin square for a good hour as the sun slipped down. The buildings around us began to shift personalities - particularly Tomorrow Square - which holds the Marriott Hotel. In front of and below tomorrow square is the Shanghai Art Museum.

Behind Sanjiao Park
At the south end of Renmin Square.

Truly Urban China
We walked up and down East Nanjing - the fashion district, the posh *intimidating* scene - in desperate search for good dessert. We eventually gave in to a Haagen Dazs (the Bronx ice cream company) cafe and payed $7 each for a decadent ice cream sundae.
Delicious and bizarre.

Comments

[Rachel]

Brielle the pictures are beautiful!
As is the woman taking the photos... :) It looks wonderful! I can't wait to hear more. Get in touch! xoxox <3, Rachel

[Tomas]

Have a good time Brielle & David
Don't do anything thant we would not do, but please enjoy the freedom of travel while you are there. Good photos and comments, thanks Brie, Tomas