Shanghai - Day one

Wednesday December 26

Shanghai from Wednesday to Saturday. First a few facts about Shanghai - home of the 2010 World’s Exposition.

Population: Over 20 million! They have subdivisions like us, except we have houses and they have apartment buildings.

Area: 6340.5sq km

Subway: 5 lines, now 8. Three new lines adding 96 km to system open on Saturday, the day after we leave. Total of 8 lines, 234 km, and 162 stations (TTC has only three lines and 70 Km) . Seventh largest in the world behind New York, London, Tokyo, Seoul, Moscow and Madrid.

Temperature: Was supposed to snow the day after we left. Was up to 16 and sunny on Wednesday. Cooler, 12 and rainy on Thursday and Friday.

TWO International airports - Pudong and Hongqiao. We land at Hongqiao

TWO major train stations - Shanghai, and Shanghai South. We depart from Shanghai South.

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I meet Linda at 7 am at the bus station on the edge of campus. We hailed a taxi, and it is off to the airport. Linda has never flown, never been to Shanghai, never been on a train, never stayed in a hotel, never ... oh ... never mind. I don’t know who is reading this (Ha Ha Ha).

We get to the airport, and I start showing her things I had talked about in class. The luggage check in, how they load and unload planes. The entire airport operation is a lesson in logistics. She also get a lesson in airport prices. Linda did not eat breakfast, and is now hungry. Lunch is more costly then the GDP of some small nations.

The plane leaves on time, at 9 AM. We look out the window at the beautiful scenery below us. Shoreline dotted with coves and small islands protruding from the ocean surf.

We land in Shanghai at 10:30, as per schedule. On approach, I look down and see beautiful sub divisions of 50 and 100 units ... just like in Canada. Almost! These are apartment buildings. Ten and fifteen story apartment buildings laid out like we lay out sub divisions. That is how you get 20 million people in a city a 10 percent smaller than the GTA. (only 6340.5sq km versus 7200 for GTA).

We carry our luggage off. Linda has a small beige bag, a little larger than my toiletry bag, while I have my camera back pack, and my Labatt’s Blue sports bag. We get outside, and true to Chinese efficiency, there are a 100 taxis lined up and a serpentine to get to them. We walk through the “snake” and get to the front of the line. There a guard points us to cab position four. The cabs are five abreast, and loaded in a fair and VERY efficient manner. (FIFO - more logistics for my students). We show the cab driver the print out from the hotel, and we are off.

The highway system is all elevated like the Gardner Expressway. Four lanes in each direction, The main one loops around the city, with another cutting across it. I look out the window during the 30 minute ride. All I can see are beautiful sky scrapers, high and low rise apartments, some new and clean, others old and weather beaten. The architecture is amazing. Buildings are round, arched, triangular, glass, concrete, steel, most with a unique top mast or structure. It makes me wonder how th4e “advanced western world” can have ugly square buildings while the “developing nation” has the imagination and technology to build a sky scraper paradise.

We arrive at the hotel, check in. The hotel lobby is on the sixth floor. On the main floor is a concierge, and a few waiting chairs. We take the elevator up to the sixth floor. A nice lounge area, restaurant / bar, business officer and main desk. We check in, show our ID. I need to show my passport, and Linda shows her citizenship card.

There are 22 floors numbered 1 - 12, 14 - 23. The Chinese don’t like number 13 either. We are in room 1218. The room opens with a credit card type key.
There is a two metre hallway before you find a bathroom on the left, and closet space on the right. The closet has a light inside and a small safe. The bathroom has a “western” toilet, small sink, bath tube with shower. The hair dryer has a 110 outlet for a shaver. Toiletries include soap, shampoo, lotion, body wash, two tooth brushes, two combs, vanity kit, hair nets, matches (yes, smoking is allowed).

We turn on the lights, and they go off! After some research, we discover there is a card holder on the wall near the door. The room key must be left in it to activate the lights. When the key is removed, the lights go off in ten seconds.

The main room is much smaller then western hotels. There is a desk and two double beds, a long cabinet with a TV, small frig, a few drawers. All the lights are controlled by a panel between the beds. There is very little walking room. Just enough to get around. We drop our things, and head off to lunch.

We exit and head right. We pass a Starbuck’s, and a KFC within a few metres. Around the corner we find a couple of restaurants. We go upstairs and order lunch. The food is good. The FROG came as whole frogs in a spicy soup type sauce, but too many bones for my liking. I hate to fight with my food. Also had a spicy beef dish, a vegetable and a soup. Looking outside, I see a cop giving a guy a parking ticket. My first amusement and first photo op. I take a picture of the ticket, and wait for the guy to turn. I wanted to go down and take the ticket as a souvenir, and bring it back to Canada with me, but discretion was the better part of valour.

After lunch, we return to the hotel. I have a half day tour booked for the afternoon. We also have to buy our train tickets. We go to the LOBBY ... is it on the sixth floor or on the ground floor? Who knows. We order the train tickets. Linda wants to save money, and insists, against my better judgment to get the hard seats. Hard seats are 154 ¥ plus 25 ¥ delivery. Soft seats are 243 ¥ plus delivery. I give in.


THE TOUR
We meet our guide, Jenny. She takes us to the Mercedes Van for our tour. Only two people booked for the afternoon, so we get her and driver all to ourselves. She asks if we want to change the tour, and I say no. Stick to the schedule. We are only using it as a guide to know where to go the next two days. The tour includes: The Bund; Yuyuan Garden; Shanghai Old Street; Shanghai Arts and Crafts Store; Xin Tian Di and the former French Concession District.

The Bund: A walking area next to the It has a number of little shops, and a beautiful view of both sides of the river. This was the only place I took out my 150-500 mm lens. Partly because it was overcast the next two days and not good shots available.

Yuyuan Garden: This is an old garden built by a son for his parents in the 1500's. There is some great architecture, rock gardens, and 100's of huge gold fish.. Walking around, in the middle of this bustling city, there was such serenity.

Shanghai Old Street: Old buildings, several hundred years old. Hand carved eves, and colourful roofs. It was here we visited a silk mill run by the Chinese Government.

Upon entry, you see some butterflies, who lay hundreds of eggs. The eggs hatch into worms, and later spin a cocoon to become butterflies. The cocoons are taken, and the outer shell is turned into silk. Cocoons with a singe larva inside are placed in water in groups, The shell of the cocoon is spun into a machine in groups of fine thread, becoming high quality silk. If there is more than one larva in the cocoon, the silk can not be spun. These larva have the silk cocoon cut open, the larvae removed, and are stretched over a wooden horseshoe. They are then stretched and turned into duvets. I bought a beautiful silk tie, a little over priced for China, cheap for Canada. Guaranteed quality, for 260 ¥ or about 35 dollars.


Former French Concession District: A shoppers paradise. After seeing a beautiful chess set at Yuyuan Garden, I remembered the last thing on my list of “souvenirs” to bring home, a classic Chinese style chess set. Jenny, the tour guide, knew where to find one. We started looking around the French area, and found one. 1500 ¥ ! The sales person said she could drop the price for Boxing Day Sale. I said I would come back. The next store had several more sets, Prices ranged from 1400 to 1600 ¥ . She quickly dropped to 900 ¥ - a little too fast for my liking. We went to a third store. The lady there showed us a similar set, said she didn’t want to haggle, and started at 900 ¥. I offered 800 ¥ and have a gorgeous set of stone carved pieces. A new family heirloom to pass down to one of the kids.

Xin Tian Di: Another shoppers paradise, and home to many western bars and cafes. We returned here the next night to get ripped off by the ice cream place. More about that tomorrow.

Shanghai Arts and Crafts Store: More beautiful art. Jade, carved and so clear you can see through it. Paintings china, sculptures, many amazing things of beauty. We say a lady doing hand painting. Uses no brushes, just the side of her hand. You have to see the quality of the work to believe if. She must have been good at finger painting in grade one. Bought a set of four bookmarks with the Chinese zodiac, one for each of us.

end of tour

We return to our hotel, and decide we needed some food. There is a Carrefore nearby, so we are off again. At Carrefore we buy snacks, beer, and a few food items for Linda’s father. We have a dinner, and head back to the hotel. Linda is tired, and I am a little too. We decide to make it an early night. We have three long days ahead of us. We look over the map, see where we were today, and make our plans for tomorrow. Linda wants to watch TV! She does not have one in the dorms, and this is a luxury. Lay in bed and watch TV. Reminds me of Lin. I drink some beer, eat some snacks, and call it a night.