Shanghai's and Lows

Call it China, Redux. After much delay, thanks again Air China, we arrived in Shanghai…the first site on our tour new to both of us. My (Pearce) father, Andy warned me several times about the sheer number of people that resided in Shanghai.  I (Pearce) think the word trillion was entertained.  So here is a picture of the Bund, one of the major tourist sights and considered the “center” of the city.

Kidding aside, Andy was right about the amount of people.  There is an eyeful of Chinese people in almost any view that wasn’t our hostel room.  Shanghai is a very modern city, but a modern Chinese city.  The difference can be seen most easily with the way of life. So although walking through parts with new flashy buildings, you might at times feel like you are in New York City or Barcelona, you never are entirely fooled, for in a modern Chinese city you will still see a woman wrestling a giant eel-like fish back into a tub of water that it had managed to jump out of onto the filth strewn sidewalk. I (Allyson) know this from first hand experience.

We arrived to our hostel late in the night after taking the metro or subway which was very nice.  We felt much safer on their subway than either the MARTA in Atlanta and the L in Chicago.  I (Pearce) should take a brief second, in the hopes I do not jinx us, to say I have felt very safe in all of Asia so far.  Our hostel did not have the room we reserved for us so say gave us an upgrade for the first two nights of three.  So we had a loft style room in the Bund Blue Mountain Youth Hostel, which was oddly placed on the sixth floor of an office building.  It was one of the nicer hostels with a very accommodating staff and nice café/bar attached with very cold and cheap Asian beer.  We went to sleep the first night after some post travel day beers.

We slept in the next day, enjoying our deluxe hostel room.  Insert mandatory Starbucks stop here.  Yes folks, we broke our “American chain” seal here in Shanghai, not that this should surprise anyone who knows Allyson.  Before you judge, just know that Starbucks provides 1) air conditioning, 2) free internet 3) Venti Green Tea soy latte, hold the syrup…for those of you who don’t know, try. I (Pearce) was ashamed but I quickly swallowed my pride with a delicious Frappuccino. I (Allyson) was joyous to be reunited with a long last pal.  Unfortunately our American gluttony did not end there. Pearce also saw a Dunkin’ Donuts across the street and the boy really loves a doughnut, or four. Plus the unique flavors and kinds of donuts intrigued me (Pearce)… until I ate them.  They were awful and Allyson dared me into the shaved pork and seaweed donut.  My hopes that such an exotic combination would be paradoxically good were dashed in a single bite.

After our culinary delights, we casually walked down to the Bund.  The Bund refers to the muddy river bank that defined a lot of Shanghai’s eastern geography and played a key role in its largesse as a major port town in history.  Instead of a muddy back in is very built up on both sides.  On the Western bank there is the “old” Bund which consists of a series of large building built primarily in the 1920’s and consists of old state buildings that are now banks, hotels and shops with very few retaining their original purpose.  Across the Bund the very modern skyline and vision of the future.  Many very tall and modern skyscrapers have risen in the last ten years and form and very distinctive skyline and contrast to the older Bund.  We strolled up and down the banks of the older side.

It was extremely hot in the middle of the day (and really at any point of the day) and this is something we have be dealing with since leaving Mongolia where we had a freak cold snap.  I cannot imagine the heat getting better as we head to South to Southeast Asia in August but oh well we have ways to beat the heat.  We have been meticulous about keeping and using a supply of water. This involves two 2-liter camelpacks, several Nalgene water bottles and the gift that keeps on giving: the Steripen.  I am not huge on product placement, especially when I am not getting paid but this sucker is worth its weight in gold.  This is a product not known to many, but we have had this since we bought supplies for Hawaii (Hi Jason and Cami!).  It is a small pen-like object with a UV light and a sensor that purifies clear water sources a liter at a time of 99.9% of bacteria and viruses in about a minute.  This negates carrying heavy water in a long hike and having to buy expensive bottles of water. There is one downside to it though, it is an extreme battery hog and we have already gone through one set of specialty batteries and are currently using our spares. Hopefully, they will make the rest of the trip.

Tangent over, as we had spent most of the day catching up on emails and planning our next leg, we felt we needed to actually “do” something China related. We landed on getting some authentic Chinese food for dinner.  We had done our research and found a very cool restaurant called Chun in a article by an ex-pat from our lovely state of Georgia who is now the editor and chief of a web based magazine called Shanghaiise.  I liked the idea of the restaurant because it had several cool factors: 1. It is hard to find. 2. They only have 4 tables and require reservations.  3. The woman who owns and operates the small restaurant can only say “Hallo” and “Eat” in English. 4. And because she speaks no English, one is instructed to have someone who can write the following in Chinese characters: “Feed me well.” and then hang on.  We got there in the nick of time with the risk of losing our spot at one of the four tables after a hair-raising cab ride across Shanghai.  We sat down and handed the lady our card saying the instructions above.  The results were an onslaught of duck seasoned in sweat and sour, cold chicken strips, kale? like vegetables, fresh and large crawfish, a whole fish in a hoison sauce, cold mung bean? soup, with loose leaf green tea to wash it all down.  We had arrived at the golden hour of 6:30 because not five minutes after our arrival there was a long line forming outside as the sun went down.

Post dinner we strolled around the area we were in which was full of funky little boutiques, hip cafes, and trendy spas. We are not sure because of the hectic race to the restaurant, but we now think we were in an area called the French Concession, which we visited more assuredly the next day.  At my behest, we returned to the Bund that night because I wanted to see the town literally lit up.  We had heard that the best view was actually from across the way on the “Riverwalk” side of the river. It took us awhile to figure out how to get across, but I am so happy we persevered because we were able to experience the wonder that is The Bund Underground Tunnel. I could go into a lot of detail trying to explain the details of the magical experience, but instead I think you should wait and see it for yourself when we repost with the video when we are out of China again. For now, just imagine the tunnel from Willy Wonka mixed with the Epcot globe ride, but on a really really tight budget and with confused and rapidly interchanging themes including aquatic and outer-space.

We strolled, or more adequately strategically walked (remember the billions of people) around the Riverside area checking out the incredible views while avoiding the hawkers (right now there is a tie for best on street tschosky between the clip on roller skates that light up and the light up missiles that you launch into the air only to helicopter down slowly into your hands).

The next day we attempted to find the nebulously defined neighborhood or area called the French Concession. This was an area for the French consulate and trading companies back when that was a big deal.  There were other areas for other principalities but none that have endured as well culturally. We had left our hostel without actually doing any of the necessary work to actual get us there though. Big mistake. In China where most people still do not speak/read English, we have found it most helpful to have 1) a map (obvious right) 2) Chinese name of the area written by a Chinese person 2) the phone number of said place so the cab can call to figure out where they are going. We did have a map, but it did not have the area marked on it and unfortunately most Chinese do not actually recognize the term French Concession. This resulted in some travel bumps but also a chance encounter with some architects from Decatur, Georgia (really?!?!) and appropriately a French woman. We finally landed in the neighborhood and escaped the heat in a French brasserie called Le Selaye (spelling?) where we enjoyed stinky cheese and I (Allyson) got delicious Champagne. Worth every penny. 

Later that evening we met up with one of my (Pearce) old friend’s boyfriend.  Lindsey Cohen and her sister lived about five houses down from me and we went to grade and high school together.  Lindsey’s boyfriend, Jon, has been working in Shanghai for the last several years and generously offered to show us the town.  He took us to a great Yunnan style restaurant in the middle of the French Concession.  The name I (Pearce) have forgotten and failed to write down (Jon feel free to educate us in the Comments), but it was delicious. We had several dishes that were wrapped in banana leaves, some special mushrooms from Yunnan, and a melt in your mouth fish.  It was a treat to eat Yunnan food as this region is known for its cuisine and we will not have the chance to go on this visit. 

The tour did not stop there. Jon then showed us a evening on the Bund and in Shanghai that we would have never seen had it not been for him.  He took us to a rooftop bar on the Bund where we enjoyed the view and probably too many drinks.  We really enjoyed meeting and spending time with Jon and he is a very interesting, gracious and enthusiastic guy.   Plus I (Pearce) got to talk to Lindsey on a rare international call.  Sorry I (Pearce) had to go to Shanghai just to give you a ring, Lindsey.

The next morning we woke up to head to one of the most beautiful cities of China, and according to Marco Polo, the world: Hangzhou. We had heard about it from Pearce’s colleague at Emory who is from there and knew we could not miss out. So accordingly, we hopped on a high-speed train (thankfully not the one that crashed) and arrived 45 minutes later.