Sunday was one of those days you can't help but look back on fondly. Not because we saw every major site, or or had a really good night out, but simply because we strolled the town with no itinerary at all.
We arrived at 10AM at Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport, and because it's the national holiday and all, we went straight to the train station to try and get our train tickets to Hangzhou for the following day. We hopped in a cab, and with the aid of a phrasebook we were on our way to the train station. We arrived 30 minutes later and began our search for where to buy the tickets. This would prove to be much more difficult than anticipated. As we emerged from the underground parking lot we were dropped off in, the first thing we saw were huge metal barriers preventing us from entering the train station with a long line of people weaving their way through them, tickets in hand, like a ride at disneyland. We knew right away that unlike any train station we were familiar with, at this one you don't buy the tickets inside. So, we asked a random person on the street in broken Chinese where we might buy our tickets. She pointed ambiguously one direction, and we obediently followed. After wondering for a bit we entered a building that looked more like a shipping office than anything, but it did say something about tickets from what we could decifer. We walked up to the teller who ignored us and said something in Chinese. A woman walked up, paper in hand, and exchanged it along with money for a ticket. This happened 2 more times, both times equally ignored, before we realized this wasn't going to work. We went back outside and called Jessica's family friend, Ann, who lived in Shanghai to see if she might be of some help. She didn't know about buying the tickets, but she did know Mandarin, so we got her to ask one of the guards receiving tickets where we might buy ours. He wrote something in characters (assumably where and when we wanted to go) and again pointed ambiguosly the opposite direction we had gone previously. After a bit of navigating we arrived at what appeared to be a ticket window (long lines, many teller windows, people with cash in hand). So we got in line. After a moment, I decided it might be best to ask just to be sure. Sure enough, the guard standing near by took one look at our Chinese instructions and pointed back the direction we came. A bit frustrated we started our treck back to where we'd first arrived. We asked another train employee who, as soon as he began giving directions, we immediately contradicted by another employee. They argued then decided we should go back to the first place (the shipping office) to buy our tickets. We left, disheartened, but willing to give it another shot. This time we took another approach: a young person who hoped would speak English. He didn't. But he did point a new direction. Having no other option, we were off. After a 5 minute walk we arrived at an office with a title translated in English "soft-seat train tickets." We went inside to find 5 train station employees standing around in an airconditioned room. We showed them the paper with our destination in Chinese, to which they replied "no tickets." We attempted to ask when there might be tickets, but every time we asked they just responded "no tickets no tickets no tickets." Failure. He directed us to a bus station nearby. We walked over there to an accentric woman yelling at another traveler in Chinese. We asked about tickets to Hongzhou, and she informed us we'd have to come back tomorrow: you can only buy bus tickets the day of travel in the same way that you can only buy train tickets from the train station you plan to depart from, meaning it is IMPOSSIBLE to plan ahead, unless you fly. This being the National Holiday, where everyone in China travels, I guess it was inevitable that this would happen. Buy hey, we're optimistic.
That was our first 2 hours in Shanghai. A hell of a welcome, right? Suprisingly enough, Matt, Jessica, and I weren't discouraged. (this might be because we didn't sleep the night before having been out until 3 at a "TBC intercultural event" where we met with our tutors and host students at a local bar where a few people on our program performed live). Anyway, dilerious as we were, we jumped in a cab and headed off to our hostel. This was an excursion in itself in that our cab driver clearly didn't understand the way street numbering works (the street numbers increase or decrease depending on which direction you go! who knew?). He got within a block of our hostel (1072 something something road). He stopped at 917 something something road (the numbers were increasing before we stopped), looked around, and proceeded to begin reversing down a one way street. We thought this peculiar but being exhausted and being in China, we let it go.. for a little while. He reversed down the street for a good 2 blocks before admitting that he had no idea where we were, and asked us to call our hostel for directions. We tried to tell him all he needed to do was go straight, but he wasn't having it. So he called the hostel, and sure enough they told him the same thing. So, driving forward this time, we were on our way. We got to 1012 before he decided he had absolutely no idea where he was again. He asked us again to call the hostel, but this time we all started pointing (admitedly rather violently) toward the hostel we could now SEE. He drove at a snails pace for another block for stopping in front of our hostel, thorougly confused.
Given our first 3 hours in Shanghai, on only the two ours of sleep we got on the plane, you'd think we'd be ready to strangle someone by now. But, surprisingly even now, we weren't. We strolled up to our hostel, got the key, dropped off our stuff, and left ready to start (or maybe restart) our day. We got directions via subway to The Bund, Shanghai's famous promenade and were on our way.
As stated as this post began, the rest of our day was fantastic. We got off the subway, mapless, and began our walk to the bund. Along the way we stopped in local shops, grabbed some lunch at a hole-in-the-wall noodle place, got some coffee at a French patisserie, and spent around an hour wondering a 7 floor bookstore before finally making our way to The Bund.
The Bund
Somtimes its better to use someone elses words to explain something. Lonely Planet: "Beijing has the Great Wall and Xi'an the Terracotta Army, but Shanghai has its Bund, a magnificent riverside sweep of masonry that grew with the rise of Shanghai and impassively watch the city's decline and renasissance... Nowhere else in Shanghai are the ebbing symbols of Western hegemony so deftly contrasted to the monuments of China's growing clout" pg. 10, "Shanghai Encounter," 2008.
The Bund
Probably the most interesting thing about the Bund was not the Bund at all, but the hundreds of Chinese police surrounding it. As we walked, we encountered numerous groups of 20-30 Chinese police officers standing around either waiting or preparing for something. As we walked we saw some with shields and helmets, and others with just little wooden chairs and boxes of water bottles. They seemed to also be guarding major venues, such as The Peace Hotel. One small section, the north end of the Bund was also closed off with police tape witha round 50 policemen sittling around inside the taped off area. We never found out why there were so many cops, I guess it just goes down as one more thing that has bewildered us in our short stay in China thus far.
Next we walked down Nanji East street to People's Square. This is the street famous for its shopping. Its a pedestrian walkway surrounded by first class stores (meaning they were well out of our price range). It was fun anyway, and we snapped a few pictures along the way.
People's Square
Around 6:30 we caught a cab to meeting Ann, Jessica's family friend for dinner. Ann works in Shanghai as a representative of Weight Watchers. Why would you need Weight Watchers in China you might ask? Well, apparently, 25% of the population is overweight. Conveniently McDonalds was introduced not too long ago. As was KFC, Burger King, Papa Johns etc etc. American culture is flooding the world. Great.
Anyway, Ann was a really cool lady. She gave us lots of info on what to do and see while here in Shanghai (much more than we could possibly see), and treated us to a really good dinner complete with a bottle of wine. After dinner we caught the subway home and turned in early, having been up for what seemed like days.
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