The skyline of Shanghai looks like a 1950’s view of what the world would look like in the year 2000. A stroll along the Bund area by the river is an experience of contrasts. On the left back are European style big stone buildings built in the 1920’s when Shanghai started to be come a trading port and colonial interest, only these buildings are twice as big as buildings in London. Across the river are futuristic buildings in every shape and design imaginable. With the sun often hidden behind smoggy cloud cover it’s much easier to orientate yourself in relation to the crown, Isengard, the lotus flower, the pagoda, the ufo, the pearl tower or Batman. As the sun sets every feature building has a different lighting effect to decorate it, from the bottle opener which every so often sparkled like someone was sprinkling glitter over it, to the ufo with circular rings of light snaking up the top as if the flying saucer has just landed. And the view over the city from the 87th floor of the bottle opener is pretty spectacular!
The traffic is crazy, from single file streets lined with shops on each side, people wandering down the middle of the street as there is no room on the pavements, scooters riding down the pavements because there is no room on the roads, to 6-lane roads which cars just weave through the traffic from one lane to the next and all contributing to a symphony of horns and bells. In a taxi with no seat belts you just can’t think too hard about the fact the driver just turned left from the 5th right-hand lane , crossing in front of 4 other lanes.
Pedestrian crossings are simply spaces where you are authorized to die crossing the road, although they have a countdown timer for seconds until the man turns red and your chances of crossing the road go from ‘slim’ to ‘none’
I spent a couple of hot and humid hours wandering though the Yuyuan gardens looking at pagoda-style buildings, ponds, streams, archways and the like, followed by dumplings in the Yuyuan Bazaar, an old-style network of shops selling touristy souvenirs. I queued for about 15 minutes for the pork dumplings which I am proud to say I managed to eat with chopsticks (bite off top, let steam out, suck out soup, let cool for a further minute then eat whole) and without accident. They are delicious but dangerous if you skip any of the above steps!
While eating I was treated to a game of ‘where are you from?’ from a Chinese man with a German accent, whose job was to encourage tourists into a nearby gallery. He asked me in a German accent ‘Are you German?’ To which I nearly replied ‘no, are you?’ He then proceeded to run through a list of every country in western Europe, although did concede I didn’t look very Polish, and was getting no closer to the answer. Finally he paused long enough for me to say it was ‘quite a well-known country in Europe’ to which he thought for a moment and then exclaimed ‘Switzerland?!’
Later on I was standing on a corner eating an ice cream when I noticed a man taking a picture of me on his i-phone. When I noticed and gave a cheesy grin for the camera his wife came over and put her arm round me for another picture!!
The Chinese approach to ‘practising English’ boarders on interrogation. They wish to do the talking and often ask questions which have one word answers, not really wanting to know the answer beyond that. And they get quite personal in their questioning. One man in the museum coffee shop sat himself down and asked me everything from ‘what did you have for breakfast?’ to ‘why aren’t you married?!’
Shanghai museum boasts an overwhelming collection of porcelain, paintings, calligraphy, furniture, jade and other artefacts. Some calligraphy brushes are so fine they are made from mouse whiskers. My favourite section featured traditional dress from different regions of china and helped highlight what an ethnically diverse country China actually is.
Shanghai features many streets of shops selling goods in the same theme. I came upon haberdashery street, hair-dressing supplies street, hardware lane and musical instrument avenue. Red crab street (best and worst to visit in the evening when the crabs are swimming in hot oil) also featured a monkey on a lead and two ‘free-range’ chickens. The plant, pet and insect market was not the most pleasant experience. I’m still happy with my decision not to buy a cicada in a cage.
The Jade Buddha temple was a surprising oasis of calm and incense in the middle of a not-very nice neighbourhood. The historic old town of Qibao looked like I expected an old Chinese town to look like. Unfortunately Shanghai has not preserved many old buildings, though the ones left do seem to be appreciated now, even just for the tourist money they bring in. The town streets selling a lot of tourist tat were heaving but all the old buildings which were museums, exhibitions and houses were practically empty, only western tourists seem to go into them.
The food was mainly good, you could find every country’s food you could wish for. Yunan, a region in southern China was one of the best with lovely grilled dishes. A special mention goes to the ‘Great Wall’ Chinese red wine, which tasted like someone had gone round after a party collecting all the dregs of unfinished glasses of red wine and mixed them into a bucket and then left it to oxidise a bit. I’m informed the beer tastes better! Cantonese food was hit and mainly miss, grey gruel with beef that looks like bacon was one of the low points and many dishes are battered and deep fried.
It’s a mystery how the Chinese stay so small with the size of the portions served, though quite a few men have fat little bellies sticking out. It is not the done thing for men to go shirtless so to cool down they roll their t-shirts to just over their bellies and walk round like modern-day Buddhas.
I mentally awarded prizes each day in 3 categories- 1) Best ‘chinglish’ t-shirt e.g. ‘ity of new York lov shop and has fun!’ 2) Best pyjamas worn whilst walking down the middle of the street and 3) Best ingenuity in carrying an item on the back of a bicycle (Two polystyrene blocks the size of a single mattress wins my overall award, although the two water barrels comes close.)
A high-speed train travelling at 290kph was a comfortable way of travelling to Hangzhao; by Chinese standards a small town of only 8 million people, and a popular Chinese tourist destination. The town is next to a large lake (3km wide) which also features formal gardens, pagodas and old buildings, though most of them have been rebuilt. It made a pleasant change to get out of the city and climb a hill track to look out over tea plantations and green hills. We were able to hire bikes from the hostel to get around though I was a bit nervous given my previous observations of Chinese driving habits. Tourists became tourist attractions as the Chinese visitors noticed us and were not shy about staring, although I never felt threatened by the attention and a ‘Ni hao’ usually made them smile or shout ‘Heelo!’.
Final mention must go to the meals in Hangzhou. One place had the most amusingly translated menu. Funnily enough we decided not to order the ‘grandmother’s head sauce’ or the ‘smelly black fungus’
Another restaurant we arrived at took one look at us and without giving any indication about whether they wanted us to eat there or not busied themselves at the desk. Presently the phone was handed over and a voice in perfect English asks ‘how may I help you?’ so you tell them ‘one chicken dish, one noodle dish and some green vegetables, two cokes, mid-price range, not too spicy please,’ and hand the phone back so this can be relayed to the waiting staff. We sat outside under a wooden gazebo next to a small pond and watched the outdoor screening of Transformers while waiting for the mystery meal to arrive. The delicious smell of chicken in a red wine casserole met my nostrils before it was set down on the table, and the chicken was succulent and tasty, though we left the chicken’s head untouched.
