Soaking in Shanghai

DATE: May 16, 2011

After landing, navigating with all of our luggage through the airport, we arrived via cab to our beautiful hotel! It’s modern, clean, sleek, beautiful, and has air conditioning! The downside is that I don’t speak the language…and I will say there are quite a few items that get lost in translation.  Let’s say when you are checking in, it may be important to tell your guests that in order to turn on the lights you will need to insert your room key card into the slot by the door! It took me 10 minutes, a call to the building engineer, and the bell hop to help me turn on the lights! Its super hard to unpack in the dark.

After getting situated with lights, I cleaned up for dinner. Luckily prior to washing my hair I checked out the hair dryer, as this was a concern before I left, and I chose to believe the hotel that they had a blow dryer...  I have learned something about the Chinese they either A. Don’t have thick hair. Or B. Don’t have naturally curly hair that gets super frizzy if not managed with proper hair care products and tools! Or all of the above! This particular hair dryer is vintage, circa 1971… Although I love some good vintage, hair care tools best left to be the latest and greatest! Given this discovery I thought it best to address the clean hair initiative the next morning.

After a little revival the troops rallied and we headed out to find dinner in the Bund! We cruised down with most of Shanghai to the Huangpu Park overlooking the Huangpu River and the Far Bank that hosts the Oriental Pearl Tower.  The brilliant lights and skyline are amazing! The architecture is even more amazing, I can’t wait to see it in daylight. After a few snapshots we then headed back through the Bund to find dinner.  We ended up at Chinese restaurant for Chicken and some Chow Mein.  The Chow Mein was quite good! The chicken I steered clear of, it still had bone fragments and skin, it didn’t appear to be that appealing or perhaps safe.  Hey up until now, I have thought I was a pretty good eater, it’s not like I am starving thin, but it appears I am picky!

Pearl Hotel

We were home and in bed by 9:30pm, which for our bodies was 6:30am. I was exhausted but decided a Benadryl was still in order.  It got me through about  1am, in which I was wide awake and chose to take another to get me intermittent sleep til 7:30am local time. 

DATE: May 17, 2011

Pablo, Heidi, and I started emailing early to plan our day.  I had a little “continental breakfast” in our hotel, and then we hit the town.  A continental breakfast includes cereal, pastries, chow mein, fruit, bacon, pickled eggs, waffles, quiche, anything and everything! After a good fueling we hit the streets and just started walking…we wandered through the Bund, seeing local purveyors of fish, vegetables, and clothing.  I watched a fish monger throw a fish on the ground to kill it prior to scaling it for a customer.  I wasn’t totally ready for that!

We then took the Metro to The Old City.  We had according to Heidi the world’s best dumplings at Nanxiange Steamed Bun Restaurant.  Pablo and I started with Crab Soup, which Heidi ordered for us in Chinese.  The soup is served in a large dumpling and consumed through a straw that has a tag on it that says HOT.  I not going to lie, I wasn’t ready for that either.  It was good, but I am not sure it was my favorite.  It’s basically crab stock, with super small chunks of crab that you sip through straw, slightly more fishy that I prefer.  The dumplings, those were the BEST of have ever had!! A wonderful mixture of pork and crab stuffed into a yummy little pasta like casing.  Delicious!!

After filling our tummies, we cruised around The Old Town a bit, seeing The Bridge of Nine Turnings.  The Bridge literally has nine zig-zags, this is thought to halt bad spirits that are unable to make turns. As we wandered, we had a little coconut juice, to keep us hydrated. It is quite warm and humid in Shanghai, now you understand my “hair issues” a bit more.  Our next stop was The Temple of the City God.  It was beautiful lots of gold and little creatures on the roof protecting the temple.  Many people including Heidi burned sage to clear the spirits and then prayed.  The Temple was built in 1402 and was neglected until recently it has been restored to its original beauty and purpose.  

Pablo lead us on our next adventure to Xintiandi, we trekked across streets, over streets, dodged bicycles, mopeds, and cars.  It is amazing to me the diversity in the city.  One moment you will be in a neighborhood that appears to be quite impoverished and the next block there will be a Rolls Royce dealership.  Very disparate.   I am still trying to understand Communism fully, but have the gist that the government manages all money, no one has an income.  This is what I am still trying to understand why there is such a disparate line between the wealthy and the poor… I will study this more and get back to you!

Xintiandi is beautiful, the old and the new delicately married into wonderful architecture.  It feels like you are in Paris. We stopped to have a beverage at a Luna Bar, it appeared to be owned and ran by an Italian.  Very Euro, and priced like Europe.  It was still a nice place to rest, cool off, and soak in a more culture. 

Pablo led us again on another adventure to Tian Zi Fang, a little area with passages of shopping, art, handmade crafts, lots of fun stuff.  And as always good people watching!!

On the cab ride home, (I will talk about the cabs in Shanghai later) we took a street that I was told sold hair care items, so I jumped out and bought myself a new Chinese hairdryer for 100RMB ($15)! If only there was a plug in the bathroom! The plug that is in the bathroom says, “Shaver Only”.  So I will dry my hair at the mirror over the mini bar!!

We are now resting before Bejing Duck! I will try it, but a little concerned about its presentation…especially after all I have seen in the market place today!