May 29 2007 Shanghai

I spent the weekend in Shanghai with Lee and Phil and Jean Thompson. They were a GREAT host and hostess! Lee has been on a business trip to Japan and Shanghai, so he flew into Shanghai on Friday and we all met at the airport. We took the MagLev train from the airport to the city center. The Maglev is short for Magnetic Levitation train. The train kind of hovers above its tracks, and it goes around 430 kmh (267 mph)! That’s REALLY fast, but it’s only an 8 minute ride. It spends most of that time getting up to that speed and then slowing down again. Even so, it’s a boon in Shanghai’s horrendous traffic.

Shanghai is a city of contrasts. It has a lot of history, both good, and bad. It’s the city of the British opium wars. It’s the “Paris of the East” of the 30’s. It’s an industrial center of modern China. It’s a reawakened modern metropolis with highways, designer shopping, excellent restaurants, and dizzying skyscrapers. It’s a city of extreme poverty, choking smog, and all the inefficiencies and confusions of a rapidly changing society.

This was my first trip into the “real” China. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I didn’t know if there would be much English (there was more than I expected). I knew the pollution was bad, but it was even worse than I thought. I thought crime might make it scary, but it’s apparently not really that dangerous – the worst problem is pickpockets, and just like Hong Kong, if you keep your wits about you there’s no reason to worry.

The funny thing is we ate mostly western food all weekend! Actually I’m not that surprised that we did that. There are so many opportunities to eat Chinese (in all its many variations) over here that most of us expats get pretty tired of it before very long. That first night we went to a Beer Garden on the Bund! The Bund is the shore of the Hwangpu River. On one side of the river are all these grand old buildings that were originally owned by foreign banks, but are now government buildings, hotels, shopping and restaurants. This side of the river is called Puxi. This is the old, original part of Shanghai. On the other side are these enormous skyscrapers. This is the newer part of Shanghai, called Pudong. You can walk along the river on either side, and view the buildings, or you can go up one of the skyscrapers and take in the view from there.

Shanghai is huge. There are 13 million people living here. It’s flat and seems to go on forever. It reminded me, in a strange way, of Dallas (but Dallas is nicer!). The traffic is terrible and you have to plan everything around the endless rush hours (hey, that’s like Dallas too, isn’t it!). As you gaze at the city from the highway, looking at the modern skyscrapers and the crumbling older buildings, it seems to be disappearing in a haze of smoke and smog. It could be some apocalyptic vision of a future time, or it could be London at the dawn of the industrial revolution. It’s a little eerie.

After dinner we went out to where Phil and Jean live. They live in a gated community called Rancho Sante Fe. Once you enter the gates you could (almost) be in a suburb of some US city. Normally I would never want to live in a place like that, but in a city like Shanghai it’s really almost a necessity. Shanghai is SO huge, and traveling in the city because of the traffic can be such a hassle, that you need some way to get away from things and feel safe and unwind, AND meet other expats too so that you have friends.

Phil and Jean have a driver. 3M won’t let their FSE’s (foreign service employees) drive in China. Jean says it’s a mixed blessing. When you’re in the car (which you are a lot) you can just sit back and relax. But then again, you’re always trying to coordinate things with the driver, explain where you want to go, etc. Their driver’s name was Gu. Gu was really nice, and his English was good, but he didn’t always understand where we were trying to go. It could get frustrating at times.

Saturday was Phil’s birthday and Jean was having a Texas barbeque for him. They invited a bunch of their friends. We spent Saturday basically tagging along after them while they got ready for the barbeque. This actually turned out to be lots of fun. First we went to a place called Tai king lo, which was an area where old lanes had been converted into little shops and restaurants. This was really pretty and enjoyable. We browsed through the shops and ate lunch there. After that we drove through the French Concession with its broad boulevards and tree-lined streets to the flower market to get flowers for the party. The Shanghai flower market is huge and it’s a covered, enclosed area. It’s at least as big at Hong Kong’s, maybe bigger. As could be expected the prices were even better than the prices in Hong Kong (because China is where all of HK’s flowers come from anyway!). After the flower market we went (brace yourself) to Bubba’s Texas Barbeque, to pick up the meat for the party. Yes, it was just like walking into a barbeque place in Dallas…cracked me up.

We saw a typical expat grocery store, which looked pretty nice. Jeannie says that supplies of things vary; when they’re in stock they’re in stock, when they’re out they’re out and who knows when they’ll come in!

The party was fun. Like us, their friends are from all over – South Africa, Germany, Canada, Australia. They’re all in the same boat together, so they have a pretty close bond. They’re making the best of a situation that’s just a little more “adventuresome” than most of them bargained for. I asked them what was the best thing about Shanghai (I had already heard plenty about what the bad things were) and they unanimously agreed that it was the people that they had met – their neighbors and friends in Rancho Sante Fe.

On Sunday we went to the antique streets. This was really cool; they had all kinds of stuff – old cameras, victrolas, furniture, jewelry, etc. etc. Most of it is junk, but fun junk. You have to bargain hard here. I found a ceramic dragon that I wanted. The girl started at $1600 yuan (like $208 US). I was like, you’ve got to be kidding! She said “Old! Old!” I said, no, no, no. We walked off as the price started to drop. We walked through the rest of the market and passed her stand again on the way back. By now she was down to $500 yuan ($65 US).  Still way too much. We said - $200 yuan. She made a very sad face, oh no, no. We started to walk off and suddenly the price was down to $300. I said $250, she said $280. I said $260, she said, okay, okay. Got it for around $34 US. Ha!

We also bought an old (reproduction) poster to put in our guest bathroom. As we were leaving the market I noticed a myna bird in a cage. The bird looked me in the eye and said, quite clearly “Neih hau!” which is hello in Mandarin. I laughed in surprise and so did the bird. “Neih hau! Hahahahaha!” By the way, my Cantonese didn’t do me a bit of good in Shanghai. It’s Mandarin all the way…well not ALL the way. There is an old Shanghaiese dialect as well, but it’s dieing out. Mandarin sounds really different from Cantonese, much more “sh” and “r” sounds.  I’ve gotten so used to listening to people’s conversations and trying to pick out words; it was really frustrating to be back to not understanding anything!

That evening Lee and I checked into his hotel since he had to work the following day. We went back to the Bund that night and ate in a really really nice French restaurant. We did the “tasting” menu which was lots of fun – a bunch of small portions of various delicious things – yum! Then we went and walked along the Bund a little more, watching the crowds. Lots of young families with their “one child”. Some beggars…people wearing everything from designer clothes to their pajamas! Apparently some people wear pj’s everywhere on weekends because that’s an indicator that they have enough money to not have to work every day, and if they are wearing their pj’s well then obviously its their day off!!

On Monday morning Jean took me to the Pearl Market. There were all kinds of copy bags, but I wasn’t in the mood. I seem to have had my fill of purses, at least for awhile. But the jewelry was very nice. I bought a couple of pretty pieces at very reasonable prices, and I also bought a string of freshwater multicolored pearls with matching earrings from a reputable shop (including the paperwork) for $600 yuan (about $78 US).

Then it was time to get back on the Maglev and head for home. This morning in Hong Kong the sky is blue and I can see the mountains in the New Territories across the harbor. The air seems crystal clear and Hong Kong looks just beautiful.  Later on I’m going to walk to Yoga and then go to the grocery store. Once again I realize how LUCKY I am to be living here. I can go visit a place like Shanghai very easily (its only 2 ½ hours by plane) but then I get to come back to one of the most beautiful and interesting cities in the world.