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17 April 2013
Brash and brazen, Shanghai sparkles and gleams like cheap chintz in a tobacco haze.
We took the fast train from Beijing and got here in air conditioned luxury in four hours. In the process we crossed the longest and second longest bridges in the world; and passed nameless cities of cranes. China is the country of cranes. Tower cranes not the magnificent birds which feature so highly in Chinese mythology... More than 75% of the world's cranes are here, and they are erecting cities rapidly, everywhere. Ten million plus populations inhabiting cities we have never even heard of. The numbers are staggering. The air quality frightening.
The brand new station we arrive at in Shanghai is already hopelessly under spec'ed. There are not enough toilets, the taxi queue is hundreds of meters long. The crowds are stifling. It is so huge that to find your way around you need google maps. We eventually found the metro after giving up on the taxi and toilet queues and half an hour later emerged from underground in a shopping mall the size of a city. Shanghai Central, one massive shopping plaza.
As we stepped out onto the
Future of the World
Almighty Pudong on a clear day. Shanghai, Chinastreet the first tower to greet us from the distance was the Oriental Pearl Tower. A short stroll to the Bund and we were facing omnipotent Pudong, the financial district with some of the tallest buildings in the world reaching in vain for bluer sky. This is the picture of Shanghai that everyone has seen - Shanghai river in the foreground, skyscrapers to the rear. If you're lucky they are clear, but on most days they recede into an opalescent miasma.
"Ok, we've seen it. Let's get out of here and find some countryside," I say. But Shanghai grows on you like a cancer.
Our hotel is situated next to the Russian embassy at the far end of the Bund, next to the creek. Seagull on the Bund was once probably not so shabby, but it has witnessed better days, and it has definitely had better staff. The Rude Crew at reception bark at us on arrival, on departure, and on all other dealings in between. It is as if we are ruining their lives with our existence. You'd swear we had just walked in and defecated on the foyer floor. Their condescending attitudes are quite appalling.
Shanghai sunset
Shanghai, China Then the concierge gives us a mouthful when we ask to see the business centre, because there is no wifi in our room and I need to work. How dare we want to see it. In his eyes we are obviously not the type of people who could possibly need or afford such a sophistication. Needless to say the business centre is a tiny, windowless box room with an ancient pc in it. He has obviously not seen our orchard of Apples and knows not how cultivated we actually are despite our flip flops and good manners!!
All in, a bad experience. But we have to make the most of it as we are booked in for four nights. Four nights of sleeping in a cigarette smoke smog despite asking for a room on a non smoking floor. And four nights of using my phone as a hotspot to get Internet access on our laptop - not cheap.....
We had decided to stay on the Bund because you kind of need to stay on the Bund on your first visit to Shanghai. Sadly we could not afford the Peninsula or the Peace Art Hotel, but maybe next time.
Pudong lights
Shanghai, China We did make a point of walking through the Peninsula whenever we could and using its facilities - the wcs, that is - whenever passing.
For those who are unfamiliar, The Bund is the strip on the Shanghai riverfront that faces Pudong and is a well preserved and classy cluster of original art deco buildings which could give New York a run for its money. The promenade along the river is where every tourist, Chinese and foreign alike, comes to peer wide eyed at the future of the world, across the water. We saw one bewildered little old man, with his newly urbane daughter, being photographed in his best ill-fitting suit, in front of this almighty cityscape, and looking so frightened and uncomfortable that I felt like taking his hand and telling him everything would be ok. But will it?
I have come to a conclusion about China (yes, already); you just have to scratch the shiny surface of the glitzy veneer to see the primitiveness that lies beneath. China is a peasant in Prada. China is not a technologically advanced country and gets things done by throwing people at its problems. For example, if there is an
Jin Mao reflected in a glass handbag
Shanghai Financial Centre. Shanghai, China oil spill, you put 50000 people on bamboo rafts onto the water and have them scoop up the oil in palm leaf baskets. "China's strength is in its people" a wise politician once said; and when the people actually realise this there may be trouble! This same politician also said that with development everyone in China would get richer but some would get more rich. Hmmm, it looks more like the gap between upper and lower classes is widening by the second and there is a void where the middle class should be. And then there is the education system which has kept everyone safely in the dark ages of the great leap forwards. I was shocked to learn that you even have to pay for primary school education here - in a communist country!!! China's rapid growth is going to leave a hell of a lot of people behind and this can only lead to massive social inequality and, I would imagine, eventual unrest. I hope the government has a better plan to deal with this than another cultural revolution!
Anyway, back to the skyscrapers. Our first full day in Shanghai we spent in Pudong. Little more than
looks like my nephew Gordon
Park Hyatt, Shanghai, China twenty years ago this area was farmland. Today it boasts at least three of the worlds tallest buildings, and there are more in the making. It is cold and soulless like most modern financial districts, but up close with craning neck, it is well impressive.
There are four icons here: the Oriental Pearl Tower which feels a little like a nineteen eighties pop fantasy space rocket ( ala zig zig sputnik - anyone remember that one!?) but I quite like its metallic red balls. It is also the only one of the four designed by a Chinese architect.
Number two is my favourite - the Jin Mao Tower. It's star shaped stainless steel facade reminds me a bit of the Petranos Towers, although it is not quite as elegant.
Then there is the handbag building, or Shanghai World Financial Centre, with its understated stone base balancing a sleek glass toothpaste tube. Last but certainly not least is the Shanghai Tower which is still under construction, but on completion will be the tallest one of the lot, with a lipstick tube twist reaching an amazing 128 floors. At 632m it will become the tallest building in China, and
second tallest in the world, for a little while ( a taller one is going up in Shenzhen as we speak).
All three of the completed towers have viewing decks at absurd heights and pocket lightening entrance fees, but we did things differently. Being an interior designer, I try my best to see every wow hotel I can insinuate myself into without being stopped by a concierge or security guard (just walk in like you own the place) so our first stop was the Park Hyatt on the 79th floor of the 492m high Shanghai World Financial Centre. Ok, so the coffee and cake set us back about £30.00 but the view of Jin Mao and the luxurious and spit-free setting were so worth it. Besides, we got to sniff around the lounges, restaurants and other public spaces too. This is the best place to photograph Jin Mao from. The observation deck is a little higher up and by all accounts quite impressive too, but I'll bet they spit up there.
Our second stop, the Shanghai Grand Hyatt Hotel on the 53rd floor of the Jin Mao Tower. Even more luxurious with the most spectacular internal atrium and
some more great views of Shanghai. We skipped the coffee this time.
That done we went in search of "old" Shanghai. Now Shanghai has a very lugubrious history. There once was a little country far far away that got addicted to Chinese tea. They couldn't afford to buy it so they proposed to swop it for something that grew wildly in one of their colonies: Opium. The Chinese didn't really like this idea as opium was bad for the people, so they refused the proposition. The Opium Wars ensued, and through much malign underhandedness the little country won the war and forced China to agree to accept drugs in exchange for tea. They then demanded a piece of China as a peace offering and so Hong Kong was born. But this was not enough. They also helped themselves to the Shanghai waterfront so that they could control the tea shipping, and demanded a bit for their then "friends", the French ( still known as the French Concession) and the Americans.
The French Concession is the prettiest and most upmarket part of Shanghai. The tree lined avenues and formal parks, and glimpses of historic buildings make it the most
pleasant place to stroll through. But to get there from the Bund you first have to pass through the old town, a jumble of messy but fascinating alleyways where you can just imagine the bird flu evolving; then some dodgy courtyard market streets where you can buy illegal wildlife as well as beautiful intricately carved peach stones (or are they walnuts?); then the wonderful Dongtai Rd antiques market where you can pick up replica retro toy cars, Mao memorabilia, and porcelain, horn and bone handled calligraphy brushes. Quite an adventure.
Finally you cross South Chongqing Lu and you are there. Unfortunately I am horribly allergic to Plane tree seed ball fluff and so my French Concession experience is from behind puffy red and weeping eyes, an itchy nose, throat and ears, and constant sneezing; but it is lovely anyway. We wandered through the eclectic Tianzifang, a longtang of Shikumen houses turned into a trendy shopping area, and grabbed some great steamed buns for lunch, followed by green tea lattes and cheesecake. We watched a couple of ancient Chinese ladies practicing their caligraphy skills in water on the paving stones in Fuxing Park. Some more walking, and finally we ran
The big three
Shanghai, China out of steam somewhere near the Hilton, sadly before we managed to find the Propaganda Poster Art Centre. It will have to wait until next time.
The next day, weary from days of tramping around Shanghai City, we hopped on a public bus to Zhujiajiao. Zhujiajiao is a Ming dynasty canal village just south of Shanghai. The whitewashed houses with shiny black tiled roofs built along tree fringed canals with arched stone bridges is well preserved and really pretty. I can imagine that it could get very busy and unpleasantly cramped in the tiny alleyways when a tour bus or three arrives, but on the day we visited it was perfect.
The best of the recommended sights is the Kezhi Gardens, but the post office museum is also fabulous, and there are some great little coffee shops to stop at and watch life go by. It is an incredibly photogenic little place and we whiled away more time than we expected to, leaving us in a bad transport position when heading back into Shanghai in the evening rush hour. What should have taken 40 minutes took more than two hours. But hey, we're on holiday, who is counting
hours spent in traffic?!
Most of our last day in Shanghai was spent waiting for the night train, across the road from the station at Starbucks, so that I could have an internet connection and could finish the presentation I was putting together for a client. Internet access in China is a bit of a mixed bag. The government controls the number of places that can have public Internet access, and many sites are still blocked. Blogs especially are a problem to access, as are Facebook and Dropbox and YouTube. Things we take for granted in the West.
At 17h00 we got onto the night train to Xi'an, a little sad to be leaving Shanghai so soon and a little apprehensive about spending a night on a train in China.
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frankie du berry
frankieduberry
Very nice, thank you for sharing.