So long, Shanghai

Asia » China » Shanghai
January 8th 2010

Published: January 14th 2010

Today marks the last full day that John and I will spend in Shanghai. Our plans to end off this segment of our trip? Sleep in, eat the rest of our food, mail winter clothes home, buy a few last items, coffee at Krispy Kream and one last Xiao Long Bao on the Wangfujing Food Street (if it's still there). And probably a few beers with some roommates and well-wishers. Tomorrow we have tickets on the 5pm Express Train to Guilin. Only it's not so express, as it will take 24.5 hours. That sounds miserable, and it might well be- but I am going to share a secret with you... I am nuts about train travel. I really love it. Not only because you get to read as long as you want, but you can also look at the scenery for hours and hours and not have to worry about being hungry, or finding a bathroom. So- equipt with about 2 kilos of oatmeal mix, 6 bags of dried noodles, and 30+ baggies of Nescafe coffee, and a bootleg copy of "Her Fearful Symmetry" I think that I will be happily occupied. I just hope our bunk mates don't sit around farting as loud as they can and picking their nose and flicking the boogers onto our beds, like last time.

Shanghai. I can't say I'm that heartbroken to leave. I never really connected with this city. The problem is, it doesn't seem to have a place for me or John. It seems that it highly accomodates 2 types of expats: 1. the "colonialist" expat who disdains Chinese people and just lives here because it's cheap and there are a lot of discos and cheap hookers; 2. the "Over the Moon about China" expat who lives here because they really love everything about China- but still want to make some money and buy Western food now and then. All the rest of us seem to have washed up here at some point or another and get stuck working low paying jobs by Western standards but high paying jobs by Chinese standards, which works out to be about $15,000 a year. They get used to living a high class lifestyle, but in the West have no money- so they get stuck here trying to think of a way to go home and have as much money as they have here.

That's just Shanghai though. All of China is a whole other story. I'm delighted to leave China and heartbroken about it in equal parts. I think I caught some sort of "China fever" about a year and a half ago.. where I became interested in everything about the country. I thought that by living here, I would understand the country more and my interest would wane. This was a serious miscalculation. The more I learn about China, the less I understand. Trying to fathom the mystery of modern China is like trying to think about the size of the universe, my brain just goes into "screen saver" mode and turns off. I can't say anything decisive about how I feel about China- because I feel exactly the opposite at the same time. For example, I like Chinese culture and I hate Chinese culture. I think the CCP are a very adept government doing what they can, I think the CCP... well, maybe I better save that for when I leave. Anyway. Now I seek refuge from my China troubles by leaving the country, and learning about new Asian countries. Will this stop my constant pondering of all that is China? Probably not.

One good thing about leaving is that I just switched my email- to gmail. Which would be pretty pointless if google actually leaves China... a world without google, the mind reels. Here is my new address: meghan.perdue@gmail.com.

Now I'll talk a little about this massive trip we are about to undertake. I included a map, for the geographically challenged. We start by spending a few days in Guilin and Yangshou, characterized by their strange conical mountains and winding rivers. The movie "The Painted Veil" was filmed here, and I recommend watching it because it's a great movie and lets face it- Somerset Maughm is da bomb. Then we will head to the city Nanning to procure Vietnamese visas, and head into Hanoi. From Hanoi we will visit the oh so touristic Ha Long Bay, and then head South on the Reunification Express to Da Nang (old R&R point from the "American War" or "Vietnam War", depending who your talking too) and then down to old HCMC which everyone still seems to call Saigon, so I will too. (I saw Miss Saigon with my mom one time at the Bass Hall and it made a big impression) From there we will head to the beaches- cross into Cambodia and island hop for a bit to celebrate my birthday. Then we will hang out in Phnom Penh and think about the Khmer Rouge, go to Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat, and then head into Laos. In Laos we will do whatever anyone does in Laos. Go tubing around islands in the Mekong River Delta and try to find the Irawaddy Dolphins, hike around looking at waterfalls and old buddhist ruins, eat cheap french food in Vientiane, hang out with the mountain tribes and think about UXOs (Unexploded Ordinance) and the American super-bombing, etc. Then we will go to Thailand, visit the Bridge over the River Kwai, a tiger refuge, Bangkok, etc and then if we have time- head South into Malaysia for some island hopping off of Penninsular Malaysia at an island group called the Perhentians- think coral reefs, sea turtles, no resorts, power shuts off at 10pm. Then it's back to Bangkok to catch a flight to S. Korea to catch a flight home!

Stay tuned for lots of blog posts, mouth watering pictures, and jealousy!!

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