Trip
to Shanghai
Day
1
Friday
morning I woke up and I was so excited about the trip to Shanghai that I didn’t
want to go to class at all – I just wanted to hop on the train and go. I didn’t
get to go to Shanghai during my last trip to China, so I was excited to see
someplace new.
To
get to the train station we took a bus. Courtney and I shared a suit case since
she didn’t have one small enough for the three day trip. Once we got to the
station, we took turns dragging it around. Li Laoshi had to go find Ryan, who
was meeting us at the station after his internship. This gave us time to go
find something to eat before we got on the train. The group I was with – which
was comprised of my four friends Lily, Courtney, Maryanne and Nicole – opted to
go the easy route and got some sandwiches from Burger King. Fast food is not as
fast when you don’t speak the language, by the way. Once we got our food we met
up with everyone else and together made a mad dash to the train.
The
trains in China are not structured like the Amtrak trains. The seats are
organized based off of a sitting section rather than rows. One group of six
sits on either side of the aisle and there is a small table that divides the
six seats in the section in half. The three people on each side face each
other, so it’s a more social environment than that of the trains back home. I
sat in the section with Lily and Maryanne while Courtney was across the aisle
from me. Lily was intent on studying during the train ride so she brought her
dry erase board to practice writing characters. We took turns writing
individual characters then phrases and finally complete sentences. I was proud
that I was able to construct sentences on my own, even if I made mistakes with
stroke order and overall character structure. Mistakes are the best way to
learn something so I stayed positive. We created quite a spectacle on the train
just being foreigners, but even more so when we were writing the characters.
The people in Courtney’s section watched intently as I struggled to write the
characters correctly. It was a lot of pressure, but we laughed it off. When we
were approaching Shanghai and Lily began to pack up her things, I showed my ID
card from Zhejiang University to the nice woman in Courtney’s section. She
seemed to be very impressed and was even surprised to find out that I was only
20 years old. It was nice to socialize with ordinary people for a change. I
can’t wait till I can hold a complete conversation in Chinese with someone.
When
we got onto the platform in Shanghai, Li Laoshi split the group in half to see
who could get to the hotel the fastest since we had two possible subway routes.
My group included Courtney, Maryanne, Lars, and Li Laoshi. The entire way I was
texting Penny about how we were almost to the hotel and how we were going to
win the race. At one point I texted her that we had already arrived to which
she asked what color the sheets were and what could I see outside my window. I
responded, like a smart ass, that the sheets were white and that I could see
Shanghai out the window. In the end Penny’s group beat us to the hotel ten
minutes early.
The
hotel itself looked like any other building in the city. The lobby was on the
second floor and the building itself lacked a 4th floor. This is an
important characteristic of Chinese culture because the number four is
considered unlucky. The reason for this is because of how the number four is
pronounced. If it is mispronounced the word changes its meaning to death. Interesting, isn’t it? It took a while to get
checked into the hotel because the front desk had to verify our passports.
Courtney and I roomed together because we were sharing a suitcase, though, I
think that I could have roomed with any of the girls in our group comfortably
though. I’m so happy that we all get along as well as we do. Once we got to the
room (which was on the 5th floor) we threw down our stuff and
grabbed our cameras so we could go look at the cityscape.
The
Bund is the section of Shanghai that is most well known because it is the most
photographed. This area of the city includes the needle and the other tall
skyscrapers that are featured in the famous image of Shanghai. The Bund also
includes a great deal of classic Western architecture. Since this area is so
close to the ports, this was where the foreign businesses set up camp. There
are banks from all over the world along the bund, each with a very distinct and
very European style. One of the most memorable buildings we saw was the Peace
Hotel. This hotel has a very interesting history. Not only was it the first
building in China to have an elevator, it was also the place where Chiang
Kaishek met with foreign ambassadors during his reign as the leader of China. I
found it ironic that right across the street from the Peace Hotel was a statue
of Mao Zedong. Unfortunately my camera doesn’t take good pictures at night, so
the photos I have of the cityscape are not that great.
Day
2
Saturday we woke up early so that we
could go eat breakfast at a famous dumpling restaurant. The restaurant was
located in the center of a shopping district. The stores that surrounded it
sold the same tourist junk that I’ve discovered is sold everywhere in China. I
wasn’t too keen on shopping this early in the trip so I
only bought a set of postcards.
Next to the restaurant there was a
really cool bridge that zigzagged across a pond. It was made of white marble
looking stone and had intricate carvings all over it. The bridge was designed
this way to keep wandering spirits from crossing. The spirits would get lost
and confused when they tried to cross the bridge because it was a zigzag.
Eventually they would give up and move on – hopefully toward the afterlife. The
bridge led toward the entrance of a garden, which we visited after we finished
our breakfast. As far as gardens goes, this one was the largest we had visited.
Visiting gardens in China is like visiting churches in Europe. If you go to
enough of them, they start to all look the same even though there are distinct
differences when you look at the details. This one had a lot of courtyards for
us to visit and the plum blossoms were in bloom. They varied on the spectrum
from deep pink to white. I think looking at the plum blossoms is my favorite
part of visiting the gardens. After we left the garden we went in search of the
city temple ‘Cheng Huang Miao.’
While
walking to the temple, I was reminded of how annoying it can be to be a
foreigner in China. We were repeatedly accosted by peddlers selling everything
from watches and purses to roller blades you can snap to the bottom of your
tennis shoes. I was reminded, fondly, of my first trip to China when the most
important vocabulary word I knew was “Bu-yao!” which essentially means “I don’t
want it!” These peddlers were persistent, however. They followed us for a while
insisting they had something that I wanted to buy. Once, when we had paused for
Li Laoshi to orient herself, a man who was offering to shine our shoes bent
down like he was going to start working on Maryann’s shoe. Seeing this I
stepped in between them and told him (again) that she didn’t want his services.
If he had started his work, even if we stopped him midway through, he would
have insisted that we pay him for the work he had already done.
We
went through the temples fairly quickly since we were all getting hungry for
lunch by that time. On our way to the restaurant I saw an oil painting that
took my breath away. It was a black and white picture of a little girl. She was
wearing her Red Guard uniform and her hair was braided on both sides in long
pigtails. The only features of the painting that had color were the red star on
her hat and the red string she was playing with. The girl had made wound the
string with her fingers into a star shape and was holding it up in front of her
face. It didn’t obstruct, however, the view of her piercing gaze. It was a
gorgeous painting and if I had been able to afford it (500 yuan) I would have
bought it. But then I would have had to carry it all day and I don’t know how I
would have transported it back to America. So I guess its better that I didn’t
get it, even though I still think about it from time to time. Maybe if I get
the chance I’ll swing by Shanghai before I leave and pick it up.
Our final destination for the day
was the Shanghai City Development Museum. Li Laoshi and Penny left us on our
own at this point because they were both tired and had to prepare for the next
day. The museum gave detailed depictions of how the city of Shanghai has
changed and developed over time. There were pictures from the 1800s that were
pretty interesting to look at. The coolest part of the museum was the enormous
model of city. All together it filled a space the size of a conference room. It
was mind-blowing to see how large and spread out Shanghai really is. There was
also a guide of noteworthy places to visit in the city. After we finished
looking through the museum I texted my friend Cheryl (she teaches English in
Shanghai) to see if we could meet up for dinner.
To kill time before dinner, a couple
of us (Jamie, Lars, Lily, Courtney and I) went in search of a Pearl Market to
go shopping. We had to navigate the Shanghai subway system, which was no
problem. The issue arose once we got off the subway and were back on the
street. Chinese street signs are not as prominent, nor are they as frequent as
American street signs. We had some trouble finding the street we needed to go
on. Coincidentally, the Pearl Market was in the same area of the city as the
restaurant I was meeting Cheryl at later. I did my best to mentally prepare
Courtney to haggle and fight off shop venders. My previous experiences in Pearl
Markets (in Beijing) taught me to be an aggressive buyer. I told her that the
sellers would pull her into their stores and all but force you to buy
something. This was not the case, however. This Pearl Market in Shanghai was
much tamer than the one I had visited in Beijing. It was a relief because,
though I was prepared for it, I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of
aggressive shopping. Courtney and I were pressed for time since we were both
meeting Cheryl for dinner so we quickly walked through to see if there was
anything she was interested in buying. We happened upon a DVD shop (all fake)
and found a copy of “You’re Beautiful” – a Korean TV Drama that we had both
grown to love. I already had a copy (authentic) of the DVDS at home so Courtney
bought a set for herself. After that we left the market and set out to find the
restaurant.
This proved to be a difficult task,
even though we had the address. We were already on the street we needed to be
on, but we couldn’t figure out the address numbers on the buildings which
seemed to increase and decrease sporadically. Eventually, we had to back track
past the Pearl Market and back toward the subway station. To find it we had to
walk down a side alley and into an area that looked like a piece from Epcot or
Six Flags. All the restaurants in this corner of the city were constructed to
look like authentic architecture from different countries. There was an Indian
restaurant next to a Japanese restaurant across from our restaurant. The
restaurant we were looking for was called “Peter’s Tex-Mex” and I had eaten at
a different chain (in Chengdu) during my previous trip to China. Since Cheryl
was a part of my group during that past adventure, I figured it would be
appropriate to reunite at this location. The outside of Peter’s was designed to
look like a ranch house and the interior was painted to look like a Mexican
restaurant. It really felt like a little oasis from Texas had appeared in China.
Courtney and I met up with Penny and Maryann then the four of us waited for
Cheryl and her friends to show up.
Once Cheryl, Cary, and their mutual
teaching friend arrived we ordered our food and proceeded to chat about our
different experiences in China. Cheryl was preparing for her second consecutive
year of living and teaching in China. She enjoys her job, most days – not any
different from any other employed person, I think. She teaches at a
kindergarten, just like Courtney, and the two of them were able to laugh
together about the frustrations of working with small children. Penny got to
try all the foods we ordered so she got a good sampling of Tex-Mex foods. The
food itself wasn’t as good as home, but it was enough to pacify my spirit. It
was so nice to be able to see Cheryl again and visit with her.
That night, I logged on to facebook
in the hotel and saw a message from my Aunt Julie asking me if I was alright.
Confused I went to Yahoo to see what had happened to warrant such a message.
That was how I found out about the earthquake in Japan.
Day
3
The
first thing on the agenda for us was to eat breakfast at the hotel. The hotel
served breakfast in a rooftop cafe. Interestingly, the hotel did not have a 4th
floor. When numbering the floors they skipped the number four and just went
straight from 3 to 5. This is because of a superstition that the number 4 is
unlucky. It’s unlucky because, if mispronounced, the number four sounds like
the word for death. Because of this, it’s common for buildings to be missing a
4th floor. The conversation at breakfast mainly focused on the
earthquake in Japan. I would tell people what I read online and Li Laoshi would
tell us what they had said on the Chinese news stations. There was a sense of
anxiety when she talked about the nuclear reactor, but there was nothing we
could do about it. It was better for us to spend our energy on enjoying our
last day in Shanghai. After breakfast we checked out of our rooms. The hotel
let us keep out baggage in one unused hotel room while we were out and about
for the day.
We
took the subway to Shanghai’s Science Museum. We were given a few hours to
wander around the museum. It was pretty cool as far as science museums go. It
was definitely geared toward children and sparking within them an interest in
the world. There was a large section of taxidermy animals from all over the
world. It was strange to see animals I consider common – raccoons, possums, and
cougars – on display and labeled as exotic. My favorite parts of the museum were
Robot World and the Health and Wellness section. In robot world they had a lot
of cool exhibits. There was a robot that could play Chinese chess. This one was
very popular and people were waiting in line to play. Another robot was
programmed to play the piano and people could sing along with the songs it
played. This was both cool and cruel. It was cool because the robot was able to
play complex songs as well as simple songs. It was cruel because every small
child wanted to sing the songs – 不好聼！The best part
was the archery range. You were given 3 chances to shoot a bow and arrow at the
targets to see how your accuracy measured up to the robot. I did this multiple
times because archery is really fun. The Health and Wellness section was a collection
of fun activities. There was a room where you could play ping pong and another
room with stationary bikes. The coolest thing was the soccer section. It was
like an arcade game with a projection of a goal keeper on a wall. The object of
the game was to score as many penalty kicks as you could. You had five chances;
I made four out of my five shots. Needless to say the Chinese spectators
(mostly children and their parents) were impressed by my skills.
We
reconvened for lunch and afterwards Li Laoshi gave us the opportunity to visit
a nearby shopping district. Due to its proximity to the ocean, Shanghai is the
best place in China to buy pearls. Everyone was keen on getting a strand or
two, except me. I spent this time offering my opinion to those trying to decide
between ‘this necklace’ and ‘that necklace.’ Lily found a stand that was
selling strands of different stones. She took so long to make a selection that
I ended up buying a strand of blue tiger’s eyes. I had the vender make it into
a necklace for me. I figure the only reason to go to Shanghai is to go
shopping. One can buy anything and everything there. Other than that there
isn’t much that attracts me to the city.
Our
next attraction was the city aquarium. Li Laoshi had gone back to the hotel at this
point to take a nap, leaving us with Penny as our guide. Again we were given a
couple hours to look through the aquarium. I really like aquariums. It’s
peaceful to just sit and watch the fish swim around in the water. My favorite
animals at this aquarium were the seals because they were really fat and really
cute. I could have watched them for hours. The main attraction of the aquarium
was the ‘Under Sea Adventure.’ You got to stand on a moving sidewalk and it
propelled you through this long glass tunnel where you could see all sorts of
fish and sharks swimming over your head. The aquarium claimed it to be the
longest underwater tunnel in the world. (I’m not sure if that claim is true or
not, but it’s still cool to think about.) After we were finished with the
Aquarium, we went back to the hotel to reclaim our bags and pick up Li Laoshi.
We then took the bullet train back to Hangzhou.
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