My memory is muddy,whats this river that I'm in...
Trip Start
Jul 05, 2008
1
29
30
Trip End
Aug 30, 2008
Shanghai,
Shanghai,
China
Thursday, August 28, 2008
I rolled into Shanghai without a hotel reservation or a clue where to go. I am so overloaded with stuff at this point in the trip that I can't carry it all very far. So I tore a couple pages out of my Lonely Planet, grabbed a taxi, and pointed where I wanted to go. The hotel was full, and they re-directed me to one a little down the street. However this involved going up and down mulitiple pedestrian overpasses. I thought my spine was going to compress into a pancake, that's how heavy my bag is now. I got to the hotel and took the room without giving a thought to the price.
I started wandering around Shanghai at about 9 am, and kept right on going to 9pm. Shanghai is another world from Beijing. It's way more normal, not all glossed over and redone for anybody. It's all real and very, very in your face. The city is divided into two very different halves by the river: Pudong (new area) and Puxi (old area). Basically Shanghai has a long history of colonialism, from a variety of white overlords, and the Japanese. Puxi is 100% old colonial architecture, mostly french, with so many Chinese people living and working out of it that it may burst at any moment. It's a very weird mix. It's unsettling not to see any Chinese architecture, or temples, or anything like that. Just French buildings with Chinese signage all over them. On the first day I wandered around Puxi, and was reaquainted with being a tourist. "Lady, bags-shoes-watch?", "Have look. Bag for you!", "Change money? Change money?". Ugh I have had enough of this. If you could only see how outrageously bitchy I am to these people you wouldn't recognize me. I understand that they are only trying to make a living, and if I wanted to buy any of their cheap crap, I'd go find them. But I hate them trying to find me. And I am tired of walking and having stuff literally shoved in my face. I guess there are small blessings though, like no one here hassles you for "transport". Also, a very curt "Boo yow" (in Chinese, "no want"), is usually enough to dissuade them. None of this being-chased-down-the-street business, like some other places.
I enjoyed walking a few streets off of the main consumerism-madness area. On the side streets there is what I would call real Chinese life, much more what I was used to from Taiwan. Cheap street food, bubble tea (!!!!), random stores for door knobs, socks, etc. I walked and walked and walked. At night, I went back to the Bund. Basically this is an area that was the center of life back in the day. It is the area right by the river, and it is lined with many glum, art-deco-y buildings. The area right by the shore was rebuilt with a big wall and walkway 20 years ago. Shanghai is a huge city of 9 million people situated on wet sand in a flood plain between the river and the ocean, and it's sinking. Now the river is higher than the city, which is protected by the big wall. I waited to watch the Pudong side of the river light up. The Pudong side looks like a city from Mars (SEP http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe-joe/1671528233/). Incredibly, none of it existed 20 years ago. It was all swampy farmland. Now it looks like dozens of spaceships poised for blast off. Watching it all light up, piece by piece, was an interesting experience. It was very beautiful, but also very creepy and weird. It definitely looks like an alien landscape. Never have I felt so far from home. Plus I've been on my own for afew days and haven't seen or spoken to anyone I know. I've barely spoken any English at all, come to think of it. I'm making the most of my time left here, but oh my, Canada Canada Canada, I can't wait to come home. There are so many people I want to see.
I moved from the expensive hotel to a huge hostel that I stumbled across. The place is brand new and totally empty. I am the only person here. I am paying about $5 US a night to stay in one of the mixed-gender dorms. However, in reality, I have it all to myself. There are 20 beds in the room and they are all totally empty, except for the 3 that me and my stuff are spread out across. I hate hostel dorms, they're usually damp and smelly and loud. This is by far the best one I've seen. The dorms are gigantic, the beds are really like small bedrooms stacked on top of each other. It's amazing!
Shanghai Day 2, big improvement. Except for the rain. My sandals have definitely seen better days by this point, and my feet have been sloshing around in them all day making it impossible to walk quickly. They broke back in Hanoi, and I got them fixed, but they came apart again in Beijing. Your 20,000 quickie fix-it job is worthless, Hanoi Shoe Guy! I slipped and slid my way onto the subway and headed over to Pudong (the new part). I walked around a bit but decided against going up the Ocean Pearl Tower. It's expensive, silly, and probably a teleportation device for Martians. Pudong has a big westerny mall called Super Brand that is financed by Thais. It was bizarre to see Thai alters outside of the mall. It was also weird to be inside it, and see some western brands that I forgot existed. Weirder still was looking at shirts with sleeves and full-length pants for the first time in ages and thinking hmmm... maybe I should buy you?
After my brief and damp forray into Pudong, I took the subway back under the river. I stopped to get some Chinese name stamps made (finally! only took me 2 years...) and then walked over to the French Quarter of Shanghai. A long, wet shuffle later I found it. And I loved it! I am very happy that I found a part of Shanghai that I actually really liked. The French Quarter is beautiful. It looks totally European, even more out of place than the old colonial parts of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. Gorgeous big leafy trees and beautiful architecture. Plus I smelled a smell that I haven't smelled in over 2 years... fallen leaves. Fall is coming to Shanghai.
By this point in the day my feet were painfully softened from the rain and nearly beaten to the pulp from so much walking. I was holding my shoulder bag close to my chest with one hand to keep it out of the rain, my other hand occupied by the umbrella. There were postcards in the bag which I'd been trying to mail all day, and I didn't want ruined by the rain. I was also cold, wet, and getting tired. Then by some miracle I saw a magical corner that simultaneously answered all of my prayers. On this single corner there was a China Post (I could mail my postcards!), a Starbucks (I can get a grande-double-vanilla-non-fat-no-foam-latte!!)... and there was an H&M!!!!! I freaking nearly cried at seeing the H&M. Again it's been 2 years since I've seen any such easy, giant, basic, western store. I currently do not own proper pants, and I wanted some to fly home with cause I'll know I'll be cold. I've seen plenty of Levis stores in Asia, but they're more than I can afford, so I was tickled pink to see the H&M. I also bought a sweater there, because I lost my beloved white zipup hoodie somewhere between the Shanghai train station and the hotel. I will be so broke when I get back to Canada that I forsee alot of H&M clothing in my future.
I liked the French Quarter. If I ever had to move to China, I would probably pick it over Beijing or other parts of Shanghai. And if I did move to the French Quarter, I would stay as far away from Nanjing Street and The Bund as humanly possible. It sucks that I couldn't take any pictures; the rain and my totally rational, overprotective love for my camera prevented it. Next best thing is Someone Else's Picture (SEP http://www.flickr.com/photos/bloompy/2189682/). Yes it really does look like that. And isn't it nice to see a place that has seasons? As much as I love Asia, and have loved travelling, I'm noticing that the things I'm enjoying lately are those that remind me the most of somewhere other than Asia. I'm a little Asia-ed out, I guess, and so ready to come home.
Speaking of which... I am going home. Tomorrow. Less than a day. This is not real to me at all, yet. I do not have any idea how to write about this, because I have absolutely no idea what to say about it right now. The only thing I can think of is that it feels just as incomprehensible and strange as leaving Canada did. The only word that comes to my lips is 'wow'.
I will post one last, quick entry tomorrow!
