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Published: August 17th 2008
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I took a fast train from Hangzhou to Shanghai on the 12th in the afternoon. It took about two hours and I arrived at the smaller South train station and had some troubles finding my way out, 'cause this place didn't show up on the Lonely Planet map. (By the way, Lonely Planet is a very nice guide, but the China edit sometimes isn't enough for your travel) I took an information flyer of a hostel when I left Hangzhou, and I found a subway map inside. I finally came back up on the ground at People Square. I think I stood there for no more than 2 minutes, smoked a cigarette and looked around when two guys asked me where I wanted to go and if I was lost. They explained me how I would get to the hostel I booked in, and I was astonished of their friendliness.
The way I walked to the hostel felt endless and the sun was burning, thought I never really saw it. Later, a thermometer told me that it had some 38 degrees. I finally arrived, wet from head to feet and checked in. After having taken a cold shower, I decided to
Shanghais backstreets
Some places that tourists do not always take notice about have a deeper look at the street I walked through with all my luggage on my back. It is named Nanjing Lu and is the most famous shopping street in Shanghai. I felt like being back home in Berlin at the Ku'Damm, 'couse all there was in this 'famous' street were the mainstream brands (H&M, Nike, Mc Donnalds, KFC, Burgerking, etc. I even saw a C&A there) What shocked me the first time I walked through this street, was that you can't possibly go five meters without being stopped by some guy that wants to sell you some 'really cheap for you my friend' shoes, watches, t-shirts or (at night) drugs. You (have to) learn fast how to ignore these people and life gets easier for you 😉 It was the same thing in Hongkong on the Nathan Rd.
As the night fell down, I got to the famous Bund. It is the river of the Huangpu River seperating the older Shanghai from the new Pudong area with his big buildings. It was quite the same thing: hundreds of people selling trash. And some snacks that were, compared to normal chinese prizes, too expensive. But the view over the Pudong
area with the Oriental Pearl tower and some nice other modern buildings is amazing. Have a look at the photos!
I went back to my hostel and ate some rice dish with chicken wings in a small street stall. At the hostels bar, I drunk some Tsintao (I checked the name now) and then went to bed. The next morning, I woke up, took a shower and went down to pay the two next nights. When I finished paying, everyone got nervous and some of the hostel staffs began running everywhere and shouting in chinese. First I thought it was something about the olympics, but then, as I wanted to go back upstairs to my room, I saw some flashing yellow light coming from the kitchen. Then the first peace of information came out in english: the kitchen is burning, get out of here! It was early in the morning, and most of the people were sleeping upstairs. I was wondering why I couldn't hear any alarm. As one of the staff ran upstairs and started shouting 'it's burning! Get out of here!!!' I understood: he was the alarm 😉
No more than two minutes later, the people were coming
out of the hostel half naked, the police and firemen arrived. Two policemen showed us thee way to a hotel lobby where we could wait for the fire to be extinguished. They brought us free water and soda bottles and shoes for those who were barefoot. Two hours later, we could reenter the hostel and take our things while the staff was cleaning up the flooded lobby. I went out for lunch and then entered People Square where I wandered around a little. I sat down near a small bridge, lit up a cigarette and started to read my guide. I observed the chinese tourists, that all stopped on the bridge to take some photos. Chinese photos are so funny: They never just take some place they like or some monuments. No, they always do portraits. And there are rules in taking chinese people: You don't have to see their legs on the photo and the people should, when possible fill most of the frame.
As I sat there and looked at the bridge, a girl signed me to come over and showed me her camera. I approached and she asked me in a pretty nice english if I could
take a photo of her and her older sister. After having done this shot, she asked me if she could take a photo with me and her nethew. I had no problem with this. She introduced herself as Luna. We talked a little about me, where I came from, what I was doing in China and so on..And she explained me that her sister and nethew were here for the first time and that she was about to show them the old town. Then she asked me if I wanted to follow them there.
So we took a cab to the old town. Who would refuse such a friendly invitation and a free english speaking guide?? Once arrived, we litterally ran through the place, and I hadn't got mutch time to have a deeper look at it. But Luna gave me somee tips, where I could eat later. As we arrived at the other side, she let me choose if I wanted to follow them to the Bund or if I wanted to stay there some more time. As I said, I didn't see mutch of this old town, so I decided to stay. She gave me her number and email adress and was very clear about her wish to see me again.
I went back into the small streets where we came from and walked all the way back to one restaurant that looked really good. It was more like a cantine, but they had a really big choice of different dishes comming from all over the country. And it was cheap! I took more than I could finally eat and it was amazing.
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