The Shanghai Story – page 2
I’m Glad Getting There Isn’t ALWAYS Half the Fun!
I was afraid that after the overnight trip I’d be too tired to enjoy the afternoon thus wasting one of my days in Shanghai. Not so! I met one of the JJU students, Huang Xiao Kui, outside the train station as planned. She had arrived in SH the day before to visit with friends that go to college there. She has been a great tour guide since I arrived in Jiujiang and we discussed meeting in SH to help me find a hotel and see some of the places of interest as a group.
It took a few tries via text messages and phone calls to find each other but once we did things went pretty smooth. If you travel to SH via train there are two south gate exits on either side of the main entrance. The building is symmetrical and each exit has a police post and small news stand so know your exit or choose a meeting point somewhere in the center of the square if you are meeting people. It will be easier – trust me!
We [Huang Xiao Kui and her host] took the train from the train station to SH city center at Renmin Square. Americans from Boston, or people familiar with the T, Bostons public transit system, will feel right at home with the SH subway. The layout and color designations of the lines are very similar to Boston’s. Also, they use a card system similar to the Charlie Card in Boston and the new card system being adopted in New York. Word of warning! Hold onto your pass – you will need to deposit it in the turnstile to exit the station when you get off the train!
The city of Shanghai is divided by Huangpu river into two parts – Puxi and Pudung. Puxi is generally referred to as Shanghai by westerners. It is the main body of Shanghai. Pudong is reportedly experiencing a recent surge in modernization and rebirth. The modern skyline that Shanghai is famous for is all built in Pudong.
Renmin Square, the station we got off the train at, is at the center of Puxi, generally referred to as the center of the city. Above ground we crossed the street to enter Nanjing Lu [lu is Chinese for road]. Nanjing Lu hosts the largest pedestrian street/ shopping district in Shanghai [and possibly in all of China]. This stretch of commercially saturated urban terrace makes walking Madison Avenue, the Miracle Mile, in Chicago feel like a warm up exercise at a strip mall in the suburbs. I was awe struck! In one flash of scanning the store names I read more English than I’d seen since I arrived in China. There is so much western influence in SH that after a day I felt more as if I were in New York than in China. It truly is an international city.
We walked through the throngs of people trying hard to stay together as we looked for a hotel. All I really wanted to do at this point was to take a shower and change into fresh clothes. I guess sitting on a train for 16 hours without AC will do that to a person. I didn’t find out until later in the day – but you [the reader] get to find out now, that Shanghai hosted the Special Olympics and they began the day I arrived. So prices and crowds were peaked that day. After stopping in a couple of hotels I settled on one three blocks off Nanjing Lu for just over 250 RMB a night. The price was considerably less than some other hotels we checked on. For 250 RMB I got a private room, double bed, personal shower/ restroom, television, filtered water, and AC. They fit all of that into the tiniest of spaces but at least I had it. Quaint may be a generous word to describe the space I was given. From the side of the bed that was pushed into one corner of the room I could extend my feet and touch the opposite wall. I was more amused than anything. And I was finally able to take a shower!
After the shower and a fresh change of clothes I met Huang Xiao Kui and her friend to begin touring SH. I hadn’t eaten a real meal since Jiujiang the afternoon before so my first stop was a restaurant – and the restaurant I picked was Subway! Yes, Subway like in the states – Jared’s favorite fast food shop. There is one in SH. It’s pricey but then everything is pricey in SH compared to Jiujiang. Even a bottle of water, which costs 1 RMB in Jiujiang, costs 3-5 RMB depending on where you buy it in SH. So my meal at Subway costs me just over 45 RMB but it tasted great!
Is it just like in the states? No. For example – they do not cook the bacon. They toast every sandwich. I found the bread to be more closely related to breads I had in Italy than in the states – harder crust and more airy inside. Wheat bread isn’t and they do not have ice for the cola. Other than that I think the rest was very similar to Subway in the states.
After the meal we walked through Nanjing Lu in and out of stores at random. The west end of Nanjing Lu meets The Bund [Zhongshan Dong Lu], another famous sightseers stop in SH. The Bund is on Huangpu river and many historic building from old Shanghai stand facing the river – the Customs House, Chartered Bank building, the Peace hotel, Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, and others. There are many many sidewalk vendors all along the Bund and when the police come by they scatter like insects.
By the time we made it to the Bund it was dark and people numbering in the thousands were gathering at the riverside to watch the Oriental Pearl, a very unique architectural design, light up. Other buildings on the Pudong skyline join in the light show with their own display adding to the evening attraction. On the Puxi side of the river buildings along the Bund were illuminated in colorful display also. The city was scheduled to have a fireworks performance as they lit the buildings that night but due to enormous crowds gathering at the riverside they canceled the show and asked the crowds to disperse.
We walked the length of the Bund from Nanjing Lu down to it’s southern end and back looking at the goods being sold by street merchants and generally enjoying the evening, crowds, skyline, and being in Shanghai. On the way back to drop me off at my hotel we stopped in a local restaurant to enjoy a SH special – xiao long bao.
Xiao long bao is a soup dumpling that, when I first tried this in Boston, it was explained to me that if you can successfully eat this dumpling with chop sticks you have graduated to being able to use chop sticks. The dumpling is first stuffed with meat then filled with soup and sealed. So when you eat this you have to be very careful not to pierce the dumpling as you pick it up. Then, to save your mouth from scolding water, you bite a small hole in one side and drink the soup from the dumpling. After you drink the soup you can eat the rest of the dumpling. If you have an opportunity to try this dish I highly recommend the challenge. It tastes fantastic and if you are just learning how to use chop sticks this dish will be a welcome challenge.
By the time I made it back to my hotel room it was nearly 10 PM, which may not sound late but consider the context – 10 hours of walking, sight seeing, shopping [window shopping], and general carrying-on. Huang Xiao Kui and her friend [our host and tour guide to Shanghai] headed back to Pudong and the campus. In the room I enjoyed another shower and some television – I found Matrix Reloaded in English!- before I crashed for the night.
I’ll save day 2 to for page 3 and say good night as I sign off for another day.
Enjoy!
