September 15 - China: Shanghai
We met in the lobby of the hotel at 7:30 to catch our 9:00 train. It was pouring rain, and we had some trouble catching taxis but eventually we all made it there OK. The train ride was nice - only 2 hours in the top of a double-decker car. The seats were fairly comfortable and we sat with Darren and Michelle and tried to do the NY Times' crossword puzzles which were in the International Herald Tribune.
We got to Shanghai around lunchtime and checked into the Nanjing Hotel. Jon is craving a good cheeseburger and there is a Hard Rock Cafe here so we decided to go there. Lonely Planet has some main landmarks written in Chinese (so we can show the taxi driver), but that wasn't one of them. The closest Chinese-written landmark we could find was the Ritz-Carlton, so that's where the taxi driver dropped us off. This was rather fortuitous because we needed a good map of the city anyway and - of course - the concierge there gave one to us.
Lunch at the Hard Rock
The cheeseburgers were good, although outrageously expensive. But it was worth the money because the televisions in the Hard Rock actually had CNN via satellite and we were able to catch up on the latest news. Jon and I had a long discussion about what we should do if war broke out, but we really didn't come to any conclusion. We are reconsidering spending 2 weeks in Bali, as we just recently learned that Indonesia has the world's largest population of Muslims. Not that there is anything wrong with the Muslim religion, but we understand that there are many militant groups hiding out there. So it's obviously not a safe place for Americans to be right now. Jon thinks we'll be all right in a resort, but we'll see what happens over the next month.
Walk through Shanghai
We stopped by Starbuck's Coffee where Jon got a nonfat latte and I had a nonfat iced caffe mocha. Each of them were the price of a dinner in the other Chinese cities we've been to. Outrageous. We took our highly caffeinated beverages and walked to the Shanghai Museum, to which Grant had given us each a ticket. It was about a 20 minute walk, but it was nice to walk around and Jon is deliriously happy to be in a city again.
It's so strange to be among skyscrapers, though. Every time I look at one I see the WTC, airplanes, and fireballs. I wonder if this is something we will ever get over. Probably not.
Shanghai Museum
By mistake, we went to the Shanghai Art Museum, but they were kind enough to point us around the corner to the Shanghai Museum.
Jon at the Shanghai Museum
By now it was 3:00 and the museum closed at 5:00 so we didn't have much time. We rented two audio tours: one for the entire museum and another for the special Tibetan exhibit. Jon took the walkman for the Tibet exhibit and I took the museum audio guide and we planned to meet and switch at 4:00. During that hour, I visited the Bronze exhibit which was very cool, the seal/stamp exhibit, and the calligraphy exhibit. It's amazing how old the Chinese culture is. I saw bronze urns that were from the 15th century BC.
The museum itself is absolutely beautiful, and is one of the best museums we've seen in a long time. The different exhibits have motion sensors so - if no one is there looking - the lights dim so the artifacts aren't damaged by too much light exposure. And when someone approaches the exhibit, the lights come up. The audio tour was very informative and gave many details that I would never have noticed on my own.
Jon and I met at 4:00 and exchanged audio tours. The Tibet exhibit was lovely, and I had much more appreciation for it having been there. Not surprisingly, the exhibit and the walkman tour were full of the Chinese Party Line. For example, the purpose of the exhibit was to celebrate the "50th Anniversary of the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet". Peaceful liberation from whom? Themselves?!? And many of the pieces in the exhibit were "on loan from the Potala Palace". This would mean that they were stolen, I suppose. But, to give China credit, the exhibit did justice to the Tibetan culture and even showed me some things I didn't see in our two weeks there.
Candy
At 5:00, we turned in our audio equipment and left the museum. Since we had been walking/standing for hours, we decided to sit out on the steps of the museum and people-watch around the front park - which was quite a happening place. After a few minutes, a girl came and squeezed herself in next to me and I moved over to give her some room and continued chatting with Jon. A few seconds later, I heard her say "Hello!" and realized that she wanted to talk.
Her name is "Candy" and she is 15 years old. Candy, of course, is the English name she has chosen for herself and I can't begin to pronounce her Chinese name. She lives outside Shanghai and she and her friend came into the city for the day to hang out. (It's Saturday, and this what teenagers do best - hang out.) She's been taking English classes for 6 years, but doesn't think her English is very good. We told her it was much better than our Chinese, which is limited to "Shay Shay" (Thank you) and "Boo Ya" (No). Anyway, her English teacher told them that they should speak in English to Westerners whenever they can in order to practice. This is why she decided to talk to us.
We chatted with her for over an hour, and got such a kick out of it. She was shocked at our ages, and that we've been married for almost 3 years and have no children. She thought we were 18-20 (which made my day) and said that most Chinese couples have children within their first year of getting married. She kept blushing at Jon and saying to me "I think your husband is lovely" which was so sweet! She was also very sweet about our being from New York and was sad to hear that we have friends who are missing. We talked for a while longer, but we had to leave to meet the group for dinner. We gave her our address before we left and took a picture:
Jon and his fan club
Dinner at 1221
We met the group at 7:00 and went to dinner at 1221, a trendy Chinese restaurant in downtown. The tour we're on is technically two different tours: Hong Kong to Shanghai, and Shanghai to Beijing. Kitty, Robert, Michelle, and Darren signed up for only the Hong Kong to Shanghai part of the trip and tonight is the last night of their tour. Tomorrow we pick up 4 more people (2 from England, 2 from Ireland) and continue on to Beijing a day later.
So we were celebrating the end of their trip and two weeks of bonding together. Dinner was delicious, and the most expensive we've had yet in China but it was worth it. The food was absolutely delicious and I sort of felt like I was home again: out to dinner with a big group of friends in a hip, trendy restaurant. We ordered many pitchers of beer and ordered lots of good food. The duck was delicious, as were the scallops and the lemon chicken.
Back Row (l to r): Ted, Anne, Heidi, Ken, Jon, Darren
Front Row (l to r): Laurel, Ivy, Kitty, Robert, Mel, Michelle
and Grant in the very front
After dinner, we went to the Peace Hotel, which is a nice hotel in "The Bund" area right on the Huangpu Jiang (river). We sat on the rooftop, ordered drinks, and chatted with each other for a while. The view was wonderful, the weather was lovely, and we had a very nice time. Michelle, Darren, Jon and I left around 11:00 to walk back to our hotel and go to bed.
The view from the rooftop of the Peace Hotel