Shanghai

On the agenda was a trip to the Sun Yat Sen Memorial, but we didn’t go. No idea why. Since it was our last day in Guangzhou, I thought I would take a short stroll around the block; get some drinks. I went into the 7-Eleven and got a razor, a big Evian and something else. I must have spent too much time marveling at the Hello Kitty maxi pads, because one of the clerks came searching me out. Out of the store, I turned the block and in the park saw a bunch of elderly people working out on what looked like children’s playground equipment. One woman, at the front, was dancing with a sword. If the elderly in America took such good care of themselves, they would probably have a lot fewer problems. I continued on, and up a way, I heard shouting. It was a group of military men facing each other. As I went around, they were shouting more, hitting each other and throwing each other to the ground. I felt a bit unnerved, especially when I saw a poster on the wall of soldiers in formation. (Who knows what that was all about. Maybe recruiting.) I was actually enjoying my stroll, thinking well maybe Guangzhou wasn’t as bad as I thought. I rounded a corner and saw a bike standing up outside of a building. From the handlebars was a clear plastic, square, bag. As I walked past, I could see something furry inside. Always the curious one, I walked backwards and leaned in to see what it was. The body itself looked like a cat. Then I saw its face. It was a dead puppy. Probably one of the market’s casualties. On the walk back, I felt like crying. Had this person purchased the puppy and then put it into a plastic bag as one would carrots? Didn’t he or she know that puppies breathe and when they don’t, they die? Did they pick up a dead puppy off of the ground? Why had they left it on their handle bars in this heat? Too many horrible scenarios ran through my head.

Thankfully, we left the hotel at around 9 a.m. Our flight was at noon, I think. I was more than happy to leave. After we got to the airport, we went n the regular security checks. The way they do this seems very by the book and random. You can’t take liquids of any kind on your flight, so I guzzled my drink down. Some people wanted to chuck their hand sanitizers, which are liquid. No one had them confiscated. I went through the metal detector and the alarm went off. I pulled everything out of my pockets, and the woman guard was concerned about my Ventolin inhaler. Ah-Yen came over to tell her it was medicine and they couldn’t take it. She then told me that they insisted that I take it. I inhaled a puff. I’m not really sure what a person would do had they already taken a full dosage or they were only using in case of an emergency. I wouldn’t thing it very wise to ask people to randomly take their medicine on command.

We boarded our plane, and were told not long afterwards that the flight was delayed for an hour, because of extra air traffic. Don’t they schedule flights? Or do they just do whatever comes up? I don’t know if this happens on every flight but it happened on both of our domestic flights, so I’ll assume it’s fairly common: Not long after you sit down, they bring you a drink. Then not much longer they serve you dinner. So you are actually sitting on the runway, eating. We were offered pork or fish, and which do you think I chose? It was pretty good. Little cubes of some fish in a sauce and steamed white rice. That was the main dish. Then we had some cherry tomatoes in a sealed cup and raisins. I had Coke for my drink. You know, I have had more regular pop on this trip than I have in my entire life. It’s too much man, too much. The flight had a fair amount of turbulence, and Sarah and I weren’t keen about that, especially since we weren’t familiar with the airline’s safety record. Maybe it was better we didn’t know.

We arrived in Shanghai after about two hours. We collected our bags and looked for a few taxis. The ride in the cab was pretty harrowing. They don’t seem to have any rules of the road that I can gather. They start moving over into the next lane, waiting to see if anyone will honk. Honking is ever present here. Also the cars get so close to each other that if you put your fingers out of the window, you would probably lose them. At one point, the car next to ours was maybe two or three inches away. They are crazy fucking drivers in Shanghai. They drive the way they walk around. Very pushy. And very impatient. Pedestrians here, too, have some kind of death wish or they don’t fear death at all. They walk between the cars, in front of the cars, etc.  Ah-Yen said it’s because the driver is at fault if he or she hits the pedestrian. Yeah, well that person is still dead or mangled.

Our hotel - the Shanghai Classical - was in the old part of Shanghai. I can’t describe it, so you’ll just have to look at the photos. It’s a very traditional architecture with narrow streets. Gorgeous is all I can say. The lobby was on the fifth floor, and I rooms were on the fourth. The hallways were very dark and creepy. It reminded me a bit of a miniature version of The Overlook Hotel in the Shining. I joked that we would see some 14^th century ghost showing up tonight. No one thought that was funny. It was even creepier when, at night, my bag just fell over and I heard tapping on the closet door. As is always the case, once we get into town, we go get a bite to eat. For some reason we ended up at a dumpling place, and I don’t think anyone wanted dumplings. In fact, one of the girls who will remain nameless pitched an absolute fit over it. Several of them wanted to go to KFC, which was right across the way. But nevermind. Now began the daunting task of ordering. I got vegetable dumplings. I wanted fried ones, but got steamed, which meant I had about five or six dumplings for dinner. It looked like an appetizer. The people who got fried ones had about 10 on their plates. The dumplings looked pretty greasy, though. After that lovely meal, we walked around a bit through the inner sanctum of the town, which is called Yu Gardens. Breathtakingly beautiful. As we walked a bit into the shopping area, we were surprised to find that a small boy had his pants down and was urinating into the street (where everyone was walking.) In fact, Ah-Yen nearly walked into it. He was being pretty creative too. Robin said he was waving it around and creating designs.

We went off the beaten path a bit to a not so touristy street. There we saw the “locals” shopping. (Some were out strolling in their pajamas!) The only annoying thing I can say about Shanghai is that there are a TON of street peddlers. And you can’t even really tell who is a peddler and who isn’t until they come up to you, say “lady, lady … watchbag. Wanna buy a watchbag?” And then thrust this folded up page of items into your face. We have been having a fun old time with that “watchbag” business. Is it one word? And what is a watch bag? After you hear it enough times, you ignore them, say no, or wave them away. One guy changed his pitch, asking me “Louis Vuitton?” Yeah, I’m sure if you go down the alley with them for your knock off designer shit, you won’t get bounced. Back to the shopping, I found a few shops that sold unusual gifts. One was a place where you could find all sorts of Tibetan stuff. The owner was kind of a douche, though, so I passed on his stuff. (The second day I was in there, I didn’t have enough money to buy what I wanted, so I left his shop, explaining that I had to leave. He followed me and the “girls” down two streets! Sarah didn’t appreciate the fact that he grabbed her arm.) The other shop that I found interesting was a small village guy who had relocated to the city with his wife and baby. He was selling new and antique pieces from his village. You could buy everything from a baby carrier to a shawl. I had my eyes on some table cloths, but they were pretty expensive and I didn’t want to insult him by negotiating too low of a price. Before I left his shop the first time, he showed up photos of his mother, father, wife, and niece all in traditional dress. His apartment in Shanghai looked incredibly small and confining.

It was getting late and everything was shutting down, so before retiring we went to the Haagen Daaz store. They asked us if we wanted to take it away or eat in. We responded the latter. This is where the pomp began. The young ladies were already fancied out in uniforms. They sat us down at a table and handed us our menu. We ordered a scoop of ice cream each, and it arrived in a cocktail glass with a flag planted in the center. We also got water with lemon slices. Very fancy. In fact, most fast food joints in the States have become a culinary experience in China.