Happy Year of the Rat!
I actually remember the last Year of the Rat in 1996. I remember it because it was the year that the Florida Marlins won the World Series in baseball and the Florida Panthers made their playoff run in hockey, and due to a
series of strange events, rats were a symbol for that year's Florida Panthers. It must have been a pretty big deal at the time, because I don't follow hockey at all, and even I know about that!
I figured Grant's Pad would celebrate this Chinese New Year appropriately with another China 2002 post. So sit back, relax, light up some incense, and walk with me...
Or fly! As mentioned at the end of the last installment of China 2002, on leaving Sichuan, we actually took a plane to Shanghai to continue our vacation. Chinese airlines, to say the least, are none too impressive. I've often made the complaint that service on American airlines is crap. Well, the service on Chinese airlines actually isn't that bad - they have stuck to the norm in Asia of keeping their flight attendants on a strict appearance standard - but the patrons are pretty much like patrons on any form of public transportation in China - very rushed with little respect for rules or novel concepts like
queuing. Not
queuing theory, mind you, which is comprised of some pretty hardcore mathematical models, but just plain old waiting in lines. Of course, once you're used to it, being bigger and stronger than most Chinese, we were able to push our way around most places, but it does take some getting used to! Oh and in-flight entertainment is limited to, well, whatever CDs you brought with you. I guess my CD player didn't weigh my shoulder down in vain after all!
The last time Kir-Wei and I were in Shanghai, we hadn't been taught in the ways of how much things should cost in China. Case in point - we bought bead bracelets for a whole 10 yuan, when in actuality, you should be able to pay just 1 yuan for them. The saying goes "You don't know money's worth until you've been to Shanghai." Now that we've been in China for almost two months, we can understand where this saying comes from. For example, the cab drivers in Shanghai, while friendlier than those encountered in Chengdu, charge about twice as much as our drivers in Xian. Plus, unlike most drivers we met in other cities in China, Shanghaiese cab drivers often don't know how to get where you want to go - something that almost never happens in Xian!
Candy (remember her?) greeted us at Shanghai airport, and we made our way with some struggles to Pujiang Fandian, a very old, sort of classic lodge. The lobby is very luxurious, reminiscent of what Shanghai must have been like when Europeans ruled here, but our rooms were actually more like youth hostels - beds in rooms of about ten other foreign travelers. It's actually pretty cool when you're looking forward to meeting other travelers, but it makes you really think about leaving stuff in the room! Plus, the location of the hotel was really supreme - since it was built in the early 1900s, it overlooked the Bund for a spectacular night view!
Our trip to Shanghai consisted largely of living the high life. We visited my uncle Cheng Hsiu at his restaurant (remember that classy looking joint from one of the first China posts?) where he fed us very well and then took us out with his two female musicians to a KTV place that he likes to frequent. Uncle Cheng Hsiu provided the cover and the drinks, but we were on our own when it came to selecting from the buffet line of escort girls! Escort girls are apparently quite common in nightlife in Shanghai - we ran into many more while going to nightclubs like Club Maya around town. Basically, it's like paying to have a girl stand next to you and talk to you. Kinda creepy, I know!
Club-hopping wasn't the only thing we did in Shanghai, however. We strolled the streets quite a bit - one of the greatest things about cities in Asia is that you don't feel completely alone when you're walking around in the street - in fact, everyone's doing it! Of particular note was Tom, Colin, Eric, and my visit to the Grand Hyatt hotel, the tallest building in all of China (and I believe the fourth tallest in the world). At the top of the Grand Hyatt, you were invited to sit down and have very expensive (by both Chinese and American standards) appetizers and enjoy the view of the city from its highest possible point.
Of course, we didn't stop there. We had real steak in Shanghai (not that the wonderful Brazilian steak on skewers restaurant in Xian didn't have excellent red meat in huge quantities). We watched a horrible Chinese movie and paid full price for it in a real, legitimate movie theater. And, we paid a whole 5 RMB to go to the very nice Shanghai History Museum! Actually, 5 RMB (student pricing) was a very welcome price. At this point, we didn't think we'd ever see cheap things in Shanghai again.
The Shanghai History Museum wasn't the only cheap place we went. Probably the coolest thing we saw in Shanghai was the acrobatics show. It was only 60 RMB, which might seem hefty until you remember that it translates to about eight bucks and you remember that Cirque du Soleil will set you back over 100 USD at a minimum for anything near decent seats. The show was pretty low budget, with silly leotards and no major lighting effects, but the acrobatics were top notch, ranging from balancing acts to plate spinning to a girl on a 10-ft unicycle tossing up to three dishes at a time with her foot on top of her head! The most amazing act by far, however, was the final one. One global cage. Not one, not two, not three... but seven motorcycles driving loop-de-loops around one man standing in the middle! Incredible!
After nearly a week of hanging out in Shanghai, it was time to see a different place. Tune in next time to read more about our self-awarded vacation trip! In the meantime, be sure to check out the Photo Albums below!
Tom's Shanghai albums (three albums)
My China Album (Part I)
I did, however, spend a little time putting together a new photo flipper for Grant's Pad. These photos are from a family vacation that we went on together in the summer that I finished graduate school. Places visited: Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, Wupatki Canyon, Antelope Canyon, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Canyon de Chelly, Sunset Crater Volcano, Dixie National Forest, Red Canyon, Walnut Canyon, Petrified Forest, and Lake Powell.
