Shanghai on the Ocean

Shanghai 上海, translates very simply into 'go onto the ocean,' presumably in a boat. The more common translation is 'on the ocean,' which technically would be Haishang 海上, but then again, grammar is a pretty flexible here.

Whether you're on the ocean or just beside it, Shanghai is a beauty to behold. No city I've ever visited has boasted such bustling streets, such idol-worthy towers, such a concentration of financial power. Shanghai houses 2 of the 10 tallest buildings in the world, and they're constructing two more that will etch them in even deeper.

I don't know why, but I've always had a deep admiration for beautiful, thriving, rich cities. Toronto is definitely near the top of the list. I have a thing about the 'shape' of a city, the profile, the infrastructure. Toronto has a great bell-shape, and the minimally developed Toronto Island is an excellent aerial-view touch. What Shanghai has got is a freaking cool winding river. And at the bend's prominence, the richest financial district in mainland China. Unfortunately, it's scarred by the painful shear of the Oriental Pearl Tower.

Downtown Shanghai.

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Of course, my trip to Shanghai was far from cozy. I used an agent to get my train tickets, and by the name of Murphy's Law, something went awry. I took some time off of work, and planned on leaving on a Tuesday evening. However, the ticket I was given was set to leave on the following day, and I didn't realize this until the Tuesday morning. So, I called the agent, and after apologies said that there were no tickets left for Tuesday. I was feeling conflicted, mostly because my good friends and engineering schoolmates Sam and Craig had come to China just the week before, and I was acting as guide/friend/beer receptacle, and I was set to meet them in Shanghai on Wednesday. As well, I had no way to reach them, and they were in the small city of Yantai 烟台 on their way to Shanghai. Luckily, Sam had met an awesome and very generous girl in Vancouver who had an apartment in Shanghai she was willing to loan to us, and I had her number.

So it seemed I would have to suck it up and leave Wednesday. So on Tuesday morning I didn't bother to pack my bags and went to work at Taisha 太傻, a company that helps students apply to universities in the States (I give fake visa interviews... and pretend to be American haha, it's great). Around 4 I got a call from the agent, telling me there is in fact a ticket available for that evening at 9pm. I hesitated. Of course I'd rather go earlier, I had taken time off work and wanted to make the most of it. However I had to work until 5:30 in the East end of the city, and then go home to the West end (during rush hour... taking subway = self-packing into sardine tin), then return to the train station which is only two subway stops south of where I work (Chaoyangmen 朝阳门). I told the agent I'd call him back and did some rough math. The travel time would be 1.5-2hrs alone, and I hadn't packed. On top of that, I had to meet up with the agent to get the ticket. It was a gamble. And I took it. Unfortunately not all worked out.

I had purchased a new small travel case on the previous day. It was cheapish, but had "real leather" on the outside. And they forgot to mention that it was probably worth 1/10th what I paid and that given any stress at all the rolling-handle would tear off. I found that out the hard way, in the subway, sweating, running, loathing that feeling in the chest you get when you're running late. The gate was to close around 8:45. I arrived at the train station at 8:35... carrying my heavy suitcase, running, running, running. Oh wait, what's this? Oh yeah, the security check lineup at the entrance! SHIT!

Ten minutes later, I was in the station. Needless to say, the gate was closed. Some kid offered to take me to the "backup gate" for 200yuan (about $30CAD, aka $30 US, woohoo!). I bargained him down to 100, curious to learn about this, with nothing left to do but check it out anyway. Of course, I said I'd give him the money upon entering the gate, fully intending to throw him a 20 since he wouldn't be allowed to follow me in. Ya, China has made me a jerk like that. Unfortunately, that gate was also closed. I was devastated. The effort I'd made to dart across the city, meet the agent (again), hurriedly pack, return to the East carrying my heavy-ass suitcase which is intended to be rolled... sweating, straining... all for naught.

The process of fixing my ticket situation took ages. I went to three different places at the station, asking where I could change my ticket 改票. Finally I found the place. There were about 20 long lineups to about twenty booths with about twenty different signs. Figuring out which to go was easy, I just asked the information guy at the front. After waiting twenty minutes in line 20, I was tersely informed I must actually line up at line 1. More walking, more carrying, more sweating. After being harassed in the line by hawkers who make a living off buying people's missed tickets, changing the date themselves, and reselling them, it got done. My ticket was stamped, and the room number was crossed out, as was the word for "sleeper" 卧铺. This meant I would not have a bed, for which I paid 300yuan, and instead of have an unassigned seat for the 13hour ride. And depending on how many people with unassigned seats turned up, possibly no seat at all. I then went out to venture home and just then it started to pour the lovely toxic liquid that takes the place of rain here. Great start to my vacation.

The next day however all went well. I arrived an hour early to guarantee a seat. The ride was long, grueling really, and I barely slept. I had the window seat, but after going to the washroom the very nice woman who had been sitting next to me and had offered me lots of food and sunflower seeds... had stolen my seat. I hadn't even slept yet. It was clearly the sleeping seat, and it has clearly been unfairly taken. In Chinese, I'd say that I got "holed," aka pocketed 我被坑了. That aside, I arrived alive and well, one day late, and I was sweating buckets as soon as I left the train. Shanghai was grilling.

I immediately headed for the apartment where Betty told me Sam and Craig were chilling. I took the subway. This is where I got my first glimpse of the cityscape. The subway is raised heading East of the train station for a few stops. I could see the downtown, the financial district, Pudong. It was beautiful. I was drawn to it, and it was exactly where I was headed as my destination was a bling apartment in the centre of the city. And the apartment was bling indeed. Thanks Betty!!!

Some buildings near Betty's place.

The view from the subway station near Betty's. It's the new Shanghai World Finance Centre tower, to be 2nd tallest in the world.

It's a three-story condo in an area resembling a row of townhouses. It it very modern, spacious, open-concept. The key features are: inlaid heated wooden floors, two bedrooms both equipped with ensuite bathrooms, two other bathrooms (one main floor, one third floor), high ceilings, complete kitchen with oven and fully sized fridge (both unusual in China), separated games/dining area, 40" plasma TV, leather couch and cozychair, twin sinks in master bedroom ensuite, Queen beds, 24hour security and guarded gateway, taxi service... and it's been recently sold so I'm not pitching anything here. It was very very snazzy in a very upscale neighbourhood... and I haven't stopped wondering how we were so fortunate. And the best part: it came alongside Betty, an awesome friend who made the Shanghai trip unforgettable.

The view from the balcony

The main bedroom ensuite bathroom


The storm

Craig the male gigolo.



This is at the main gate of Shanghai Garden, the name of the condo complex. Notice the wonderful Chinglish.

Sam and Craig had already been there a day, and had settled into the apartment. We'd planned on going out shortly after I got there, but a storm blew in, and the rain was heavy and impressive, as was the lightning. I took about 200 pictures throughout the trip trying to capture lighting, all to no avail. It's a bitch without a tripod and external shutter... enough said. We sat out the storm watching the movie 300... the unfortunate result of exceptionally creative cinematography dampened by poor scripting. Again, enough said. When the rain stopped, we sortied. First stop: Jinmao tower.

Jinmao tower is currently the tallest building in China, and the fifth tallest in the world (4th if you don't count KL's Petronas Towers as two separate building). This building also contains the worlds tallest hotel, the Grand Hyatt, occupying the top portion. Unfortunately, the view is usually pretty smogged up. There is however a pretty impressive view of the neighbouring building, still under construction. The Shanghai World Financial Center is set to become the second tallest building in the world, only 50ft shorter than the Taipei 101. In a few years, yet another mammoth is being built, forming a near-straight line of supertowers in the heart of Shanghai. Only the rough initial construction can be made out for that building.

The Shanghai World Financial Centre
Jinmao from the ground, and on the right, the Shanghai World Finance Centre Tower.




The downtown zone, facing away from Jinmao.


It's the year of the pig, and Sam is delighted.

You can't quite tell from this picture, but that guy is standing on a beam about 250m above ground-level, with but a simple harness.

Zoom

The Grand Hyatt as seen from the top of the tower. Trippy indeed. Kinda like something out of Star Wars.

After Jinmao, it was dinner number one, then we reunited with Betty. Following this: shopping district (Nanjingdong lu 南京东路), drinks, hotpot (dinner number two), more drinks, arguments with the waitstaff over a 50yuan corkage fee we were not informed about, a few more drinks, then Babyface. Babyface is a line of clubs in China. I've been to one of the three in Beijing, one in Xi'an, and one in Shanghai. House music and sardine-packed dancing floors are the norm. Oh ya, and can't forget the 50yuan drinks ($8...), so predrinking is standard. When we were bored of Babyface, Betty decided (in some strange twist of misguided wisdom) to take us to a strip of hooker clubs. Now that was a funny place. We left after one of the workers insisted for the fifth time that all of us buy highly overpriced drinks... and subsequently got my middle finger in his face. Luckily they're a little worried about hassling foreigners in China, so it didn't come to a bad end. Then home, drunk, tired, but happy to be in Shanghai.

Sam and Craig being talked into buying watches. They settled on buying DVD's.


It's a bird, it's a plane... oh wait, it's a lightbulb. Ooohhh, liiiiight....







Notice the number of people watching Sam. What a freak.


SOOO many people.

Day two: Museum of Urban Development, all-you-can-eat bbq (in China! I was impressed), Oriental Pearl Tower, then more nightclubs. The Museum of Urban Development, despite it's relatively dull title, was quite impressive. There are five stories of exhibits, with the key piece being a scale model of the entire city as projected for 2020, complete with light show and greenery, and little windows on everything! It was very accurate. Another cool feature was the Shanghai virtual tour, a 10minute 360° tour of the city.

See the windows! So detailed!

View of model from above.

A cool building near museum.

After we left the museum there was a massive storm, again, as there had been on the previous day. We waited it out in a mall across the street, where we found an all-you-can-eat bbq restaurant. We were hardly sold on it when we saw the initial buffet items, and the host was clearly empty-headed for not properly selling us the idea of this restaurant. After some confusing crosschat, I gathered that the bbq was currently being cooked, and would be brought out to us. It came alright, one item after the next of large, juicy, meaty selections. There must have been over 15 different items. Needless to say, we were properly stuffed. We met with Betty again afterwards, who had been spending her days doing errands and family stuff, and hit up the Oriental Pearl Tower.

This is a bit of a sore spot for many Shanghainese. The tower is quite plainly ugly, and whatever futuristic angle they were going for was sadly lost and mangled somewhere along the way. It looks like a mixture between an alien syringe and a sex-toy. Oh well, they've gotten other things right in Shanghai. The night-time view was sketchy... smog and fog and whatever it is that darkens all China skylines didn't allow for much to be seen. However the experience was good. Highlight: Sam and I having a race around the viewing platform, starting in opposite directions, darting and deeking around the other tourists.

That's right, pure confusion.


This is what happens when you give Sam a camera... pure blur.

It was a beautiful sunny day in Shanghai... when some guy tried to pawn off another person's picture for his own.





They were photographing us, and I got him in the act. So odd...

Floor number... these two were just randoms.

Wax figure.


The store clerks were SO thrilled we were making a mess.

So glad to have captured this forever.

At night we passed by an Ice Bar (all ice... they give you jackets), but they were closing. So we went to... oh man, I don't even remember. Does it matter? Are you still reading this rant of a blog?

Day three: Zhouzhuang 周庄 roadtrip, fancy Shanghainese restaurant, clubs. Craig did his own thing this day, while Sam, Betty and I went to Zhouzhuang. Zhouzhuang is about 45min by car West of Shanghai. It's an old city, restored and now used as a tourist location, although there are people that live in the old section also. Despite its general touristy-categorization, it was quite beautiful, serene and overall, very nice. On top of that, Betty let me drive the blingin' Lexus 350 on the way home! Freaking sweet ride. I think I clocked a speeding ticket though (sorry Betty :( ) because it's all done by sensors and cameras here. We found out from Craig that there had been a horrific downpour in Shanghai earlier that day, which had flooded many of underpasses downtown. It had occurred roughly at the same time the rain had come on the previous two days. Luckily it never passed over Zhouzhuang.

Turtles having a snack.


A kitty friend I made.







Betty told us that type of rock enclave was traditionally a popular place for adulterers to secretly meet. She's married. I got a pic of her in there. Hence the grouchy face.



Zhouzhuang temple garden area. So serene.

After some exhaustive and slightly tense GPS-guided restaurant-searching, we happened upon The Secret Garden. The food was excellent. The keynote dish had to be the oil-seared seabass... sooo goooood. Betty treated us, though it was more than plainly obvious that we should have been treating her. But Chinese customs are different, and most often guests are treated by one individual. Bills are nearly never split up, and guests nearly never pay. However Betty has lived in Canada for many years and so doesn't stick to that rule quite as rigidly as many here. So... point, counterpoint, moot.

This was our last night in Beijing. The next day, Sam and I were taking an overnight train back to Beijing, and Craig was catching a plane to Yunnan 云南, an absolutely beautiful province in the tropical Southwest of China (one east of Tibet). We made the most out of it, hit up some new clubs (forget the names), met many people, drank many drinks. I was falling in love with Shanghai, and the feeling lent me a touch of pensiveness. I was considering moving there just to spice things up, though the urge has since settled.

On our last day in Shanghai, we went to check out The Bund, a strip across the river from Pudong, famous for it's British colonial-era construction and fancy restaurants. Any movie highlighting Shanghai will feature a shot of this strip. After a quick lunch, Craig nearly missed his plane. Sam and I met with a friend of mine from Toronto, one of my original language exchange partners named Summer, and checked out a cool winding street with lots of food and snacks. Despite the ample choice, we only bought a few smoothies, though there were really good and cheap.

The subway. So clean. So fast. Sweet...

The Shanghai dild..err Oriental Tower


The Bund






This disturbed me. People were tossing coins at these turtles, who were resting in clearly unclean water. I guess some place to hang is better than none.

After saying goodbye to Summer, it was nigh time for Sam and I to say goodbye to Shanghai. Of course, we took the subway the wrong way and nearly missed our train. God I hate the 'being late' feeling. Oh ya, and I can't forget, we got soaked because for the 4th day in a row, it rained.

Despite the hardships I endured on my way there, the rest of my Shanghai trip was awesome. Beijing is very modern, but still very "China." Shanghai is metropolitan, classy, breathtaking. The pros: beautiful modern subway, exceptional cityscape, wicked shopping... and the best part: I blended in! I wasn't a "foreigner" in Shanghai, I was just another guy. Despite the modern facade of Beijing, the people here are still becoming accustomed to having foreigners living amongst them, and often "observe" me (I say that as a polite understatement). Also, I can't speak a word of Chinese without somebody saying "wow, you're Chinese is really good," even when their English is clearly superior to my Chinese. A Chinese person learning English is standard here, a foreigner learning Chinese is apparently very special.

Shanghai cons: much more expensive than Beijing, gold-digging chicks, rainy... and oh yeah, expensive.