Shanghai dispatch: Jazzy hip hop change my life

My last (and longest) Shanghai post, written now that we’re home with our Bean and no longer being offered cuttlefish and egg rolls for breakfast. I didn’t get around to sending it while still in Shagnhai because we were heavily scheduled (and minded), not to mention jet lagged! In any case, I was writing right up until I lost battery power at the airport, so that counts for something, right?? Well, anyway…

 

We have had five different “minders” since we’ve been here — all graduate students with varying proficiency in English (though all far better at English than any of us are at Chinese). Thursday, Kevin (most of them asked us to call them by an English name) took us to Pudong, on the other side of the river, where all the really crazy skyscrapers are (for an example, Google “oriental pearl shanghai” and look at the images). We went up to the 88th floor of the Jin Mao Tower, which is an observation deck (random fact: 8 is a lucky number in China). Though it was a very clear day (for Shanghai), it was still difficult to see very far. From there, we walked down along the river, then took a boat across to the other side and made our way by foot to the Yu Garden. This was probably the 2nd most disconcerting excursion of our trip. It felt like walking through a very busy construction site combined with several very busy roads all coming into one intersection. I felt like I had equal probability of getting mugged or hit by a car. All the while, we were accosted by people trying to sell us useless things and scary meats on sticks. I have never seen so many different kinds of meats on sticks. There were also many folks selling and eating what looked like candy-coated crab apples. We only learned a couple days later that they were candied yaws (tomatoes)!

Once at Yu Garden & Bazaar, we walked around the park and then into the bazaar, which is basically several narrow streets of crowded shops where haggling is a very serious sport and tourists are generally easy prey. I did a couple of deals with Kevin’s help and then scored a jade bunny, originally priced at 280rmb (7rmb:$1), for 130rmb. I was quite pleased with myself. After spending some time (and money) at the shops, we headed for dinner. Writing now (it was Sunday when I originally wrote this bit), I can’t remember everything we at that night, but suffice to say, it was another large Chinese dinner. I do recall a big block of tofu with tea-pickled egg and some dried fish on top, though.

After dinner, we walked to a bar in the Bund (all these early 1900s buildings were built by Concession architects from all over the world; the Bund is the center of the Shanghai financial district), right along the river. On the way, we watched the buildings of Pudong, the skins of which become 80-storey commercial space at night. It was incredibly impressive. They REALLY like lights and TV here. There are TVs everywhere, including in most restaurants (even in the private rooms, of which there are many) and taxis and at bus stops, as well as in other random places. In any case, the bar is a place Jeremy had been before and enjoyed. It was called the Glamour Bar. Apparently, it’s owned by an Australian expat. We got there before the night crowd and were able to get a choice table by the windows. We each had a drink (Che had an absinthe a flambé) and watched the water, the crazy Pudong buildings, and the digital mice running up and down the far wall (fabulously cool and cute). It is the year of the mouse/rat right now, hence the mice. Next year, it will be different. While there we also saw the founder of Corel, who came in for a drink with a small entourage.

From there, we went back to our hotel and crashed. The next day (Thursday), we had class in the morning and after lunch went to a Buddhist Temple. There, a very nice monk took us around and told us the stories of the various objects. At this particular temple, they have a very famous, very large (5ft tall, maybe?) carved jade Buddha. It was here that we learned that Violet was born in the year of the dog, the primary characteristic of such individuals is friendliness =) We then managed to convince our minders to take us to a place they had never heard of and was not famous. Our Lonely Planet guide described 50 Moganshan Road as a large complex of industrial buildings housing artists’ studios.

It turned out to be a bit tricky to find, so one of our guides asked a man on a three-wheeler for directions. He said he knew where it was and said to follow him. He was very cheery and would drive up ahead, motion to us to follow and wait until we caught up again, then he would drive a bit further. It felt a bit like we were being lured to the gates of hell by a satyr. When we got to Moganshan Road, our other guide handed him a cold bottle of green tea to thank him. He tried to refuse and hand it back, but she walked away from his bike, so he couldn’t. It then became something like a game of hot potato, until he finally tossed it at our male guide and he reflexively caught it. The drove off laughing.

Moganshan was less than picturesque, though the graffiti was pretty nice. We walked past dumpsters and sketchy looking people huddled in doorways. After a ways the street curved sharply to the right. When we turned the corner, there was a street full of galleries. We’re not talking DIY or outsider art, we’re talking ‘had a solo show in Manhattan’, $10k and up art. It was seriously surprising and impressive. Toward the end of that street was the complex described in the travel book. It had a front gate behind which was a warren of buildings that had been variously partitioned into galleries, studios and stores. We spent hours there. At some point, we told our very bored minders that they were welcome to leave and that we would make it back to the hotel just fine. They left and we stayed until dark.

Friday was the last day of class, which went very well. We were presented with gifts and students asked to have their pictures taken with us. We went to lunch, then Jeremy headed to the airport and Ché, Holly and I, along with Jing, our host for the day, went to the People’s Square and the Shanghai Museum. The museum was amazing and we could have spent much more time than the two and a half hours we were there. The most impressive rooms were the jade, the art and the calligraphy. The pottery and bronze vessels from the 17th century BC, were pretty impressive, too!

That night, we had a very welcome change of pace for dinner. One of Jing’s (and Shanghainese’s) favorite dishes is hot pot. There are many different hot pot restaurants, many of which specialize (e.g. beef hot pot, seafood hot pot). Jing took us to a place that was part hot pot restaurant, part Chinese culture museum. Also of note, this was a vegetarian hot pot place! Happy camper, was I. So the idea with hot pot is a lot like fondue, with broth. Each diner gets their own boiling pot of broth in which they can cook whatever fixings they select. There were shelves against the wall with all manner of greens and other veggies and a fridge with a wide array of tofu and faux-meat products, along with tons of mushrooms. They also have a mix your own tea cabinet, with tons of different kinds of teas and mix-ins. After dinner, you could take your tea leaves/flowers/fruit/etc and turn it into homemade paper made out of diners’ used napkins (they have a different cultural activity every night of the week). Very interesting place. Furthermore it was fabulous to have control over a meal for the first time all week! We had a long, lazy walk back to the hotel and crashed for the night.

Saturday, we took a train ride to the next town over, Hongzhou, to tool around West Lake. While we had all been lead to expect something like Acadia, it turned out to be more like Central Park, China-style (i.e., crowded shoulder-to-shoulder). That said, it was beautiful and certainly a cultural experience. And, we got to ride bikes (again, China-style, so we kind of rode bikes). When we were walking our bikes across the Broken Bridge, a Chinese man jumped in front of Ché and his friend snapped a picture of them. I also got the title of this blog entry there. I saw a Chinese man in a white t-shirt, white shorts, white socks and tennis shoes. His t-shirt said, “Jazzy hip hop change my life.” Bless his heart.

On the ride back to Shanghai, Ché and I made a little friend. Liu Liu (his nickname) is five years old and was sitting in front of us on the train. He heard us speaking English and was intrigued. We started playing peekaboo and copying games with him and then his mom started getting him to practice his English with us. He sang his ABCs and counted and said little phrases at us. Then, he gave me a drawing he had made on the train the day before (now on our fridge). We looked up how to say “thank you” in our phrase book and I showed it to him (I had no idea how to pronounce it) and he said it out loud and began to giggle. I now know how to say, “thank you very much” in Chinese, and Liu Liu, at five, can sing the ABCs, count and answer simple questions in English.

Sunday, our hosts assumed we would want to sleep in and pack, so naturally, we all went out shopping! Ché and I hopped in a cab and went to a fabric market that was in the Lonely Planet guide. We were richly rewarded, though it took one (relative) fleecing before we realized that in the one building, there were three floors of independent dealers, who were ready to make a deal, as it were. From there, we went back to the Yu Bazaar and had a grand old time until we had to head back to the hotel to finish packing and leave for the airport.

We met our host for the day (described to us by Jing as “short boy”; Saturday’s minder was described by her as “tall boy”, aka Carl) at 12:30 and took a 20 minute cab ride to the train station, where we covered the last 30km of our trip in 6 minutes on the MagLev train. 20 hours later (the first 7 with the seat belt light on), we were home, holding our baby, happy to have taken the trip and very happy to be home.