World China Shanghai Shanghai

Peter and Elizabeth - RTW 2009-10

Shanghai (at last!) - Oct 17-19 Oct 19, 2009

October 17, 2009

We headed out early today to get our Japan Rail passes – these cannot be bought inside Japan so we wanted to try and get them as soon as we could. However, being a Saturday and being that nothing ever goes to plan, the travel agency closest to us was closed!

Our hostel is a bit away from the nearest Metro stop, so we continued walking for about 40 minutes or so before we hit the main road and jumped on the train to visit the Bund – Shanghai’s riverside walkway. The metro was once again easy to use. The ticket machines had English as did all the stations and the trains and platforms were clean, too. We only went two stops but it was so easy.

Back at ground level, we found the Bund and found a construction site. Shanghai is hosting the World Expo in 2010 and it appears much of the city is half completed in readiness for the event. Needless to say, neither Elizabeth nor I were impressed that they had closed off a path by the river – what construction work needs to be done to a small park area, really?

From there we headed back towards the metro station via Fuzhou St. We stopped at a bar called The Captain’s Bar for a quick drink. The bar was on the 6th floor and the lift was out of order so by the time we reached the top, I deserved my beer!

There were some nice views over the Bund and to the other side of the river from the bar so I got some pictures, the scenery looking a little better from above ground level.

Walking further down Fuzhou, we found a bookstore and we popped in. I’ve been trying to get the newest version of the Japan Lonely Planet book which has only recently been released. Most shops though still have the old one which is over two years out of date now – I’ll keep waiting! We did manage to get a couple of other books though. The shop had a section full of classic books which were really cheap so we managed to pick up a couple of small ones to add to our collection!

After that we headed for some lunch and this time we actually ate Chinese! We had no plan or no idea what was around and we stumbled across a small place whose name translated to “Billy & Brothers”! The menu was pretty extensive but had reasonable English descriptions so we decided to try a few dishes between us. Foregoing the rice (which is nothing but filler!), we ordered a beef with cashew and black pepper sauce, sautéed vegetables and Singapore fried noodles. The sautéed veg turned out to be a big plate of broccoli covered in butter and garlic but it tasted great, especially as we’d been short on eating decent vegetables for quite a while now, me more so than Elizabeth. The other two dishes were also great and we happily gobbled up the lot. We both agreed that this was the best authentic food we’d had in China and it almost made us keen to try some more. The service here was funny though as only one girl spoke English – every time we asked someone else they shouted across the restaurant to her so she could run over and talk to us. After the third or fourth time, we all thought it was quite funny! Also, this was one of the cheapest meals we’ve had. It cost 109RMB – about $16. This will come into perspective as you read onwards!

After this, we got a taxi to the tennis. I had tickets for the singles semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters tournament and we were both looking forward to it. The tennis started at 2pm with a doubles match which we weren’t overly bothered about but given we had little else to do, we headed out there just before 2. The useless tournament website said it was about 30mins from downtown Shanghai. Well around an hour later we were still in the taxi. Combined with this, the taxi driver didn’t even understand where we wanted to go despite us having the tennis tickets with address AND map, all in Chinese. Part of me wonders whether it is really just English they can’t speak or whether they can’t read either. That sounds bad but we’ve had so many problems even with written addresses, something which we have been advised to do.

We eventually made it to the stadium and the taxi fare was 112RMB – more than lunch! – and due to the time it had taken, the doubles had just finished and we had over an hour to wait for the singles to start. After treating ourselves to a glass of wine (100RMB, not quite as much as lunch but nearly!) it was just about time to grab a souvenir and take our seats. The first match was Djokovic and Davydenko. Last night at the hotel we’d watched Djokovic’s previous match and saw him throw a tantrum and smash a racquet. He’s such a little baby and a bad winner and loser. Neither of us likes him so we both wanted Davydenko to win.

The match lasted over three hours and it was great tennis with both players hitting some amazing winners and some long, excellent rallies. Djokovic won the first set 6-4, Davydenko leveled in the second winning 6-4 and the third set went to a tie-break. The tie-break was surprisingly one-sided and Davydenko won it 7-1 to win 4-6, 6-4, 7-6. Both Elizabeth and I were pleased!

With a short gap between the two matches, we grabbed some food for dinner as it was nearly 8pm already. We both got nachos and I grabbed a coffee to warm myself up a bit. These came to 110RMB, again more than lunch – you see the pattern here yet?!

The second match was Nadal and Lopez, a surprise semi-finalist. We weren’t expecting a close match as we both thought Nadal would win easily. Eventually, Lopez retired injured as he trailed 6-1 and 3-0. Quite honestly, it was a relief as the tennis quality was pretty bad with Nadal not having to try as Lopez made error after error. It was a shame and an anti-climax after the first match but I thought we got value for money for our tickets today! We got just about enough of the Nadal match though to watch him picking his pants from his arse before every serve. Does that kid have a permanent wedgy?

We queued for about half an hour for a taxi back into the city and our driver was a rally racer wannabe! We were both tired and just wanted to get back to the hostel and for over an hour he threw us around, swerving in and out and having more close calls than I care to remember. During the trip back, we saw two separate accidents both involving a car and a bike/scooter. With how the cars drive, combined with the bike riders’ lack of awareness, I’m surprised we haven’t seen more of this in China. Back at the hostel, and a further 120RMB lighter, we collapsed back in the room.

I tried to call my sister to wish my nephew Joshua a happy 2nd birthday but could not get through so I hope they got my email and will see this. Happy Birthday Joshua from Uncle Peter and Auntie Elizabeth!

October 18, 2009

We started the day with a lazy morning - after all, it is Sunday – and we haven’t had many lazy days so far. Around 10.30, we left the hostel and jumped in a taxi to the Shanghai Museum. Once again we were faced with a puzzled taxi driver despite having the name of the venue and the address written in Chinese. The driver held the paper out the window into the light, squinted, got his glasses out and eventually sounded like he had a clue. Like the taxi drivers yesterday, it was a completely frustrating experience. The drivers just speak to you in Chinese and I’m pretty sure it’s obvious we don’t understand but they continue gabbling away and pointing and gesturing. This for me is something close to home with my dad being a taxi driver in London. I couldn’t imagine someone giving him a piece of paper with an address in ENGLISH on it and him still not understanding! I know “Chinese” itself is not a language and they have local dialects, but this is the same in many other countries and nowhere have I ever had such problems in just using the local tongue.

Next year, Shanghai hosts the World Expo and all the taxis have a sign in them with a number to call should you have problems communicating with the taxi drivers. If I was a betting man, I’d bet on this number being the most used number in Shanghai during the Expo!

Nothing you can do except persevere with the drivers!

In Shanghai, the driving has been just as bad as elsewhere, if not worse and today we found our taxi nearly sandwiched between two buses as our driver tried to swerve across four lanes to get onto a different road. He was still better than the muppet last night though!

Well, back at the museum, which we found easily enough in the end, we joined the queue to get in. Outside there was a man demonstrating about protecting the environment and he got into a heated debate with an old local who obviously disagreed with him. We couldn’t understand the conversation but both many were pretty animated in their arguments!

When we got through security, which was more intense than some airports we’ve visited, we were immediately in the main atrium of the museum. It would appear the museum was free as at no point were we pointed towards a ticket queue. After yesterday, that was a nice little bonus!

We started on the top of four floors where we saw a gallery full of items made from jade. Many of them didn’t even look like jade as they were far from the green colour we’ve come to know as we’ve travelled China. Next, we saw a load of antique Chinese furniture; a 14th century IKEA… Needless to say, I wasn’t overly interested and thankfully neither was Elizabeth. From there, we saw a massive coin collection from China and the surrounding areas, including coins that were used to trade along the Silk Road. These were quite cool but there were so many of them it kind of detracted away from the more impressive pieces.

On the third floor, we saw a load of Chinese paintings. We had seen these in other places previously and these ones were particularly well displayed. However, they all look similar to those we had seen before and they have no real meaning to us. It’s not like a portrait where you can see a person; the art tells a story but the story isn’t in a language we understand, unfortunately. I also have to admit that as far as art goes, too, these didn’t seem overly complex or detailed and looked like a series of long, wide brush strokes. A few caught my eye as being a little different and despite us not being interested in too much, we spent some time here trying to take them in. One of the best things about this room was actually the lighting. All the exhibits had lights which were motion activated so they were in darkness until someone walked close by. This was enough to encourage Elizabeth to creep around and watch the lights “magically” appear! This floor also contained a number of seals. These were displayed nicely and showed a print of what the seal looked like and many of them had mirrors so you could see the handle of the seal and the seal beneath. The trouble was, many of the mirrors were at strange heights and angles and the only idea you got of the imprint was to look at the actual ink copy itself. Finally, there was a calligraphy section which we skipped – the difference in Chinese art between what they refer to as painting and what they call calligraphy is lost on me as much of the paintings seem to be scrolls with beautifully crafted Chinese characters telling the stories. For me, the calligraphy is the same just without the pictures. A few minutes in this gallery were more than enough!

We also nearly “witnessed” a near disaster. After hearing a loud bang in a closed gallery, lots of security staff and museum-goers rushed to the entrance to see what had happened. We didn’t bother, preferring to watch those that did. Ask Elizabeth though and she’ll tell you a different story about the something we didn’t see that maybe got knocked over by someone we didn’t see either! I think this was the highlight of her day!

On the second floor, we saw the ceramics section. Again, we had seen much of this before but they had some cool statues of tomb guardians which were interesting and amazingly detailed. There were also some ceramic pillows which took the shape of people which looked particularly hard and uncomfortable; I certainly couldn’t imagine sleeping on one! We also saw one or two Ming vases, similar to ones we had seen before. I’m not a fan at all of the blue and white designs that adorn these vases but, knowing the significance and importance of these, I had to have a look for them and take a picture.

Back down on the lower level, we went into the sculptures section and this was probably my favourite. There were many different sculptures in here from Buddhist teachings including many of Buddha himself. The one noticeable feature about many of them is the large ears. According to the information we had seen about them, large ears are a sign of wisdom. And to think, my sister used to pick on me when I was younger for my big ears! See sis, I’m just the wise one in the family!

After a quick lunch at the museum, we walked down to the area known as the French Concession just to have a wander around. Along the main road we saw a restaurant which was called Grandma’s Kitchen, the same as the one we ate at in Beijing. As we walked past though, we could see this was not at all the same – in the window there was a tank and in it there were 4 or 5 sharks swimming around and a couple of eels. The tank was tiny and one of the sharks was much too big to fit in it let alone swim. We suspected that the fates of these sharks lie in one of the dishes on the menu and any thoughts we might have had for a return visit were quickly gone. I know this is no different to seeing the lobster tanks at big restaurants but I like sharks (visually) so I hate to see them treated like that.

We also saw a store that sold one thing and one thing only – Barbie dolls. Well, I say one thing but in reality it was everything Barbie and Elizabeth just had to go in. Looking at all the old Barbies and different styles (even a Chinese queen Barbie) was just so funny but nowhere near as funny as the tall, blonde white woman who sauntered past dressed as the plastic figure! It must be bad enough being a tall, white, blonde woman in China without your employment involving you wearing a bright pink ball gown and spending the day posing with kids on your lap!

Our next stop was a little café called the Boonna Café. We mainly wanted to stop here as they had a book exchange and we had a couple of old ones we wanted to get rid of. While we were there we ordered a banana milkshake for me and a kiwi-ginger smoothie for Elizabeth. My drink was yummy but Elizabeth’s was less so – the ginger overpowered everything and made your throat burn! On the table next to us was a Chinese couple with the worst table manners I’ve ever seen. I know Elizabeth has hated hearing people loudly slurping their noodle soups but I have got used to this and it doesn’t bother me. However, this couple had a sandwich and they were very loudly chewing their food with their mouths wide open. The noise was disgusting and the woman in particular was taking such large bites it was impossible not to see the entire contents of her mouth as she masticated. Having a mouthful didn’t deter them from conversation either, happily talking their way through a chunk of sandwich. Quite disgusting!

After changing our books, we grabbed some food for dinner and headed back to the hostel where we were in time to catch the end of the tennis final on TV. We were both pleased that Davydenko won having seen him battle so hard yesterday!

October 19, 2009

Our last full day in Shanghai and given the transport difficulties and building sites we’d encountered so far, we made our list of three things to do today and stuck to just those!

Firstly, more laundry needed to be done so we got that on nice and early so that we could be out and about by lunchtime.

However, by midday the washing was barely clean and not remotely dry as the woman at the hostel in “charge” of laundry had her own system and methods so we left her to it!

We headed out to the post office to post our postcards. Apart from Jordan, we had sent a postcard to our parents from each of the countries we had been to and thought we’d best ensure we got China done on our last day!

Finally, we jumped in a taxi and headed to the Japan Airlines office to buy our Japan Rail passes. Thankfully, the driver understood the address we had written down and the office was where it was supposed to be and was open! We bought the rail passes and were glad we had done so. Rail travel in Japan is supposedly fast, efficient and easy but buying separate tickets would be expensive – this should save us some money.

After grabbing some lunch (McDonald’s and Starbucks, I’m sorry to say!), we got a taxi back to the hostel and checked on our laundry. It was all over the place – some in a dryer, some hanging up and some just sat on top of a machine. The last thing we wanted was wet laundry to pack tonight so we scooped up any items remotely dry and got those out of the woman’s way now! It was around 4pm and our two loads of laundry we’d started at 10am were still not done. We didn’t spend that long doing laundry in St Petersburg at the funky laundry/café place!

After lazing around a bit more, we got showered and ready to go out for dinner, finally retrieving our laundry and packing up just after 6pm. The days lazing around when you are travelling always seem like a waste but quite honestly, we were just glad we’d got to Shanghai and done the one thing we really wanted to – the tennis. I might have said this before, too, but travelling for such a long time means you need these breaks as well. Like you wouldn’t work 7 days a week every week, you wouldn’t want to be out and about museum-hopping and sight-seeing for 10 hours a day every day either. I was glad of the rest although I was getting a little bored by the late afternoon.

For dinner, we headed out to a hot pot restaurant. This is something we had seen in the Sichuan region whilst in Chengdu but had not had a chance to try it. We’d gone past this large restaurant a few times and Elizabeth decided we should try it. On arrival, we found an English menu but almost no English spoken amongst the staff. This caused a bit of concern as the idea of “hot pot” was new to us and some guidance would’ve been good.

After ordering what we thought was suitable, the waitress gave us a puzzled look and pointed to the hot plate area in the middle and uttered something to us. We didn’t have a clue what she was saying and she just shrugged and checked with the manager. A few minutes later, our dishes started arriving. Initially, they lit the hot plate and bought out a huge bowl split into two and this was placed over it. In one side was a chilli-based sauce and the other was a fish-based one. We’d ordered some cauliflower, bamboo shoots, lamb meatballs and some spicy noodles. The first three items turned up completely raw and, in the case of the lamb, looked just like strips of lamb rather than balls.

At this point, we were grateful for the interruption of the manager who dumped our cauliflower and bamboo shoots into the different bubbling sauces for them to cook. After a few minutes, she came over and showed us how to dish them out and how to cook the meat. At this point, our noodles had still not arrived so we got stuck into the meat and vegetables. All of the things tasted good, especially the ones cooked in the chilli-sauce. The meat was thinly sliced but as you dropped it into the sauces it clumped up and cooked pretty quickly. It wasn’t quite the meatballs we were expecting but it tasted great. After a slow start, I was really beginning to enjoy my experience and even thought that it might be nice to come back to a similar place and try it again, now having some knowledge of what we were supposed to do as well as an idea of what we should have ordered! We should definitely have ordered more veggies as most tables around us had done.

Once we were finished with what we had, our noodles still hadn’t turned up and neither of us were really full on our small plate of cauliflower and bamboo so I asked the waitress. It seems she had forgotten to order them and she got them for us. While we waited, we also grabbed another beer, making the most of Tsingtao before we left China! When our noodles turned up they were really good. They were in a quite oily, chilli sauce and the noodles themselves were nice and thick. We soon finished those off and felt much more satisfied. The cost of our food, along with three large beers, was under $20 and I felt we had great value for money and excellent service to help us on our way!

I must also mention something else about dinner. Throughout China I had been encouraging (nagging, probably) Elizabeth to try and use chopsticks more often. She had tried at quite a few places and had done really well. Tonight, she used chopsticks for her entire meal and managed to pick up the thin slices of bamboo as well. Most annoyingly, she managed to stay clean while I spilt chilli sauce down my t-shirt!