Jun 10, 2004 - Culture Shock

Ni Hao. I am trippin in Shanghai-- a city that is part Gothem, part Vegas, part Paris. ... I have been chatting with a man named Song who spent the past 13 years in a Beijing prison for speaking out against the gov't.Ni Hao. I am trippin in Shanghai-- a city that is part Gothem, part Vegas, part Paris. ... I have been chatting with a man named Song who spent the past 13 years in a Beijing prison for speaking out against the gov't....

Feb 29, 2004 - Shanghai

On Sunday morning, we meandered up the Huangpu River and arrived in Shanghai. ... Shanghai really wasn't what I expected at all, and certainly wasn't what I was expecting of China. ... There's definitely a very western feel to Shanghai, which makes you wonder where you really are sometimes. ... Apart from one girl, it was all service with a grump and no-one could tell us where to find out about tours around Shanghai and to places of interest nearby. ... But we had our successes too! Like when we went to Shanghai station on the day we arrived to buy our train tickets to Beijing, we weren't sure if we were in the right ticket office as we'd heard that there was a special ticket office for foreigners. ...

Oct 19, 2002 - Shanghai

We arrived in Shanghai and checked into the historic Astor House Hotel which is located just off the Bund, Shanghai's famous waterfront. ... Our first impression of Shanghai is that it's an architect's nightmare -- just about every style of architecture can be seen within 360 degrees, from the "tinkertoy molecule model gone awry" style of the Oriental Pearl tower to the various incarnations of rocketship-shaped buildings all contrasted with the European stone edifices of the Bund and the enormous neon billboards along the water. ... It's all a bit too much! In Shanghai, the boys have learned to say "I hate APEC", as the city is buttoned up tight with security for the conference which is being held -- coincidentally -- this week. ... They were crushed to learn that the Shanghai Live Insect Museum (which encourages TOUCHING the insects) was closed, as was the bizarre Oriental Pearl Tower (it costs $20 CAD per person to go up to the top "pearl"!!) because the area is serving as the media centre for the conference. ... Shanghai is very cosmopolitan and has a much more business-like feel to it than Beijing had. ...

Oct 19, 2001 - Shanghai

We arrived in Shanghai and checked into the historic Astor House Hotel which is located just off the Bund, Shanghai's famous waterfront. ... Our first impression of Shanghai is that it's an architect's nightmare -- just about every style of architecture can be seen within 360 degrees, from the "tinkertoy molecule model gone awry" style of the Oriental Pearl tower to the various incarnations of rocketship-shaped buildings all contrasted with the European stone edifices of the Bund and the enormous neon billboards along the water. ... It's all a bit too much! In Shanghai, the boys have learned to say "I hate APEC", as the city is buttoned up tight with security for the conference which is being held -- coincidentally -- this week. ... They were crushed to learn that the Shanghai Live Insect Museum (which encourages TOUCHING the insects) was closed, as was the bizarre Oriental Pearl Tower (it costs $20 CAD per person to go up to the top "pearl"!!) because the area is serving as the media centre for the conference. ... Shanghai is very cosmopolitan and has a much more business-like feel to it than Beijing had. ...

Oct 16, 2001 - Shanghaied Again

com> S h a n g h a i e d A g a i n Within seconds of arriving at the North Shanghai bus station, we were shanghaied by a cab driver. ... Apparently, you've got to watch Shanghai cabdrivers like a hawk, but who knew that ahead of time? Before arriving in the city of fraud I'd felt safe relying on taxi meters, but in Shanghai our cabby's meter mysteriously skipped a few dozen yuan. ... But I started in Shanghai feeling shanghaied, and this was days before we experienced the invading Mongol hordes we'd heard were due to arrive. ... Ignoring shopping, the single tourist attraction in Shanghai was Yuyang Gardens, built from 1559 to 1577 during the Ming Dynasty, deep in "Chinatown," where the Chinese were relegated during the British, French, Italian, Japanese, and American control of Shanghai from the mid-1800s to 1949. ... Okay, so my mom said if I couldn't say something nice then shut up, or was it the skunk in Bambi that said that? What good can be said about Shanghai, a city of fourteen million, slightly more people than the population of New York City? I'm thinking. ...