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Ni hao true believers! This is the third installment in the spring festival series and this time adventurer/explorer Alex Kidd finds himself as the 'man out of time' in Shanghai. By that I mean Shanghai was extremely modern, full of English speakers and closer to Barcelona than Beijing. I was a man out of my time as I was used to the quaintness of Fukang and the dusty desert plains of Xinjiang but here I found myself in one of the business capitals of the world where moneys always moving and the city never sleeps. Literally, there are people about at all hours of the day in Shanghai. I loved my time in Shanghai and we managed to spend a whole week there. What did I do with my time in Shanghai? There's only one way to found out and that is read on:
Journey part three:
Plane length journey: 3 1/2 hours Total: 49 1/2 hours travel
Distance: 1430 miles Total: 4205
Bright and early on the 25th of January Me and Stephen awoke for the last time in Harbin and for once I was quite looking forward to our travels. Ordinarily I would be dreading this time as I would be on the move towards a seated train, a noisy thirty four hours and a sleepless night. However I was quite content this time knowing we were heading towards a three hour plane journey and in a few hours time we would be in Shanghai. We booked the plane because after all the fuss of booking train tickets to Beijing we worried about ticket availability so decided the safest bet was to just book in advance and get a plane. Once we arrived at the airport we did the standard procedures until security. At this point my travels nearly ended. The security looked at my passport and did not believe it was me. I had three men asking me the security questions looking at me through severe eyes. But I eventually convinced them it was me and the travels rolled on. The plane journey itself was pleasant; I watched the Smurfs two whilst eating noodles which was put the Baijou filled Beijing train to shame. Once we finally arrived it was an hour and a half subway journey across the whole city to be reunited with our companions.
Arrival was lovely; we met up with our fellow volunteers, some of whom I hadn't seen since our first week in Beijing, and it was all rather overwhelming. Not reuniting, the city I mean. On the subway we rode passed skyscrapers, a Tesco, a Primark, H & M and more. The whole place was a mass of moving vehicles and lights, skylines lit up like bombs were dropping and people rushing to and fro about there business. Shanghai truly was a city to behold. Any whom Shanghai was the first time all sixteen volunteers would be back together for the first time and little did we know what the city had in stall for us.
The hostel we stayed in was incredibly impressive. Although it was expensive the rooms were very nice and it was closer to a hotel than a hostel. It also had a fantastic bar where we met many great people. Once we dropped our bags off people decided on a night out and here's where we met the first of our great people; Vivek. Vivek was fresh out of university and had moved to Shanghai, now living in the hostel. He was circulating three jobs which gave him forty thousand RMB a month and was a very classy and swath gentlemen, and a very kind one at that. He informed us that 'foreigners drink for free' in Shanghai if you know a promoter so he took us out that night. Ordinarily I would not mention a night out as 'this is Project Trust' however this needs to be mentioned. The club we were taken to was on the bund (the waterfront of Shanghai) and overlooked the entire financial district of Shanghai. I took a moment with Dan and Tim to stand at one of the huge windows to overlook this skyline, this beautiful, monstrous show of human capability and where money can take you. The lights, the boats, the people. It was the moment I thought 'look what I have achieved'. Moments like that are what every person should live for; the moment you realise your time in this world has amounted to something very special. The rest of the night is best left unsaid but regardless that moment will, genuinely, stay with me forever. Thanks Project. Opportunities like that may never arise again.
The next day was a slow riser but once we got moving we decided to take a trip to the Shanghai science and technology district as this was where fake goods were available to buy. I went mostly due to my only shoes had turned to sandals in the duration of Harbin and quite frankly I'm surprised I didn't get frostbite. Once there we spent a good hour in various shops haggling on various goods; some people bought, shirts, others shoes and I got myself a lovely pair of fake Vans which, as I type, are falling apart due to the glue coming unstuck. Once that was done we headed upstairs, unwittingly walking out into the heart of the financial district. And wow. It was another moment of complete and utter awe. One of the nice things about Shanghai was the weather; as we walked amongst the concrete jungle of sky scrapers, parks and palm trees it was a gorgeous 15 degrees, a temperature I hadn't felt, and shan't feel, for a good long time. The sun reflected off the glass of each building sending there rays cascading down around us. Each building appeared to be as large as the next and many even taller in there power play to take the skyline. We stopped for a quick Starbucks; I had missed it dearly, before continuing on our march. Please, please look at my pictures to get a real idea of what I'm talking about but we seemed to walk for miles without a care in this city. That's all we did for seven days really is walk but that was great. More than great. I loved it. Shanghai is something special; another modern wonder of the world. We found a mall and a few people drank cocktails in a rooftop bar whilst a few of us just overlooked the landscape once more. With that done we headed back to the hostel and crashed for the night.
Day three found our group going on an expedition to the French concession area. This is an area of Shanghai that was, no surprise, once held by France. All the buildings were of French style, they had imported trees from France and there were many small cafes and 'patisseries' littered about the place. Once again it was an absolutely gorgeous day so I found myself in just a t-shirt. Most of the French concession was having a wander and chatting amongst old friends but there are three moments that stand out in my mind. The first is a simple pleasure; in China it is very hard to find a patch of open green grass with benches much like a park in the UK. However the second we came across one myself and Anya stretched out and sun bathed for awhile. That was extremely blissful as I hadn't felt sun, let alone warmth, for a good three months prior to Shanghai (it is still -20 in Xinajiang right now *sigh*). The next is rather embarrassing but it has to be documented. Now for context; in China you shouldn't flush toilet paper. They have a rather weak drainage system so ordinarily you place the toilet paper into a bin near the toilet and that's that. Now, me and Dan were desperate for the toilet so we headed into a very, very fancy shopping centre, i'm talking one selling Armani, Ferrari, Dior, the whole sha-bang. When we finally found a toilet I was pleasantly surprised to find a western toilet within. Once the business was done and I had the toilet paper I was incredibly confused. Where was the bin? I looked around me panicking before opening the door, toilet paper in hand, and turning to a man asking in Chinese 'Where does this go?'. He looked at me absolutely horrified and replied 'The toilet' like I was some sort of savage. I hesitantly put it in and flushed, excepting water to come pouring out turning the place into went and wild but instead it went away. I ran rather embarrassed from the loo at this point. It seems Shanghai has better drains than little old Fukang.
Finally was our discovery of something that made my heart sink as a flood of memories came rushing to my mind; A Marks and Spencer's. As we entered it was identical to any other Marks and Spencer's you've ever been in yet all I could think of was coming in here with my Mother for coffees, being biscuits for Christmas and food for a good night in. It was a sad moment so, feeling sorry for myself, I halved a packet of chocolate digestive Biscuits with Mr Erhorn. We sat munching the first proper biscuits I'd had in six months and it occurred to me how strange it was to be here with Erhorn; this is something we used to do back in England. It was strange to think our journey began together nearly three years ago and here it still continues. With the biscuits finished half the people headed home whilst Me, Tim, Erhorn and Ed battled onwards. We found ourselves on a heavenly street; one full of music shops. I went into one particularly fancy establishment and just ogled at there Gibson guitars. I was tempted to try one but thought I would just make a mess of a fine piece of musical ingenuity. Once we finally made our way to the bottom of the street we found ourselves on the bund. The Shanghai skyline was still shining bright and I still loved it. Once this was done it was back to the hostel and once again a night out ensued. But this one is definitely not blog worthy.
The next day was an incredibly laid back one with very little to report. We headed to a camera superstore with everything you could ever desire as a photography enthusiast littered somewhere amongst its six floors. We managed to navigate all six without actually purchasing anything of value except Anya who did buy a book called 'Women' with pictures of women. None of us quite understood why but she was satisfied. After this we headed to a small cafe just off the bund we had seen the day previously and enjoyed a good cup of coffee which included our usual politics and philosophy discussions. That night was one of relaxing as well although we did spend a lot of time that night with a fellow traveler I failed to mention; Linda. I believe Linda divided opinion in our group but I for one thought she was a great person. Linda is a Dutch woman of about twenty five who decided to leave her job and come travel the world and especially Asia. She had many funny and fascinating stories to share about her job (she was a nurse and ran sex education classes for high school students) and about her travels such as a week she spent in a temple in Nepal. She was a fascinating and lovely person to talk to. I believe Me, Her, Jacob and Tim became quite well acquainted in Shanghai and ended up spending more time together than we did with the other volunteers. As well as this was another lovely man we were introduced to; Rosie's dad. Rosie is a fellow volunteer and her dad had business in Shanghai so popped in to visit. He runs a charity using football to educate kids all around the world in various areas and, again, he had an absolutely huge collection of stories and anecdotes to draw from. He was a wonderful chap and gave many of us great advice for the future, he gave me some advice I think I may well follow, and I'm very glad to have met him.
The next day was the big one, what we had all came to Shanghai for; Chinese New Year. And what a day it turned out to be. Almost all restaurants were closed and most transport delayed that day but Me, Tim, Jacob, Alex and Linda decided to head out and get some shopping done. We wandered around and looked in all the major shops and shopping districts including forever 21 which apparently will mean something to women but not to me. I bought some new jeans in H & M as my old ones, to be blunt, are ripped from crotch to bottom. We also ate some lovely Xinjiang style food as we wandered. We mainly stayed on Nanjing road which is supposedly a famous shopping street but I had no idea. I'm not one for shopping. After that was done we headed back to the hostel and prepared the main event; the party at the mansion.
This party was something Linda came across and is the second night out I will have ever detailed in a Project blog but it was Chinese New Year so why not? This was the first time all sixteen of us would be in the same place since Beijing so we all got dressed in the smartest of smart clothes we owned and headed out for a McDonalds (a poor decision) before we headed to the mansion. All we knew was this place was a literal mansion and they were hosting a huge party. The taxi pulled up in front of a huge complex of houses and a security guard told us to wait. We were then transported by rather unconventional means to a hole in the back of a wall. Once through the hole the mansion was revealed; it was literally a mansion. There was a small sandy beach you walked up, past a drained swimming pool and tree house into the place. Once inside we were given a tour bu the owner. Turns out it is a hostel which you can stay in for free with one free meal a day so long as you work one club night a week (these parties are weekly). In its basement was a proper underground club, much like the acid parties of the 80's, and tonight a total of ten DJ's would be playing back to back until ten AM the next day. The rest of the night is best left to the imagination though here are some snippets; dumpling making, fireworks, fuzz ball, dancing, drinking and talking. To last years volunteers who disliked Shanghai, you we were missing. After that crazy evening we returned to the hostel and hit the sack at roughly Five Am. Happy new year everyone.
The next day was our last full day in Shanghai but no one was in any fit state to do anything so we mostly slummed it around the hostel. I did eat an American breakfast from the hostel which was absolutely gorgeous. This was the first time in my six months in China that I had eaten proper butter, real bacon and nice, fat pancakes. It was such a good meal and I really miss those food stuffs. Otherwise me and Tim wandered a pet district which was disturbing to say the least so I won't elaborate and also sat in a rather quaint park. However my body could not take it after the night before so we headed back to the hostel and crashed out. A bit later my body had recovered a tiny bit more so me and Erhorn decided to venture out to Tesco. It was surreal wandering around Tesco although it was not too much like an English one as you could buy live fish and there were clearly no health standards. However it was nice to have another small reminder of how special the normality of home becomes when it's all taken away. I look forward to my Tesco sandwich meal deal in the UK so much now. That night we all talked and chatted and prepared to say goodbye for the next day half of us would venture to Suzhou. It was rather sad as it's possible I will never see some of those volunteers ever again but so is life. I will well and truly miss some of those people. Sleep came easy that night and the next day it was time again to travel.
Well, although a rather short blog, that is Shanghai. I have to say I absolutely loved my time there and it was a nice break and relief from normal Chinese life that was well needed. Occasionally you find China become all too much and you just want to step into your old life again for a moment and Shanghai allowed me to do that. I think if I ever found myself in China in the future Shanghai would be a place to holiday and not to live; it's simply too much like the west, too up market and too modern for extended living but for the short time I was there it was a wonderful escape. It was also great to see all the volunteers again and hear about how each project differs, what difficulties they've encountered and how they're managing to cope. It was rather funny as it seems us Xinjinag ren (people) have a completely separate view of China to the others, mostly due to the Ughyur influence, and even stranger is that me and Rowland are the only ones how interact with the ethnic groups and are heavily involved in there communities. It reassured me that you can never know all of China ever. There are simply too many wonderful experiences to be had.
That's all for this time folks, hope your still enjoying these blogs,
Until next time,
Excelsior!
- comments
Tom Still sounds like a fantastic adventure. Looking forward to your dad coming out? Can see why Val wouldn't like it. Keep up the stories and photos. Take care.