Ok- Here's a rough and very belated re-hashing of my trip to Shanghai. Please check out the pictures!
Saturday, March 27th:
After waking at the crack of dawn to catch a train to Matsumoto and then Shinjuku, I picked up my passport (met the famous Ms. Kaida who graciously didn't laugh at me until after I left), then caught another 2 trains out to Narita Airport. Stood in a really long, annoying check-in line, checked-in, then found the one sandwich spot and ate lunch outside at the "observation deck". Then, I finally boarded my flight and took off for Shanghai.
I thankfully cleared customs at Pu Dong Airport with my new visa and found Tom quickly (it "helped" that he was holding up a business card sized sign with my name written on it so he'd fit in with the rest of the crowd). I was dissappointed to hear that the new maglev train stops running at 5:30pm (it was after 6pm) so we had to taxi into town at a much slower speed (the train goes over 200km/hr... I've forgotten the exact speed but it sounded fast!).
After dumping my stuff off at the hotel Tom and I headed to Shintenji (the Japanese pronounciation?), a very hot section of town near our hotel where they've restored old Shanghai buildings and filled them with trendy pubs and restaurants (and a Starbucks). We had dinner at one funky little restaurant and finished up the evening with drinks at a bar with a (bad) live Latin band singing in English and Chinese.
Sunday, March 28th:
Our mission was to walk all of Shanghai. We started out with a rather unimpressive breakfast at a Japanese chain called Kohikan (bad sign when you have to go to a Japanese restaurant for breakfast). Then we set off for a huge pedestrian shopping mall with everything from massive jade stores, to McDonalds, to UNIQLO (the Japanese Old Navy), to bookstores. It was overwhelming- more so due to a overabundance of tourist trains (a la most American zoos) zooming (and I mean
zooming up and down the street with little regard for walkers beyond the obnoxious use of bells and horns. Add that and the Sunday crowds inherent to a big city shopping district and ....I was fine to keep walking OUT of the area and into the section called the "Bund". The Bund contains the area along the riverbank which showcases the austere bank, hotel, and government buildings built forever ago that represent Old Shanghai. Apparently the stretch of road shows up in many American period films that have scenes in Shanghai. All of this could be totally wrong by the way, because my info just comes from what I've remembered from Tom's explanation and a Japanese guide book I bought in desperation the day before I left... then left to get all mixed up in my brain in the week and a half since I've been back in Japan. Don't trust me.
We continued to walk along the riverside, now in a lovely and mood-setting gray mist that unfortunately didn't depress the number and ferocity of the hawkers. We decided it was a nice change that Shanghai hawkers actually take no for an answer and will leave you alone, but the sheer numbers of them and their boldness in shoving advertisements into your hand, pocket, space between arm and jacket.... was unbelievable.
After walking for a while, we turned back into town and visited Yu-En or Yu Gardens, a huge garden right smack-dab in the middle of busy Shanghai. It was nice, but not as nice as the famous gardens in Suzhou, and totally full of Japanese tourists (the surprise benefit of which was that we could pick-up parts of the guide's speech and learn a bit more about the garden features...). After exiting the garden we wandered around a spectacular shopping district in some fantastically "Chinese" looking buildings and enjoyed a lovely snack of fruit shish-ke-bob coated in a clear, hard candy shell (our enjoyment of which was captured on film by a fascinated Chinese media-type armed with huge video camera and regular still camera- who knows where those pictures were bound for). Lunch was a challenge as we picked a restaurant at which the waitresses allowed us to stammer, draw pictures, and gesture our butts off before
finally handing us an English menu (sometimes being a vegetarian and a world-traveler is really, really a pain).
We took a cab back to our hotel in the evening and took a break before heading out for dinner with two of Tom's colleagues and more pub time at two of the coolest pubs in Shanghai, according to one of them- a self-proclaimed entertainment genius.
Monday, March 29th:
Tom had to work so I was on my own. After a breakfast at the hotel and consulting my trusty guide book, I set off to find a shrine west of the hotel. I decided to be ambitious and figure out the subway system. A little bit intimidated to be on my own, I memorized the kanji (Chinese characters used in both Japanese and Chinese) for both the train station near my hotel and the train station near the shrine. Unfortunately, as I stared at the map in the station to determine the fare, I realized that my guide book un-helpfully used the Japanese version of the kanji and the station map was (of course) using the Chinese versions- many of them only slightly resembled each other (others were identical). After I figured this out I took a guess at which one I was aiming for, bought my ticket and set off. The map situation got more complicated as I noticed that every posted subway map was posted with a different top and bottom (i.e. it was rotated) and the lines were different colors. Confusing! The station itself was very easy to use with English names below all the Chinese station names and signs pointing to the different lines and exits.
Upon arriving at my destination, I was stumped upon trying to orient myself to my map. I ended up doing two laps around the station trying to figure out which was was up, or shall I say north, or more accurately "the way to the shrine". Feeling very silly, I began what was
supposed to be about a 10 minute walk to the shrine. Let's just say that it took at least 45 minutes (not including the laps around the station) and took me through an area I probably shouldn't have been hanging out in (particularly not without knowing
exactly where I was going) and definitely can't imagine Japanese tourists passing through. So- after a couple of U-turns, pauses to check out the scene from above using overpasses, and by re-checking my map a zillion times I arrived at the temple... very, very relieved that it was open. It was a beautiful old shrine with yellow walls and red accents, filled with my favorite scent of inscense. I sat down and just watched the few weekday tourists and the monks with their yellow and red robes. While wandering around, I got invited to sample some free tea. I didn't have anything pressing to do and wanted to make the trek worthwhile so I decided that even though it seemed a scam waiting to happen... I would go check out the tea. I was immediately seated at a table with a a big plate of tea cups and canisters in the center. My hostess handed me a list of ten teas with their properties and benefits listed ("reduces fat on belly", "reduces high blood pressure" "good for migraines", etc.). She let me pick one ("good for stress, skin allergies"!) and served me in thimble-sized cup. After about 5 different flavors ("Now please drink!") the salespitch came and since I'd intended to go tea shopping, I decided not to fight it. I wasn't in a mood to barter (nor was I sure it'd be appropriate in a monastery?) so I ended up with two rather expensive canisters of Chinese tea. I don't mind the price since they are really nice (one even has whole flowers in it) and am looking forward to a reduction the fat on my belly! ;)
After consulting the map in my now not-so-trusted guide I decided Shanghai station would be more convenient for my return than the station suggested by the guide. The walk back provided a glimpse at the part of the station that servest the rest of the country- my point of exit for Beijing the last time I'd been in China. I was totally pooped so I grabbed a treat at Starbucks and rested back in our hotel room. Before Tom got back I managed to sneak in a treadmill run in the hotel (heck no was I going to brave the Shanghai streets for an outside jog).
In the evening we enjoyed a spectacular show featuring the Shanghai Acrobats- juggling, contortionists, magic tricks, and lots of jumping- into the air, over people, through hoops- it was really cool!! The evening ended with a very so so meal at a French restaurant near Tom's office.
Tuesday, March 30th:
Finally the sun was shining in Shanghai. With renewed energy, I headed to the Shanghai Art Museum and enjoyed impressive exhibits of landscape photography, contemporary design, and Chinese & Japanese caligraphy. I wandered around the area and enjoyed sitting in a park watching people (and realized they were enjoying watching me when three successive Chinese young women asked to have their picture taken with me!). Tom and I met up for lunch at "Godly Vegetarian" restaurant... where they serve as much meat as any other restaurant, but they have live (and dead, oops!) goldfish swimming under their entry-way floor.
In the afternoon, I walked back to the shopping area near Yu Gardens and enjoyed more tea in a beautiful, old teahouse with wood walls and ceiling and shelves of antique cooking utensils and unique teapots on a second floor overlooking the shopping crowds. As opposed to the hordes below, the teahouse was empty besides me and the girls in purple silk vests bringing the tea- all the windows were open and I sipped my tea and listened to all the sounds from below: Chinese voices hawking tourist souveniers, foreigners bartering, motorcycles puttering, trucks honking, taxis braking, children laughing, whistles blowing... and whenever that wasn't enough, the teahouse had its own canary that was singing me! I took my time tucked safely up and out of the way of the shoppers (and even nicer, the venders).
I taxied back in the afternoon and caught a nap before Tom got back. Together we enjoyed a fabulous Chinese foot massage before taking the train out to the other side of the river. We experienced the phenomenal volume of being surrounded by Chinese tourists as we checked out the the Shanghai TV tower (one of the three tallest in the world and the tallest in Asia- take that, Tokyo Tower!). The Bund, lit up at night, was much more impressive than it had been earlier in the rain. Finally, we walked all the way back to our hotel (defeating the benefits of the foot massage) with a stop off for a fabulous spread of Chinese food at a hole in the wall diner (aren't they always the best?).
Wednesday, March 31st:
I took the subway out to practically the last stop hoping to catch the maglev to the airport, but it doesn't start running until 8:30 am! Double bummer! So after some fun and creative gesturing, I got a taxi driver to take me there instead, and I headed home. It was another 12 hours before I actually got there... sigh... making me look forward to living in Tokyo, a bit more in reach of an international airport!
