Shanghai

Shanghai
I arrived in Shanghai at 2:30 P.M., after a 22 hour train ride. The East Asia hotel is located on East Nanking Rd. which is really not unlike Times Square in New York. Lots of neon lights and people plus many shops and restaurants. I went out the first night and walked the Bund which is the area on the Huangpu River where British and French had many of their offices and banks at the turn of the century. There is a cross section of architectural styles in the construction of the buildings. Many of them also have interesting interiors such as elaborately painted ceilings and walls. The Bund is on one side of the river and Pudong the business area of Shanghai is on the other. I did not visit the Pudong section but I did take some great pictures of it from the Puxie or Bund side of the river. I later walked back to my hotel for the night.
The next day I tried to reach the nephew of Jerie, a counselor in Manila, whose nephew is a psychologist in Shanghai. Unfortunately it did not work but I still had a meeting set up with Lucy Wang and her associates regarding the setting up of a career counseling program here in Shanghai. My impression from communicating with people across China is career counseling ought to be offered because there are many economic and social changes which are affecting people’s work lives and choices.
I was fortunate to have 2 Americans from Seattle in my compartment. Most likely the only English speakers in my car. Susan and Brian had been travelling for 12 months around the world and have 2 months to go before they go home. They have been to Europe, Africa (hiked to the top of Mt Kilimanjaro with 8 porters and a guide), and Asia just having come from Viet Nam where they had met up with Susan's mother who was an escapee from Viet Nam 33 years ago with her one year old daughter Susan. They had spent 2 months there travelling all over Viet Nam. The train ride went quickly because we had a lot to talk about. Throughout the 1500 kilometre train ride when I looked out the window I always saw someone tilling the land or walking somewhere. The houses looked well kept, often concrete formed with tile roofs. Many of them were 2 stories. China looked prosperous without a parcel of land that was not being put to some sort of use. Not many trees along the way which is probably why they like Guilin/Yangshuo so much because of the lush vegetation.
I was lucky to have booked a hotel which was right on Nanking Rd. which is the centre of the old city or Puxi area of Shanghai. It was like stepping out onto Times Square when I left my hotel. I spent the 3 days there going to the Shanghai Museum (my one museum stop on this trip but one of the best museums in China with lots of displays of ancient pottery, statues, and interesting displays of the ethnic minorities in China with their clothing and various accoutrements), seeing the YuYuan gardens which is a preserved 16 century royal garden, and in addition the evidence of the often European and American presence in Shanghai. This was demonstrated on the Bund which is a long string of unique buildings along the Huangpu River developed by the Europeans and Americans which reflect the different architectural structures at the time they were built like art deco, roccoco etc. There is also and area called the French Concession which has a very European feel to it with many trees lining the streets and more European style restaurants with menus in English. We avoided these restaurants when we went there because they were more expensive and I did not go to China to eat lasagna.
What I did go to China for was the hot pot which we had on a side street off the Yunnan food st. The hot pot is this medal cylinder with hot coals in it which sits in the middle of this wok like metal container. It heats up the water and you throw in whatever food you have purchased to be cooked. We had slices of chicken, tofu, mushrooms etc. When they were cooked we would each fish out our food and put it on our rice. Very fresh and lots of fun plus we washed it down with TsingTao beer. I found the beer very good throughout Asia very good but I did not drink any wine or spirits except when we drank cognac with Yi's parents in Foshan. I also ate off vendors on the street which I did not do in the Philippines and Thailand but I thought I am coming to the end of my trip so I can take a risk. I never did get sick except a little towards the last day or so but I just lost my appetite, nothing major. In Shanghai I would get fish balls, tofu, dumplings, and potato pancakes with a fried egg for practically nothing. I was also always buying fresh fruit off the vendors no matter where I was. Food is an important part of everyday life for the Chinese and so it is fun participating it in with them. When it comes to drinks its different. They think it is bad to drink things cold so when you ask for milk or water it will be warm or hot. In fact someone told me in the summer if they see a Westerner giving their kids a cold drink they think it is child abuse and want to take it away from the child.
Of course one of the safety things you need to do is watch out you don't slip on some phlegm when walking down the street. I think with the air pollution I wanted to start spitting but the Chinese have something about mucous like it is bad to have any in their body or at least the males seem to think this. They begin to retrieve some from the inner bowels of their bodies and make this huge grrrhhhup sound which I would have liked to have caught on tape. And of course just spit it on the sidewalk. Sometimes I would see someone slip slide sideways and I know it was someone slipping on a fresh gob on the sidewalk. Supposedly there is a public health campaign to get them to curtail this activity until after the Olympics.
Shanghai is where I got back into the art of haggling. I had done it years ago when I imported clothing from Guatemala so I was out of practice for almost 30 years. I watched Brian in Shanghai and Charlie a Canadian in Beijing and learned again the art of relationship building. In haggling it isn't about the cheap price but the time and effort you have to engage with the seller. The better the relationship the better the price. One of the telling signs of how well you have haggled is after the product is bought if you if they offer you their card that means they are happy at what you bought if for and if you have to ask for their card they are saying you got a good price and I don't want to see your friends and probaly not you again because you cost me too much. So much for the relationship.
I ended up buying sunglasses , dvds, and a tennis racket off these guys from Nanking Rd. who we decided to follow up with. I had been approached by 30,000 guys to buy a watch but Brian and I decided to look at some dvds these guys were selling. We thought they'd have some in the alley instead they led us to a store which had a false door which revolved and there were 3 storeys full of jackets, shoes, dvds, watches, other jewellery. Everything is a knockoff and about 20% of the going North American price. The ironic part is it is illegal in China although throughout Asia it is Chinese products which are sold everywhere and must be condoned by the gov't in order to be made in such quantities.
So after 3 and a half days it was on to Beijing. I am going to catch an 11 hour overnight train to Beijing. I will probably not get as lucky as I did with the first train with great companions like Brian and Susan.