Shanghai- Here comes the sun



View from our hotel room



Were we all glad to be leaving Beijing and there’s no better way to feel like you are putting some serious distance between you and a place than by taking a train that goes 192 miles per hour. The bullet train was not our first choice but when it was Brad’s turn at the window to buy tickets his Chinese proved unequal to the task of asking for the overnight train. The bullet train line between the capital and Shanghai is fairly new and has had several “incidents” which we didn’t know about until later. Watching the countryside rip by at almost 200 mph is a bit jarring, like trying to watch a TV show on fast forward.

So a few hours later we found ourselves in Shanghai which the Lonely Planet guidebook had warned us contained no English speakers. Phrasebook in hand, Brad approached the subway ticket counter ready for battle. The young woman behind the glass looked at him and said, “Which station?” So much for Lonely Planet. We got into the city quite easily and found the neighborhood with our hotel. We went the wrong way however and found a Starbucks, (yes, more child bribery – the vanilla frappuccino and cake ball) so it turned out to be the right way. Inside, more supposedly non-existent English speakers sold us coffee and told us how to get to our hotel. We found it without any further detours and got checked into our room on the 17th floor with its wonderful view of the city.



Fish!



Shanghai is where our travel plans unraveled. Our intention had been to take trains across China. Inquiries at the local travel agencies and at the concierge desk in the Peace Hotel (from where the Gang of Four orchestrated the destruction of China) proved that there was no room on any train going anywhere we wanted to go for at least 5 days. As wonderful a Shanghai was, we couldn’t really spend the week. After much hemming and hawing we settled on flying around which is still somewhat affordable in China. Not train affordable, but at least we could get a seat. We later discovered that the reason behind the lack of train space is that school holidays began July first. Tip: if you are planning a trip to China in the summer, go in June. Also use a travel agent in your homeland who can arrange your train tickets before hand.

That first evening in Shanghai we walked along the waterfront to admire its collection of colonial architecture. It’s a mash up of neo-classical, art nouveau, and gothic buildings. This area is called the Bund and it’s where all the European merchants set up shop in the 19th century. As the sun went down we saw that at night Shanghai is lit up like the Strip in Vegas. Every skyscraper has lights flashing up and down its sides. There was more than one building that had stock market updates and advertizing 50 stories high on all sides. We walked over to Nanjing Road which is like a Chinese Times Square for dinner and dessert and then back to our hotel.

The next day we went back to the Bund and had breakfast in a café while we decided what to do. We settled on the Yuyuan Gardens. They were first built in the late 16th century by a wealthy Ming Dynasty official and, though roughed up a few times during the Taiping Rebellion and World War 2, look wonderful. To get to them however you must brave a bazaar of unbelievable greatness. The problem with shopping in China is that you cannot be “just looking”. If you even slowdown to look at something in a shop the proprietor will swoop down on you and attempt to make you buy it. There were many amazing things to see but we soldiered on through the shops and found the entrance to the gardens, across from a Starbucks! Shanghai’s weather is such that it calls to mind Houston in late April so we were glad to get a cool drink before heading into the tranquil gardens. The garden was indeed quite wonderful. Narrow path wound here and there through forests drooping pine trees and bizarrely weathered rocks to pavilions with delicately carved window panels and brightly painted walls and ceilings. There were pools teeming with fish and turtles with little bridges across. Another thing about Shanghai is that relative to Beijing, the air is pristine and completely breathable so walking around was quite pleasant.



Jasmine Fairy - $10(USD)!



After the gardens we went for a giant plate of noodles with spinach and rice and then to a teahouse in the center of the bazaar near the entrance to the gardens. It’s perched over a pond full of goldfish, ducks and turtles and is reached by a zigzagging stone bridge. It was an old school teahouse where the teas all have amazingly fruity names and they bring you a little plate of snacks like boiled quail eggs and baked tofu with your tea. We all enjoyed our tea while watching the seething mass of people below wander around the bridge trying to get a picture without a 100 other people in it.



This is the teahouse - we were on the second floor



Shanghai was a wonderful restorative after the misery of Beijing. Oddly relaxing when you consider that 23 million souls call it home – almost twice the population of Beijing. It was clean, incredibly easy to get around and everyone spoke English. We are not the kind of people who feel that we have the right to expect anyone to speak anything but their native tongue, still it was very nice. But it was time to move on so we headed to the airport and made our way to Xian.