Shanghai

Fast forward to the good stuff…

Last Thursday Cheng & I hopped a sleeper train to Shanghai. We shared a cabin with 2 other men. Upon approaching the train station I was attempting to determine what this elaborately constructed erection was. It was the train station- about as big, modern and laid out like your municipal airport. I was flabbergasted. We arrived around 8- an hour and a half before our train departure. The building was marble floored. The waiting areas were lined with loveseats and couches but, go figure, in such a populated country they were full. Shocker. Cheng and I saddled up the best piece of marble they had and took a seat. I began a new book, Manhunt, about the hunt for John Wilkes Booth following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. We remained there for some time until we were allowed to board. Then we remained there a little longer while making an attempt to get up.

We had our ticket hole punched, they pull out all the stops for this place, and then we proceeded onboard. I don’t think I have ever ridden a train before- much less a sleeper train but it wasn’t much like I had imagined the Hogwarts Express to be. This was pretty lackluster- granted there were TVs for every bed. Take that Harry Potter! But I elected to plug in my laptop and watch Lost. I’m hooked.

About 10 minutes into the train ride a stewardess (what are they when they’re on trains?) came by with her pencil to jot down on her notepad who was in the cabin and who was not. This country’s technology and innovation is astounding. After that display of 18^th century efficiency I journeyed to the bathroom. Lo and behold, it was a squatty; On a train. It doesn’t take a scholar to determine how the area surrounding the hole looked. Getting into the lavatory was a balancing act since the door opened inward over the hole. No wonder China puts out good gymnasts.

Friday- We arrived around 7:40am on Friday. The train ride was about 10 hours to Shanghai and I “slept” most of it. Rinky-dink pillows and the prison cot with a straw mat and fitted sheet don’t really meet my qualifications of a bed. As we left the train we were met by the beginnings of a rain shower. We rushed out through the terminal hopped a taxi and were about 5 minutes down the road when I realized my Blackberry wasn’t in my pocket. Nor was it in my backpack. So we had the cabbie turn around and we made our way back onto the train. I got there to find the bed had been stripped and there was nothing to see. I found a cleaning lady, but of course, wasn’t able to communicate my dilemma. Luckily I was able to coerce her to come outside to meet my translator- Cheng. They chatted, she said she hadn’t seen anything but to head down the way and ask one of the (again, what are they called?) stewardesses. The stewardess tried calling someone on her walkie-talkie but nobody would answer after 3 attempts so she just gave up. She told Cheng there was something turned in up front but they weren’t sure it was a phone- but we never even got to look and see if it was my Blackberry- which wouldn’t much look like one if you’d never seen

one before.

The stewardess got Cheng’s phone number in case they found it they would let him know. In the mean time we should go wait by the “Left Baggage” center. Which we thought it was exactly like it sounded. If you “left” your luggage it winds up here. Wrong. Here you “leave” your luggage. And I guess they hold it for you- like a locker rental. Eventually they told us to check inside the station. We asked the guy at the help desk (I use the term “we” extremely loosely), and he had heard nothing of it. Cheng left his number there. We then walked over to the Police desk, which had about 20 “police” behind it. I don’t think they’re doing their jobs if they’re all standing right here. They pretty much said buy a new phone. Thanks.

We determined we exhausted our options so we headed to the hotel. What a great start to a “vacation”- rain, lost cellphone and more lung cancer. We checked into the hotel, which turned out to be pretty grimy. There was not one clean spot on the carpet and you couldn’t walk down the halls of our floor without stumbling where there were no baseboards under the carpet. The bathroom had cracked tile, one of those haunting drains in the ground and a shower floor that resembled summer camp. Too bad I didn’t bring my flip flops.

I decided I needed to shower away the train ride, black cloud and poor disposition. So I did. I went another step forward and shaved off the beard. I can honestly say I’ve never been so happy to shave. It took a considerable amount of effort because I couldn’t clip it first. I think I went through a blade and a half (let the “hairy jokes” rain in). After hacking it all off, we went to the café at the bottom floor of the hotel for lunch, had a quick nap then headed to the Shanghai office.

W met a few people, got the lay of the land and advice for the World Expo (to be explained) and rode back to the hotel with Zhang Yongyong, the youngest guy we met- mid 20s. For dinner we tagged up with Ji Kai, he is the brother of one of the kid’s with which we play basketball. He speaks little English, but he uses his hands and body pretty well when he speaks so I was able to understand the gross majority of what was being said. He took us to an “authentic” side street eatery. Calling it “hole-in-the-wall” might give the wrong impression, but

it wasn’t far from it. The building wasn’t in bad shape, but I don’t think the Health Inspector comes by much…

We had a few good dishes, most of which I don’t remember. Duck and fish were one of them. The whole fish came out and it was actually really good. The fish eyes are supposed to be good luck- but I think I’d rather stick with my bad luck than snack on fish eye. We had a nice chat, walked around and saw a lot of the glamour of Shanghai. It’s got the lights of New York, the humidity of Key West and the traffic of LA at rush hour (at least as bad as it looks in the movies). I love the lights though. Streets lined with well lit, brand name/designer brand shops, trees with Christmas-like lights, signs and buildings with neon lights- I enjoy it. The weather does take

away from it though.

Saturday Ji Kai wanted to take us to a good lunch place so we met him in some random part of town. The street we were on appeared to be like Michael’s laid out across 10 or 12 shops. Fabrics and buttons and ribbons and all sorts of great Sunday School arts & crafts supplies lined the road. The corner we were on was heavy with foot traffic and mopeds weaving in and out the crowds on the sidewalks. My tolerance for the way things are done over here has grown shorter, especially when the car/bike/moped horns come into play. I came very close to kicking over a few of the riders. When they choose to try to go through, rather than around you is when I have little patience. I’ve begun to stand more ground here and I don’t move out of the way for much. I can play by their rules… Sometimes the old boney elbows to the ribs set me straight though.

There were also vendors selling mystery meats on a stick and 2 other vendors selling watermelon and cantaloupe slices on a stick. I approached a vendor and asked how much (duo shao qian; d’whoa sh’ow chee’an) to which he held up 2 fingers- then he saw the color of my skin and it instantly became 5. Ji Kai said the password and I gave the guy 2 and walked off with watermelon on a stick- probably the messiest way to eat it. No wonder everyone else chose cantaloupe.

We wondered into a part of town that was lined and stacked with stalls but the architecture was all palace/temple like. It was real neat. We stood in a line for an hour to get into a little restaurant for lunch. We had these excellent-little-dumpling like things that have a meat (we had crab in one and beef in the other) inside as well as a broth so when you bite into it, you have to drink up the broth also. It was tough to manage but they were phenomenal. We also had some Hot Pocket like things as well as a rice dumplin

g thing wrapped in a leaf of some form, bound with a string. I was told that the place we ate is a very famous place that most US Presidents venture to when visiting Shanghai.

We left and wandered the stalls a little more until we found one with paintings. I found a 4 foot wide paining of red and orange cherry blossoms that I really liked and after Ji Kai said the magic password (really he just haggled, but I like to think it’s a password) I paid a little over 14 bucks for it. Eventually, Cheng and I caught a taxi to the hotel, showered and napped.

We woke up to go to dinner with Zhang Yongyong. He took us to the ex-pat part of town we moseyed through with Ji Kai the previous night. We eventually settled at a Brazilian BBQ restaurant; one of those joints where the guys walk around with the meats on long metal skewers and slice off a few pieces. We ate our fill of everything and I ate a lot more than I should have. But the meal wasn’t cheap and I didn’t realize at the time that Zhang Yongyong was footing the bill. When I found that out I felt pretty bad. For the 3 of us the meal cost about 1000RMB total which is about $145.

It was a very relaxed meal, full of conversation I didn’t understand. However, there was good music being played and plenty of people to watch- I was content. We got back to the hotel and showered again (the humidity there is no joke) and eventually went to bed.

Sunday we hopped up a little later in the morning, ate lunch at the hotel and then met Ji Kai. He took us down Nan Jing Rd, which is not really a road because it’s blocked on both ends. It’s a heavily foot trafficked area full of shopping. If you haven’t caught on, Shanghai is the city with shopping and eating; Beijing is the city with history and sights to see. We wandered into the Nike, Adidas and then the Chinese sportswear shops.

We meandered our way to the Bund which is a little riverside walk that has all the old architecture on one side and modern and futuristic across the way. It was actually a real neat sight to see the two together like that. We walked the “outside beach” (concrete. I know you’re shocked) and caught the ferry across the way. We walked around the downtown area, snapped quite a few photos and went for a fairly early dinner in the food court of the nearby mall. While eating Ji Kai helped us plan our visit to the World Expo. Showed us which countries’ exhibits we needed to visit and how long the lines would be at others. A little more browsing through the stores and wandering around the area and we caught the subway home in order to prep ourselves to the journey to the Expo.

Monday we were up bright and early to get to the Expo. What is the World Expo you ask? There are no stupid questions. It is an exposition of countries from around the World. It’s a hugeeeee stone/cement convention center plaza plot layout area. The countries come in and build buildings to house the exhibits that exemplify and show off the country. Some of the buildings will house the majority of a continent for the smaller countries that cannot pay their way (Most of Africa and some of Central/South America).

We dressed in light colors, and packed lightly for we knew it would be a scorcher. We caught a taxi to the nearest subway station then fought our way onto a car. By fight I really mean nearly fight. People pouring off, others fighting on. As I’ve mentioned, nobody concerns themselves with lines or order. We got on the subway and as more people get on at stops and get off at others we are all the way in the back by the time we reach our stop. This, to no surprise, leads to more knocking people over to get out of there.

…My advice to anyone visiting this country: Come when it’s cool, especially to Shanghai; and bring sanitizing wipes/hand sanitizer. Now back to the regularly scheduled program…

After a lengthy hike to the Expo gate, we were about an hour early. The sun rises around 5am here so by 8am things are getting pretty hot. We stood in a thick line, under the sun, on top of concrete for a good 45 minutes before we were corralled forward under the shade. As soon as the gates opened at 9 it became the Run of The Bulls and everyone booked it to the forward corralling area.

Cheng and I got shoulder to shoulder at one point to prevent anyone from pushing their way ahead of us and it worked for a short time until the line in front of us began moving unevenly. At that point, I stood up a little straighter and put my elbows out a little further and didn’t let anyone past unscathed. I know I sound violent and cruel, just wait until you visit. You’ll see…

We got in around 9:15 and ran to the USA booth. I was hoping for some “this is why our country is better than yours” type propaganda. Then I was reminded that Obama is running the country. Waste of time. I’m embarrassed to even describe what was going on- so I won’t.

We then headed to Italy. The line was a monstrosity, too many people, too much concrete, too little shade, too few clouds and too much sun. The exhibit, however, was remarkable. You walked in past Roman sculptures and architecture, glanced at the first bicycle and motorcycle, step into a room with art all over, miniature versions of the Pantheon and churches; Modern art in the next room. Then a huge white walled foyer with an orchestra mounted on one wall, fashion pieces staggered up the adjacent wall; a grand piano on display under the escalator and underneath a quarter section of a cathedral- the artwork on the internal section, detailed architecture on the outside.

Upstairs they had a statue of “Perseus with the Head of Medusa” in a glass case and images of Italy cast upon the wall; A showcase of noodles and wines in another room. By this point we had been standing or walking at a snails pace for about 2 hours and needed to rest the joints.

We found some shaded benches and crashed. We heard the line to get into the Germany exhibit was around 5 hours long. UK was an hour and a half, France 3 hours, so we spent a lot of time just taking pictures of the buildings themselves. We walked around; I hammed it up in some pictures, hopped in a few Chinese people’s pictures until finally we ran into a group of white kids our age.

Turned out they were students of James Madison University getting some VIP access to different exhibits so we tagged around with them for a few hours. We had a great time with them, better time than we were having on our own at that point. Around 4 we left. Cheng & I were dragging and ready to crash. We showered and ate. I got a massage that felt like I was on the subway from all the elbows to the spine and punches in the back. Needless to say, it didn’t do a whole lot besides hurt. I returned to the hotel exhausted. We napped and when I woke I was on fire.

I ended up running a fever for about a day and a half, had a headache that felt like a little man was swinging a sledgehammer at my temples for 2 days, and am still nursing a neck that feels like whiplash. It goes without saying that my trip to Shanghai started and ended on the wrong feet…

This weekend, we head to the Summer Palace!