World China Shanghai Shanghai

Su Family Trip to the Americas & Village

Biking in Shanghai - Day 2 Oct 3, 2009

BIKING TO THE MAGNETIC LIFTED TRAIN

We are excited to start our second day of bike ride. Before we head off to the west side of Shanghai, we firsted biked around Century Park to the subway station of 张江高科(Zhang Jiang High Tech) to look into buying train ticket for Hangzhou. However, due to the holiday season, only standing tickets are available at the same price as sitting ticket which is about RMB70/person one way. It is a bullet train however which can reach Hangzhou in about 1 hour 20 minutes. After some discussion we decided against going to Hangzhou for this trip so we can spend more time with our friends here in Shanghai.

The Zhang Jiang High Tech station is also the start point for the Magnetic Lift train to the airport. Supposely, this is the only commercial magnetic lift train in the world. Using magnetic field, the traini is "lifted" above the track as to reduce friction and to increase speed. However, it costs about RMB 60 one way to go to the airport so it seems a lot of money to spend for a family of five just to try this out. Next time if we are going to the Shanghai Pudong Airport, then we'll definitely give it a try!

BIKING TO THE SHANGHAI OLD STREETS

So from the train station we biked along the southside of Shanghai Pudong area towards the Bin Jiang river (宾江）which divides Pudong from Puxi. Near south of the ferry crossing, we came upon a beautiful park along the river that gives one a panaromic view of the Shanghai riverfront. There were surprising very few people there. From there we went on the ferry again and cross over to the other side. This time we are able to venture further into old Shanghai street. This part of Shanghai is like a maze with only 1-2 story houses and very narrow streets. As we tunnel our way into Shanghai's "past" we came upon a street with lots of yummy street food. We knew this is where we are going to have a feast for lunch.

We went from one stall to another, sampling each food place. Some of our favorites were the small sea snails, sweet rice egg pancake, deep fried chicket nuggets, and duck noodle soup. There was no place to eat so we just ate next to our bikes. This was why we came to Shanghai - the food!

Because Jon's Teva (sandal) was falling apart, we stopped at a small street corner where a old shoe repair Shanghainese. This sandal was bought 14 years ago for the honeymoon and it is still very comfortable to wear. We had it fixed once in South America and now we are fixing it again here in another continent. It was nice talking to the Shanghainese as he has been living here for 60 years and told us about the changes of Shanghai.

Biking furthur in, we came upon the Yu Yuan and the temple area(Cheng Huang Temple 城隍庙）. It is very crowded with tourists and tourist buses. It has many new buildings that imitates old architecture. There was also every kind of western stores imaginable, from Starbucks to Burger King.

BIKING TO THE BUND

We didn't stay too long at the temple area because we want to see the famous Bund area. It was not easy biking there as there were many constructions and the street was crowded with cars with no bike lanes. When we finally reached the Bund, we couldn't see the river because it was sealed off for construction in preparation of the World Expo next year. Not a good time to come. The police was didn't welcome bikers there so we head away from the river west towards People's Plaza (人民广场）.

BIKING TO THE PEOPLE's PLAZA

We biked along the Nanjing East Road towards the plaza. This road has now becomes a walking road so no cars are allowed and probably bikes as well as we were the only bikers there. There was lots and lots of people crowded there, just like Hong Kong. We basically crawled our way through this place with modern shops along both sides. It was sort of fun biking in this crazy way!

When we finally reached the people plaza it was getting late and the kids are tired. So we decided to park our bikes next to a Protestant Church building that must has been there for about a hundred year and went inside a modern department store. In the basement was a food court with delicious food and snacks. Our friend treated the children to this very popular but expensive ice cream chain called "Cold Stone". This shop is unique because one can choose different toppings and the servers will mix the toppings inside the ice cream like stir frying vegetables! It is very good but very expensive at about RMB 27 for one scoop (about USD 4). We also enjoyed durian shake in another stall - very flavorful.

LOSING MY MONEY

It was a long ride biking back to where we started. The street was narrow and we had to fight between the cars and pedestrians. One thing we have to look forward to was a nice dinner at the deli - real American sandwiches!

By the time we crossed the ferry, went through the sky scrapers, ride by many apartments on both rides of the street, it was dark. Finally we arrived at the New York Deli north of the Century Park. As I got off my bike, I suddenly realized that I lost my money pouch. Somehow the clip of my money pouch was broken and the pouch fell off the string I wore around my neck. I had the money pouch inside my shirt. But I pulled my shirt out of my pants while in the heart of Shanghai to cover over my cell phone and camera to prevent them being stolen. But it just shows that human's wisdom is often folly. If I had not tried to prevent the others things being stolen, my money pouch would fall inside my shirt and I would still have it.

My heart sank the second I realized I lost the money pouch. I panicked a bit because I thought my passport, driver license, and other things were in it. But after some thinking, I realized I lost about 2000-3000 RMB, a magnetic card for entering the apartment, and new bike lock key. I am thankful what was lost can be replaced, but it still is disheartening to think about all the things I could have done with the money whether be it for myself or for others.

My friend and I biked back for 30 minutes just in case there is a miracle and somehow we will find it on the way. But it could have been lost anywhere in Shanghai because we had biked so far today. The next day, I called 6 apartment complexes with the simliar name as the apartment entrance card to see if anyone might have found the pouch and decided to return it. But after many tries over the next week, there was no response. Afterwards, I thought to myself, if I had known that I would lose the money an hour later, what would I have done with it? Then I started thinking, if I know my life will end a year from now, what would I be doing with my life? I thank God for this incident to get me thinking about how I spend money and my life.

That night, we had thick tuna sandwich, Vietnam sandwich, and ham sandwiches. It was really large portion and tastes exactly like we were back in the US eating!

An interesting way to eat the Mid-Autumn Moon festival meal.

FIREWORK OVER CENTURY PARK

Every year, during the Oct holiday, the Century Park would hold several music firework for RMB 70/person. Despite losing so much money, we still don't want to let the incident ruin our day, so our whole family biked to the Century Park to watch the firework. Many people had also gathered outside of the park to watch as it doesn't cost anything, although one can't hear the music. It was still a good show and lasted an hour. I saw a firework display I had never seen before, which was one that looked like a daisy (see picture).

It was a magical scene with firework flares stringing down the sky and the bright full moon shining brightly in the background. A long day, with ups and downs, and a good finish.