Last full day in Shanghai
Trip Start
Aug 21, 2006
1
37
70
Trip End
Dec 18, 2006
Shanghai,
China
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
01-Chris goofing around in the closed hotel bar
. Often I am dropped off not really sure where I am....and end up going into local stores to show them the card (refer to above for reaction) and 90% of the time I end up where I am supposed to go! It's really quite exhausting for me. I'm sure it is equally exhausting for the cabbies and people I am dealing with. Brian lives in Shanghai and said that often the cabbies don't stop for foreigners because it is just too difficult. Completely understandable!Anyway, the Thai restaurant was AMAZING last night. Tucked away in this extensive walled compound left over from the British when they were here many years ago. It was located on the upper floors of an old mansion, dim lighting, lots of Thai art and the food was lovely...but pricey as you would imagine. Took my journal with me and wrote many pages of impressions and also just generally trying to catch up from lack of writing during the conference.
I gave up on trying to find alternative internet access and just accepted the hotel prices. I'm sure it will be much better when I arrive in Bali.
China has been a difficult place for me. My observations here have helped me to understand the culture better but the language is so different that it's tough
02-I'm flossin baby!
. As I was sitting in traffic the other evening on my way to the non-existent internet cafe, I met eyes with a young commuter on one of the busses stuck with me in traffic. She was tired and standing holding in the center walkway of the bus because the seats were full. Very much the same scene as in San Francisco at 6pm. I realized that the people here are just working hard and wanting the same things that we all want...improved living conditions, better opportunities for a happy and prosperous life. Much like what the poorer Chinese in the Tibet region were probably looking and hoping for. It seems simple and obvious but when you are away from home and tired and trying to figure out how to get around a new culture, you often lose perspective. I really don't think many Chinese know what is going on in the Tibet area. It is tragic and sad but I fear largely irreversible at this point.
Much of the new construction in the Shanghai region appears to be modeled after western development but on a grander scale. The homogenization and modernization of the world continues...
I'm off to the old city area to find some markets to stroll around in today
03-Shopping area
. Resisting shopping at all costs due to limited baggage room. Maybe I'll ship.....So I'm back now after a great day of sightseeing. Took a cab to the permanent antique market near the old chinese city area. Mostly 2 to 3 story lelong type housing (central alleyways that houses front on off of the main road) many people out and about living life. Stores on the lower levels and living areas above and temporary (permanent now?) stalls set up in front of the main stores selling lots of 'antiques' (term used loosly) Sometimes the things are just in bad condition but new! Many Mao watches and ashtrays and little red books. Many figurines of dutiful and obedient forward looking Chinese (probably from the major communist days of how to be an 'ideal' citizen). Spent some time in a tea shop where the owner was an earnest entrepreneur...lots of signs about customer service and guarantees, free samples etc. I tasted a few types of flower jasmine tea and two types of oolong. Quite a lovely process watching the jasmine flower open up in the hot water with the central flower emerging, suspended in the water.
Kept walking after I had seen most of the stores into an area that was about 99% local and 1% foreign (me). Pungent smells, sights, people staring at me etc
04-Locals out for the day
. Emerged into an empty alleyway where the 'new' highrise housing was built. Then the street turned into the more upscale shopping area that Chris, Amey and I had shopped in before they left. Interesting to see the transition between the neighborhood. I think the architectural convention attendees would have enjoyed this particular slice of street life. Spent more time exploring the shops and the old tea house and pond in the middle of the shopping area. Ate some dim sum with 10 other foreigners who shared the large round table with me (note: dim sum NOT as good as in SF!). Spent the evening back at the hotel watching more Cinemax and HBO...I mean, who knows when I will be able to do such boring things like that on the rest of my adventure trip!
Got to know many of the staff in the hotel..at least by sight. I think I earned a couple of brownie points with the waitresses one morning when they couldn't figure out what this man was ordering. He was in a wheelchair so he needed some help getting things. The waitresses kept consulting each other about what 'corn flakes' were. The menu was buffet so after about 10 minutes of listening to them not figure it out, I pulled one aside and showed her the mysterious bowl of 'corn flakes'. She was obviously relieved, and got the man his cereal and best yet, without losing face...
