Farewell Shanghai

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I’m sorry I’m sorry, I realize I’ve been neglecting the blog but honestly faithful readers, you haven’t missed much.

Shanghai is incredible and we are both extremely sad to bid farewell. In terms of historic sites and tourist options there isn’t much, but it’s hard not to get caught up in the liveliness of the hustle and bustle.

We ventured to the Bund earlier this week, Shanghai’s most famous mile running parallel to the Huangpu River. To the Europeans the Bund was Shanghai’s Wall Street, a place of feverish trading, of fortunes made and lost. The buildings loom serenely, a vagabond of neoclassical 1930s downtown New York style with monumental antiquity thrown in for good measure (you can thank Lonely Planet for that inspiring bit, I certainly couldn’t have put together those words myself!). Foreigners and Chinese alike flock here, maps in hand and cameras snapping. Indeed it’s a beautiful site, with Pudong across the river and modern skyscrapers forming a new skyline. The Jinmao tower is among them, currently the world’s fourth largest building (420.5m). Slowly we strolled up and down, almost feeling like we were in Paris. Off of the Bund is a popular shopping avenue called Nanjing Donglu, where hawkers peddle everything you could dream of purchasing and the neon lights of department stores and restaurants glitter at night. Part of it is closed to vehicles, so it too was a lovely stroll.

China is THE place to purchase fake EVERYTHING, and Shanghai is certainly the capital for that. On any of the major shopping streets somewhat shady looking men and women will quietly approach you, catalog in hand, to try and sell you purses, watches, clothing, shoes and dvd’s. Once you agree “sure we’ll take a look” they motion for you to follow them down a side street where you are often led to a private home turned showroom. Until very recently Shanghai had a massive outdoor market on Huaihai Lu, another glamorous shopping area. But due to pressure from other governments it has since been shut down and the vendors forced to take their business into the small homes and backrooms in the area. This was because bus loads of tourists would shop at the market, and arrive home with mass amounts of fake Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, Rolex and whatever other top end brand your heart desires but pocketbooks can’t afford. Although the market has closed, the industry itself appears alive and kicking. It’s humorous, and eye-opening, to be led down dark narrow alleyways and backstreets, past people doing laundry and cooking dinner, to view counterfeit merchandise. These are some of the best fakes I’ve ever seen. Any brand, any model, any color, they have them fresh from the factories at stellar prices (hard bartering is a must). Soft leather Prada bags, smart Armani briefcases, gleaming gold Rolex watches and the newest movies still in theaters available on dvd’s. We suspect the “street walkers” work on commission because while you peruse the goods they hang around chatting with the owners and even jump in to negotiate price. And should you not find what you are looking for at one store, they aren’t afraid to herd you to the next home full of fakes. They even have their own business cards and mobile phones, and will phone up various sellers to confirm locations. The businesses move locations frequently, to avoid being caught by the police who are cracking down harder and harder due to the international pressures. Once you see all these retailers you start noticing that about 1 in 4 Chinese women carry Louis Vuitton, Gucci or Prada bags, and can’t help but giggle.

Sadlly though it is time for us to continue on with our trip. Devlin has done some searching on the internet and Shanghai is definitely booming in terms of technology jobs. Every major IT company is hiring, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Ebay are just a few of the offerings. Teaching jobs are abundant as well, and require nothing more than being a native English speaker. In the back of our minds we are definitely entertaining the possibility of relocating here in the future, should Dev be able to find a promising job. The thought of living in such a thrilling and different world is tempting to say the least.

Tomorrow we take a short 2 hour train to Hangzhou which is further south and renowned for it’s beauty. It’s a much smaller city than Shanghai and it will feel strange to leave the big city behind. Only a handful of stops are left in our China itinerary, Guilin and Yangshou are up next after Hangzhou and then we’re off to Hong Kong. Our flights are booked from Macau to Bangkok on November 27. We’ve never spent such an extended period of time in a different country (if you don’t count my younger years in Houston) and it already feels strange to know we will be leaving China behind in short time. We’ve come a long way from that first frightful train ride into Beijing. It all seemed so foreign back then, but we’ve certainly settled in and now life in China seems normal. The little Chinese we’ve learned has left us desperate to learn more, and be able to speak with these fascinating people.

I had no idea I would fall in love with China the way I have, my preconceptions were way off and I’m not sure if anywhere else will exceed my expectations like this did. China is booming in a big way, far bigger than any of us think back home. We both look forward to hopefully returning and spending more time immersing ourselves in this intriguing country.

With that I will close. As we are back to hitting the tourist trail I can promise the entries will come more frequently, as will beautiful pictures. We’ve just passed the 2 month mark, and although we miss you all dearly, I have to admit I miss my DOG the most. Ziggy, I would do just about anything right now so I could wrap my arms around your long little body and bury my face in your fur. I even suggested (only half joking) to Devlin that we find cheap return tickets and fly home for a week so I could see him. Dev just laughed and pretended I was fully joking…

Sending our love,
Erin and Devlin

Ps-I also must apologize about the lack of photos for Shanghai. I paint this wonderful image with my words and then I fail to back it up with prints!! I am disappointed in myself with regards to our pics for this amazing city, the day we visited the Bund with our camera was disgustingly grey and overcast and what little photos we took turned out less than spectacular. After two months it’s difficult to keep the same enthusiasm about snapping photos of everything. I’ve resolved to get back behind the lens and continue committing these images to digital media, to keep the memories alive forever. If you’re interested don’t hesitate to do a Google Images search on “the Bund Shanghai” to get a clearer view of the scenes I’ve just written about.

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Comments

[Linds in Halilfax]

leaning tower of Bund?
i googled the Bund and there is a tall building, maybe the one you mentioned, and its got a ball at the bottom and a ball at the top and it looks like its LEANING..do you know anything about that?

[laurelle]

this tower you are talking about is called the oriental pearl tower, and yeah i think it is leaning cause in the pictures i have it seems to be leaning aswell but in real life you dont really notice it, well at least i didnt!!