Shanghai

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Day 17-19 (March 30- April 1)

We took a fast train to Shanghai which was only an hour and a half. Lunch was a hotpot meal in water not oil.

Our orientation walk took us to a mall area which had many European shops. We continued on to the famous Shanghai Bund, however, many of it’s buildings were being renovated in anticipation of the 2010 Expo so the street was not at it’s best.

We crossed river via an underground cable car that went through a light show to keep us amused. The other side of the river was less hectic and afforded a great view of the river and Bund.

After taking many pictures of the various high rise buildings we sat down for coffee and cake (Starbucks!) to watch the world and ships sail by.

As the sun began to go down we watched wedding photos set against the water. The photos really had a great backdrop, and it was amusing to see at the conclusion the bride hitch her dress up revealing jeans and walking boots underneath (it was rather cool I suppose and I understand that the photos are normally done before the wedding). The outfit was western style white dress, not the Chinese traditional red.

That night we attended a performance of the Shanghai Acrobats. The tumbling on the floor and through hoops and through the air from swinging poles, human pyramids, contortionists while balancing items, spinning plates, hoola hoops, bicycle riding and pipe balancing were all spectacular.

The finale however was breathtaking. Inside a large metal spherical cage a performer rode his motor bike with ever increasing speed, only to be joined by a second who rode in the opposite direction. A third joined, then a fourth with us wondering how they all fitted in and how they could avoid riding into one-another. Finally a fifth woman rider joined the group and they all rode in different heights within the sphere which then split into three. Allowing the riders to exit carefully out. I don’t know how they would have practiced such an act as it required perfect precision.

The following day we went to the Yuyuan gardens. These were quite old and would have been more impressive if I hadn’t seen the ones in Hangzhou which were set in more spacious country grounds. This was in a more confined city space. The surrounding old town had many craft shops and food (we tried smelly tofu but all agreed that parmesan smelt and tasted better). Lunch was actually a Japanese restaurant which is becoming popular in China.

A few of us took a long walk to seek out the Shanghai museum. We found ourselves on a street of trophy shops (I don’t know how they all did business). We arrived at the museum but on the wrong side.

As we were about to make our way around we were asked to take a photo of three young people, who then volunteered to take ours. A conversation started up seemingly innocent as each of us found ourselves talking to one of the three.

As we were about to take our leave the young people suggest that we might like to join them at a local tea house. This rang alarm bells with us as we had been warned of the various scams and the tea house scam was among them. What happens is that you find yourself drinking tea all friendly only to be hit with a huge bill at the end (being charge by the cup not the pot, and with the local tea house people insisting on payment to let you go. We took our leave quickly and politely, and I felt quite sad that scamming appear to be more rewarding than regular jobs - despite their excellent English skills.

After dinner we went to a Karaoke place (my least favourite activity by far). We had a private room with a large TV and audio system. KTV is very big in Japan and China and taken much more seriously. My favourite song was by a Chinese rock band that incorporated some traditional Chinese opera style singing into the song “One Night in Beijing”.

Heading out into town the following day mapless meant only one thing. Lost again. I turned left instead of right and wandered around enormous blocks. You can’t get too lost as there are some huge landmark buildings and of course the river but it still gets tiring.

Finally I found my way onto the trophy street and knew where I was. I headed back down into the park that held the Shanghai museum and went inside. Another security check and as we had checked out I was carrying my valuables. The laptop had to be checked and they made me drink from my water bottle (in case it had something sinister in it I suppose).

The museum had some interesting jade and furniture displays, the history of Chinese money and porcelain and brass displays spanning thousands of years. I caught up with a fellow traveller and we sought out a coffee place to wait for our departure time for our overnight train to Beijing. It was the everpresent Starbucks that we found ourselves in yet again, but I wasn’t complaining. It’s been difficult to get my one coffee a day, as believe it or not tea is the preferred drink!

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Photos

River traffic
View from bund

Acrobats 5
Ten spinning plates