Welcome to Shanghai

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Geo: 31.23, 121.47

To arrive in Shanghai at night is to be welcomed by a spectacular display of light and colour. The hour long ride in from the airport was an infinite freeway lined either side by ghostly highrise but then you hit the CBD and the motorway becomes a multi storey monolith that snakes towards and around a city skyline like no other. It felt like we were on a giant life size Disneyland ride. The view from our hotel room was equally inspiring and as the sun rose we could see the city take shape. The blur of the bright orange pollution sky making way to clearer shapes of the riverside lowrise dwarfed by the assortment of the ultramodern, all vying for the title of the tallest building. What a show. Welcome to Shanghai!

Our overall impression of Shanghai was that it is a city of extremes. Firstly extreme crowding. There are 24 million people living there. This means that slightly more than the entire population of Australia is living in an area half the size of Sydney. On a normal day in Shanghai it feels like you are there during a festival equivalent to the Hajj at Mecca.. Fear of death by stampede occasionally enters your head along with the question where are all these people coming from. The answer is that some are tourists from outside the city but the majority are city residents working in the CBD or just out for a night on the town.

A second extreme is the fashion. Anything goes so long as it attracts attention and shoes must be in combination ie thong boots and platform sneakers. I believe the idea was to mismatch items of clothing as much as possible to see who could come up with the most bizarre look. Well it certainly had the desired effect.

Another extreme is the have and the have nots, however the lines are not so clear to the uninitiated. It seems there is little or no reason why someone of very moderate means could not walk into one of the multitude of palatial shopping centres screaming Rodeo Drive or Champs Elysee and spend a bit of time there. Maybe not everyone can afford to actually buy something in these stores seemingly paved with gold but why not just hang out and soak up the atmosphere. Why not avail yourself to the convenience of a public toilet fitted out in marble and glass that is cleaned every 15 minutes when the other option is a squalid squat toilet with no paper, and an open bin. I noticed that the average well dressed city worker seemed equally at home in either.

Adding to the list of extremes were the places we visited within the city. The pearl tower for example was pure tourism. The tallest tower in the city, gaudy, crowded and noisy. Long queues and hundreds of people shouting and excited. Standing on a glass floor 90 storeys up, not for the faint hearted. Similarly the Bund river walk at dusk attracted so many people it was nearly impossible to find a space against the railing to get yourself in a photo with the skyscraper back drop as it turned on its nightly light show. I suspect I will never again see so many selfie sticks! Nanjing Road at night was wall to wall people displaying their fashion decisions soaked in Neon. Yu Gardens, more pure tourism, tiny crowded noisy gardens set amongst acres of shopping stalls selling cheap Chinese products deemed to be souvenirs. In contrast was the Fuxing Gardens. So hard to find it took us three attempts. Beautiful Chinese and European gardens with no queues, very little noise. An incredibly peaceful and serene oasis in the the midst of all the chaos. Not far from the gardens we found the French quarter complete with dress boutiques and al fresco dining. Previous to this we had found it difficult to find much in the way of dining at all as it was all indoors hidden in basements and upstairs rooms. The French Quarter seemed to be the only part of the city where dining options were openly on display.

The final extreme was the transport. Old electric scooters were common, sometimes carrying enormous loads or several passengers. Cheap chinese cars were obviously also popular. But most suprising was the staggering amount of luxury cars on the roads. The majority of which were German. Due to recent unprecedented growth in the sales of luxury cars in China, particulary in Shangai, and the aggressive marketing campaigns of companies like Volkswagen and Audi the majority of the middle class seem to be getting around in nothing but the best including Porches, Ferraris and Bentleys. Quite a sight for the avid motoring enthusiast.

There is alot to take in when visiting Shanghai on various different levels. There is definitely less English spoken than in other major Asian cities. The residents seem to look mostly inward. To look elsewhere is to find too much noise and chaos perhaps. Its easy for a outsider to feel isolated and invisible which I found a little sad, but am happy to have had the overall experience and to have lived and enjoyed the vibe and the buzz.

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Comments

[Jenny]

Hmmm bit busy not ready for that but sounds interesting which is the point