Shanghai and Suzhou

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Shanghai was never high on my list of places I wanted to visit in China, which was perhaps not a good start. Both Chris and I felt jaded with the place within hours of arriving. Aside from psychological reasons, this can probably be attributed to a late evening stroll we took along the bustling shopping street of East Nanjing Road. Every five seconds (I’m barely exaggerating here) a tout would leap from the crowds with an offer of cheap DVDs and/or fake watches and/or shoes. Does anyone ever actually buy anything from these people?

We spent some time exploring Shanghai’s various different areas, and in the end had an ok time afterall. The Bund is a riverside street of vast colonial buildings, mostly built in the neo-classical style. These days they mostly just sit there looking pretty (but slightly ridiculous). We wandered the former French Concession, which was sort of nice but hardly very exciting. Frustratingly, there wasn’t a slice of cheese to be found anywhere - the Chinese are not fans of dairy products, which disastrously includes chocolate, but we felt sure that this area would prove to be an exception. Apparently not.

In the Old Town, a thronging tourist enclave of dressed-up buildings and souvenir shops, an odd thing happened. Chris stubbed his toe on a small child, which resulted in howls of pain and multiple expletives (at least the child was Chinese and presumably didn’t understand!) Whilst I tried not to laugh at the ridiculousness of stubbing one’s toe on a small child, Chris started to experience some pretty serious side-effects, most notably loss of vision. In the end I had to lead him (extremely inexpertly) into Starbuck’s to recover. Very weird. After that peculiar episode the day improved, although Chris remained convinced that the world was out to get him.

We took a day trip to nearby Suzhou for a brief escape from the pollution, noise and bustle of Shanghai. Sadly Suzhou was worse. Fortunately the town had a couple of excellent attractions - the silk museum and the “Garden of the Master of the Nets”, which were enough to rescue our opinion of the place. The highlight of the visit, however, was probably the delicious and cheap dumplings in the Yangyang restaurant. The eatery wore its Lonely Planet mention proudly, with the words “Recommended by Lonely Planet” emblazoned everywhere you looked - on the sign outside, the glass panels, the walls, the menu, the waitresses’ uniforms... a good place anyway.

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Photos

Garden of the Master of the Nets
A tiny traditional garden of perfect design, although it would've been a little more tranquil without the hordes of tourists and painters.

Ming Vase
Take cover, she's gonna blow!
(Apologies to the unenlightened who don't get that).

Shanghai New Town
With the skyline obscured by dreary smog, shooting in black & white produced a better effect.

Window Relief - Yuyuan Gardens
A sizeable traditional garden in Shanghai's bustling old town.

Bund at Night
This relic of colonialism is Shanghai's most unique sight.

Hat
I want one! Sculpture hall in the Shanghai Museum.