Sandy:This is our last night in Shanghai, and I miss it already. We’ve been here for almost a month, and I still feel like we’ve only seen a small portion of the city.
Cindy left Shanghai last Wednesday (to great fanfare, with the GM and a gaggle of his staff sending her off). We stayed an extra day at the JW soaking in the luxury. On our last day, Lilly decided to go to the Shanghai Museum, while Johnny and I decided to relax and just walk around. We visited the Urban Planning Department, where they have a huge room size model of what Shanghai will look like in 2020. It was MASSIVE. Since Johnny loves little buildings, this was the mother lode for him. A couple hours later, in a mall with a million people, in a town of 13 million, we run into the 1 person we know, Lilly. 
We decided that fate wanted us to hang out together, so we went on a cruise of the Huangpu River. It was an hour long cruise that started at 5pm. When we got on the boat, it was daylight, and by the time we got off, it was completely dark and lit up. We totally did the crossover (like going to a breakfast buffet in Vegas and staying for the lunch buffet as well) and saw both daytime view and nighttime view. We all agreed that we got our 50Y ($6) worth. Then we got dinner at this great dumpling place and went to get fancy foot massages afterwards. Lilly wound up screaming “Ouch” or something plain like that one time, but it couldn’t compare to Cindy’s “Tung Duh!”. The next day, Lilly left for the airport and we checked out of the JW. Johnny’s hair was getting long, so he got a haircut. It looked super cool. I’m sure he’ll have more to say about that experience.
The following day, we went to Hangzhou. We got on the wrong Metro and totally almost missed the train. But, in the end, we made it with about 5 mins to spare. We were sitting in the first class compartment, and Johnny wanted some hot food, so I ventured to the dining car, but I had to pass some second class cars along the way. Man, that was scary. I guess they sell standing tickets, so there were people all over the place. It was almost like a crowded subway with some people sitting, and some people standing. That would suck to stand for 2 hours. I felt bad for the old ladies with their huge bags standing there, so I quickly got my food and went back to the first class compartment, so I wouldn’t have to feel bad.
Marco Polo called Hangzhou “the most beautiful city in the world”. And, it certainly was pretty. There were a lot of lakes, water scenes, mountains, and it looked like something out of a Chinese painting. We went to a famous restaurant called Luo Wai Luo and had their signature dish, Beggar’s Chicken. It was a’ight, but this plain noodle dish which cost something like $1 was even better! We should have just ordered 2 of those.On Saturday, we wanted to avoid the crowds, and we went to this shopping mall by the apartment called “Cloud 9 Mall”. That sucker was huge (and crowded). It was really cool, because there was just so much going on. Along with the millions of shops, restaurants, toy stores, people moving around, they also had a fashion show going on in the middle of the mall that lasted for what seemed like hours. We would watch the fashion show a little, move along and shop for a bit, grab a bite to eat, and when we got back to the middle, the fashion show was still going on.
Also in the mall was Carrefour. It’s the Target of China. That place was insane. On the first floor, they had every kind of food from cans, to snacks, to drinks, to live animals, to imported goods like cheeses, and anything else you could think of. On the bottom floor, they sold everything. I can’t think of one single thing they didn’t sell. We needed some weird halogen light bulb that blew out at the apartment, and they had a 2 pack for $0.50. They had 50 different kinds of silk blankets. They sold CD and DVDs (which were insanely cheap, by the way…we bought the Transformers movie for less than $3US, and these are straight from WB, so I think the studios are ripping us Americans off). They had clothes and shoes, car accessories, books, and electronics. I’m just bummed that we didn’t find this place when Cindy was here, she would have bought up a storm! After all that shopping, we stopped by for a bowl of ramen and a red bean ice.We’ve spent the last 2 days just hanging out around Shanghai, trying to soak in everything we can. Tomorrow, we’re heading to Guangzhou to meet up with my parents and some of their relatives whom I haven’t seen since I was 12. It’s exciting, but I’ll definitely miss Shanghai.
Johnny:
Scooby snacks. I might as well have been eating some since I was starting to look a lot like Shaggy. When you’re away this long, you start to appreciate the daily, mundane activities that seem so arduous when you’re at home. For me, this was getting a haircut. It’s been 5 weeks since my last cut, and I was starting to look like a Chia pet. Do I trust these foreign stylists or do I let the forest grow wild? What the heck… 16 million Shanghainese must get their haircuts somewhere. So we stopped by this place called Wang Lei Image Commune. Unfortunately, no one really spoke English and I had no clue how to say “haircut” in mandarin. Luckily, the universal scissors gesture came in handy. Even more luckilier, we were at a salon and the universal scissors gesture meant to cut hair, not something else. This place looked pretty fancy. I’m used to the $12 haircuts at home, so this place caught me off guard. For 88Y (ok, so it’s about $12 here too, but you get so much more), I got a shampoo/cut/blow dry from a stylist and his assistant. An assistant? What’s that? You mean like a nurse to a doctor? Or a deputy to a sheriff? Like Robin to Batman. I got the dynamic duo… or more like the Ambiguously Gay duo. Anyway, these guys were good. I guess they know Asian hair. I ended up looking something like the stylist, except not as funky. All I need now is a grammatically incorrect t-shirt.
Alas, it was time to leave the kingdom called JW. I’ll miss waking up and looking down at the birds flying. Although I’ll have to say that coming back to the apartment felt pretty good… like coming home after a vacation. I guess one starts to crave a burger after having filet mignon for a week. Well, the apartment isn’t exactly ground beef… more like prime rib. We wanted to get back into the swing of everyday life in Shanghai, so we decided to go watch a Chinese movie called Lust, Caution. It’s the latest from Ang Lee starring Tony Leung. We were all set to go to the theater, when we saw some guy selling a bootleg copy on the street. Hmmm… why the heck not? For 5Y (about 66 cents) we enjoyed a not too shabby copy of the film. Eat your heart out, Netflix.Hey baby, how much? So I think I got propositioned the other day. We were walking down the street… Sandy and Lilly were walking ahead of me, when suddenly, this semi-attractive lady came up to me, smiled, and said something in Mandarin. Confused, I stopped and tried to figure out what she wanted. Then she looked over at Sandy (who was standing there fist on hips… doing the “whut? whut?), and the lady says “wifey?” in broken English. I said yes and before I can blink, she’s halfway down the block. Damn. Why didn’t I pay more attention in Mandarin class? Well, whatever she wanted, it didn’t involve one having a wife. She was probably just asking for the time and Sandy scared her away. But what’s the fun in that? Yeah, I’m convinced. I was propositioned. I would’ve charged at least 5Y.
Well, it seems our visit to Shanghai is coming to a close. I’m definitely going to miss this city. It’s exotic in many ways, but not too foreign such that you’ll want to leave. We’ll be back. It’s certainly going to give HK a run for its money as our favorite Asian city. Next stop, Guangzhou! Actually, more like: Next stop, a village 2 hours out from Guangzhou! From big city to big village. Great. I hope there’s running water.What we learned this week:
- There are very few overweight people here. Maybe it’s the food… or lack thereof. Portions are smaller here, unlike the American pig-out.
- Many people stay active and have no shame doing so. We’ll always see people exercising, whether it’s oldies ballroom dancing in the park or a bunch of middle aged people jammin’ to 80’s songs. Good for them.
- Aaron Kwok is a hoochie. You know, Kwok Fu Sing, the singer/actor/dancer? He’s doing promos for this gym and he’s like half nekkid everywhere. Sandy doesn’t mind, but I feel like such a piece of meat.
- One table, one menu. Regardless of how many people you have in your party, restaurants will only give you one menu. Cheapskates.
- Pay before you eat. Some restaurants will bring you the check before the food. It’s actually kind of nice. This way, you don’t bail on the bill and you can leave whenever you’re done. So smart!
- Labor is cheap (part 2). Most sidewalks are paved with bricks, presumably because it’s cheaper to hire a bricklayer than it is to buy a cement mixer.
- There’s a whole lot of PDA (Public Displays of Affection). In the parks, on the metro, at restaurants… you’ll see couples all over each other. Damn, get a room! Oh wait… dad, mom, brother, sister, and cousin all live in that room. Well, then… carry on.
- Traffic tickets are cheap. In Hangzhou, our cabbie got pulled over for some reason and he got a ticket for 50Y (about $7). Not much for us, but probably a day’s wages for him. We should’ve paid it for him. It would’ve been worth the seven bucks just to tell the story. Oh well. Next time.
If you want to follow along in our adventures, we've uploaded more pictures to Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98902891@N00/
We'll have another update next week.
Zai Jian,
- J and S
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