China day 8: It all ends with a mall. Or five.

Ahh, the final morning in China. It dawned sunny and fresh and relaxing. Today, I was on a mission. I had managed to get all the way though the trip without finding a gift for my Fiancee, and today I was going to fix that. But what do you get a guy who won’t eat anything produced in China, has a long torso that doesn’t fit Asian sizes well, and doesn’t really appreciate souvenirs unless they serve some practical use? There goes my go-to fridge magnet idea. Crap. Needless to say, all my friends were all taken care of and the one person I know pretty much better than anyone is getting nothing. So my plan for the free morning was to hit the malls and find him the awesome gift of awesomeness.

Our guide had said that all the shops opened at nine, and since I’m not really one for sleeping in, I left at 8 to walk through the bustling streets of Shanghai and find those mega shopping malls I had seen in the dark last night. I knew approximately which skyscraper they were near, so I just started wandering, getting a real taste for daily life in Shanghai. The streams of people pouring out of the metro stations, the people walking their small, well-clothed dogs (coveralls? Parkas? Adidas track suits with matching trainers? On a Pekinese? Really?), the shopkeepers rolling back their metal security screens… it was lovely. Incredibly peaceful to walk around in this incredibly non-peaceful city. I loved it. I also had thought it was going to take me longer to reach the malls, as it had seemed much farther away at night. So I found myself in a KFC playing Angry Birds on my iPad, sipping the drink I had bought simply to justify my using their bathroom and table. Side note – somehow I had managed to make it all the way to Shanghai without using a squat toilet. Pretty much everywhere had well-marked western-style toilets, or at least a wheelchair accessable one (turns out, disabled people can’t squat), and worse case scenario I’d had to wait a few extra minutes to get the stall I wanted. But Shanghai ruined my streak. Nice comfy seated toilets were a lot harder to come by, but it had been an unexpectedly good run, lol .

Turns out the shops didn’t open at 9. I was there, all ready and waiting, and all the windows were still dark. So I wandered the streets of Shanghai, observing, window shopping in closed stores, playing more Angry Birds in another KFC with another drink for another hour. Turns out that had been some bad information from the guide, as everything opened at 10am sharp. On the upside, I was now very familiar with all the streets around this particular area of Shanghai, so I had a very small chance of getting lost on the way back to the hotel. Time to shop, finally. There were 5 malls here, each larger than it’s predecessor, and all specializing in name brand everything. Minimum of 9 storeys per mall, times 5 malls… I went up and down all of them, not wanting to miss the one thing that would be the perfect gift, tucked in the back of the top floor. This sounds like shopping wonderland, but it wasn’t. The malls were hot, all of them, with no air conditioning (that was turned on, at least), everything here was expensive (this was the first plae we’d been where the Pradas were real, with real matching prices), and they all sold the same things. It doesn’t make sense to build another mall right beside the first, and then fill it in with the same stores and products, but they’ve done it. Five times. The only major difference from one mall to another is how modern it looks. By the time the last mall spit me out into the Shanghai sunshine, I was sweaty, tired, kind of dizzy from the countless escalator rides, and empty handed. There really was nothing here in my price range, and what was were household appliances. I just couldn’t imagine coming home and being all like “here, Babe, I got you a rice cooker. I know it looks exactly like the one you got at Wal-Mart, but it’s special because I got it in China”. I had battled and failed, and at this point I was throwing in the towel. He was getting nothing, and I had made peace with that.

Back at the hotel, I cooled off, changed, watched some Asian music videos and made sure all my final packing was done before checking out any joining the group for our ride to the airport. I didn’t want to pack, it meant we were leaving China, and I was having such an amazing time that I could have stayed for longer. But Canada meant I could sleep at normal times again… Right there in the lobby, seconds before we boarded our bus, I went on to aircanada.com and checked our flight status, and it said our flight was going to arrive 15 minutes early back in Vancouver. Great news. Forty five minutes later, as we were all queued up for check in, the guy in front of me mentions that our flight is seriously delayed. Not great news. A collective gasp rippled through our group. We were all overtired, somewhat homesick, and braced for an 11 hour flight across the pacific, so this did not sit well. One agent, missing her kids particularly badly, burst into tears. I was one of the lucky ones ending in Vancouver, but for a lot of the other agents, this meant massive flight rescheduling, overnight stays in Vancouver or red-eye flights across the country. For our patience during the 6-hour delay, Air Canada gave us CDY$70 (CAD$12) food vouchers. We made a bee-line to Burger King (basically, the only option that wasn’t the same meal we’d been eating twice a day for the last week), and went to town. Turns out Burger King in the Shanghai airport is super cheap. Hell, it wasn’t our money, so we were going to spend ever penny of it. Our tables looked like we were feeding a school group as opposed to just 10 people, with everyone adding side salads at at least two bottles of water per person to their orders, knowing they could pack them with them on the plane.

I like the Shanghai airport, I really do. It’s big and nice and clean and has wifi everywhere, but there is not a hell of a lot to keep you interested for 6 hours. I bought a bottle of whiskey for my Finacee at the duty free (real whisky, not that paint thinner stuff I’d had confiscated in Beijing), which actually made him very happy. Go figure, all that worry for nothing. We were going stir crazy, suddenly finding stupid stuff really funny, and pacing around just to keep the blood flowing before being confined to our airplane seats. It was after 11pm by the time our plane finally arrived at the gate, and the second we saw it coming we cheered. We then cheered for the people disembarking (hoping it would get them off faster) and cheered for the crews to load the meals and luggage as fast as possible. Hey, it was something to do. The flight itself was fine, and soon (but not as soon as planned!) we were back in Canada.

The fantastic China trip, AKA “the Amazing Race” was over. I hate this part, the goodbyes, the exchanges of email addresses, the wandering off into the night… but we made some amazing memories and have some incredible pictures. It was such a good trip, with the only complaints really being that it was too freaking cold in Beijing, they gave us too much food, and Air Canada delayed our flight home. In the grand scheme of things, that makes it pretty much a perfect trip. China was full of surprises, breaking all the preconcieved notions I had and just showing us an incredible time. I saw places that I never thought I’d see in person, biked an ancient city wall, seen snake on a stick, appeared in countless Chinese tourists’ photos… it was all good. If you ever considered visiting China, I strongly urge you to do it. You’ll love it!

Tags: Air Canada, Angry Birds, BlogSherpa, delayed, end, flight, home, KFC, packing, Shanghai, shopping

China day 7: Can I barter for a bootleg copy of Mulan?

“This morning visit the river town of Zhujiajiao” said the itinerary. Turns out it was right. Go figure. After a wonderful morning (at this point, anything not 4am was wonderful) we were on the bus, heading an hour out of Shanghai to a residential townhouse development. Well, that’s what it looked like from the highway turnoff, anyway. But one footbridge and we were in a different place, a village market type atmosphere with tightly packed souvenir stores lining even tighter alleyways, narrow old shop houses with decorative wooden eaves and gnarly trees planted outside. Merchants were sweeping their steps with brooms made out of branches lashed to poles, and rinsing the starch off their rice in the canals that bisected the town. This felt like small town China, and I’m embarrassed to say that I thought more of this trip was going to look like this. It was adorable and comfortable and just made you want to watch Mulan, but at the same time, this was clearly done for the tourist market, to give them a glimpse of how life used to/could be, and sell them some overpriced fridge magnets (which I, of course, bought). That didn’t make it any less charming, though, and on a warm sunny day this was lovely. A place like this just makes you happy, strangers were waving and smiling at us and everyone here just seemed to be in a good mood. We toured the classical Chinese garden, then took a relaxing ten-minute boat ride along the canals, feeling like floating royalty. Exploring the labyrinthine alleys during our free shopping time I found the amazingly named Bum Cafe (judging by the happy colours on the sign, they meant that in the anatomical sense, not the hobo sense), where you could order yourself a hot plate of “piggy steamed.” It was hard, but I passed on that, just taking a picture of the sign instead.

Back to Shanghai for what would be our last giant lazy-susan meal. Can’t say we were going to miss them, they had been good, though awfully repetitive, but this marked the beginning of the end. Our whirlwind taste of China was wrapping up, and we all raised our one free glass of Coke, Sprite, beer or water to toast to that. From there, the silk factory tried to sell us silk comforters and pyjamas by first showing us how they were made. Have to say, this one was a success and there were a few of our group having to pack very, very carefully to get their stuff home. Comforters, even vacuum-packed ones, take up a lot of room in your carry-on.

We came very close then to re-working our itinerary (we were really good at that by now) and adding in an hour-long river cruise past the Bund, but after assessing our financial situation and realizing that we would loose valuable shopping time by doing that, we headed straight on to the next stop, the Yu Yuan Gardens in Old Town. Prior to arrival, when I thought about must-see sites in Shanghai, this was the one spot that came to mind, and after touring it in person, it only cemented that. They are huge and elaborate and classic, with sculptures and amazing limestone formations and hundreds of different types of trees. The only downside is that they’re crowded, so they don’t have that calm tranquility that define most Chinese gardens. Two hundred Japanese school kids paraded past us at one point. There was no quiet time here. But some really great pictures to be taken.

Surrounding the gardens is a shopper’s paradise. An outdoor mall all done up in classical Chinese architecture to blend in with the gardens, you would think you had gone back in time until you look closer and notice there’s Dairy Queens, Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts everywhere you turn. This was a souvenir shopper’s wonderland, and you could barter for everything, even in the nice department stores. We spent almost two hours there, and no one went home empty handed. I’m not even sure if not buying something is physically possible here. Hell, I bought tiny silk baby pyjamas, and I don’t even have kids or know anyone who does. You just get caught up in it all and next thing you know you’ve bargained the price way down and are going in for the kill. The vendors come to you, too, so standing still away from the shops, you’re still not safe. They will find you. Between the time we regrouped and the time we got on the bus (max 5 minutes), half our group had bought more knockoff Rolexes and fancy pens.

Tonight we had some nice, relaxing free time and no giant Chinese dinner (yay!). Most of our group made a beeline to Pizza Hut, while a few others just wandered around the busy shopping streets that surrounded the hotel, enjoying the lights at night. Shanghai looks like a totally different place at night, with the skyscrapers lighting up, multicoloured or covered in LED twinkle effects, it’s like a permanent Christmas party. This one intersection had 5 mega shopping malls all right adjacent to one another, each brighter and with more dramatic lighting than the next, culminating with one having a thirty foot Plexiglas sphere laden with constantly changing neon. Speaking of Christmas, this was also the first city we’d really seen Christmas decorations in, and they looked more than a little out of place. Giant toy soldiers and a two-storey fruitcake in the middle of the French Concession, glowing bedazzled trees outside a Sephora, and a three-foot diameter festive steamed dumpling. All this juxtaposed against people riding bikes down the sidewalk meticulously laden with a hundred baskets and scaffolding made from bamboo lashed together, rather than the safer-looking (but probably not as strong) steel. Being a major corporate and banking hub, there was much more of a western influence here than I had expected, and seeing anything Christmas just cemented that. This I would have expected in Hong Kong, but not here.

Tomorrow we actually had nothing planned. Well, except for the flying to Canada part, but that wasn’t until late afternoon, so we actually could sleep in, chill out, rest our tired feet and/or explore at our leisure. That seemed such a strange concept at this point. But at the same time, not having more to do was somewhat bittersweet, as that meant it was over. I hate this part of a great trip, prepping for vacation withdrawl. The best way to get over it? More shopping…

Tags: BlogSherpa, China, Christmas., decrations, dumplings, lights, Old Town, relax, River, Shanghai, silk, Yu Yuan Gardens, Zhujiajiao

China day 6: Shanghaied!

The really disturbing part is that no one noticed the 4am morning anymore. I think the routine-ness of it, combined with a little jet lag allowed us to settle into a stupidly early morning groove quickly. If anything we were ready early this morning, early enough that we could sit back and enjoy most of our breakfast boxes in the hotel lobby before we even had to board the bus. The flight once again was effortless, and the onboard breakfast far less entertaining now that everyone already knew to avoid the congee. After the icy winds of Beijing and the murky smog of Xian, seeing both sunshine and fifteen degrees upon arrival in Shanghai made us ridiculously happy. Sunglasses! No gloves! A driver who won’t quickly learn “more heat” in English! Sweet.

We had thought we were going to the hotel like usual, but to our surprise the tour started right from the airport talking us directly to the Bund. At the time this seemed horribly inconvenient, as we all had our carry-on bags to leave on the bus, and the constant concern that something was going to happen to our valuables as we left them behind with the driver (nothing happened, they were totally professional and secure, but still, we worry). But this was before we had any concept of how big Shanghai really is. 23 million people in a space quite a bit smaller than Beijing, this is a city of skyscrapers. Everything is tall. More than 4000 skyscrapers dot the skyline, and anywhere you go, no matter what direction you face, it looks like you’re staring at a downtown skyline. It’s like Hong Kong with slightly more space in between the buildings, or Singapore time fifty. To drive anywhere here takes about an hour, all on super clean, neatly organized highways that snake through the city like tangled spaghetti noodles. Compared to what we had seen this far, this hyper-modern metropolis didn’t even feel like China anymore. It felt like a new planet. Picture every major city centre you can think of, then squish them all together and you get Shanghai. No wonder they took us straight to the sightseeing, if we had gone to the hotel, dropped off our stuff and driven back, we would have lost most of the day right there just in transit.

The Bund is amazing. The best first impression of Shanghai ever. We were all in love. A sunbathed waterfront promenade, marked by the massive white sails of the Monument to the People’s Heroes, with the futuristic Pudong towers on one side and the historic 1940’s era European concession buildings on the other. Old meets new and the only way to keep them seperated is to have a wide river in the middle. The Pudong side looks like Las Vegas. Mainly because it doesn’t look real, more like a computer-generated, brightly coloured cluster of surrealistic buildings. The SimCity version of reality. The star of it all is the TV tower, the iconic Shanghai Pearl, with it’s distinctive “pink balls on a stick” architecture, but behind that the massive “bottle opener” tower touches the clouds, and in front of it the convention centre’s glowing globe (literally). It’s one bit of craziness squished up against another, and the overall effect is wild. Makes for amazing photos, too, and while we wandered, at least five wedding couples, in full attire, were getting their formal pictures taken against the perfect backdrop. In sharp contrast, the colonial side is still exaclty as it was back in the day (not kidding our hotel had a portrait taken in 1955 on the wall, and aside from the addition of cars, it looks exactly the same today), with grand stone buildings topped with clock towers and oxidized copper roofs. This classical street would look incredible anywhere, frozen in time, but facing it off against the over-the-top eccentricity of Pudong only makes them more impressive. Seriously, google it.

Then the Shanghai museum. I’m sure this museum has a fantastic collection, unrivaled by anything in China. We saw about 1% of it. Not for lack of trying. Our guide took us there and gave us the twenty minute tour of the bronze section (fascinating, if not kinda similar to what we’d seen – and pretty much paid attention to – in Xian), then gave us free time to explore. But it was sunny and warm outside. Finally. And when you combine tiredness and a cool, dark museum, it’s not a good combination. We stayed inside for just long enough to use the bathroom (naturally) and then all congregated outside on the steps, stretched out in the sunshine. It was the pick me up the group needed despite being a horrible waste of a good museum.

The French Concession was next, old stone buildings and alleyways overflowing with trendy boutiques and pricey sidewalk cafes. We could have been in Cannes. The other agents went crazy, loving this place and it’s perfect European vibe. And 90% of the patrons at the cafes were westerners, too, so that seemed to be the overwhelming consesus. This was where the fatigue started to get to me, as I got really irritated that everyone was so excited to be in a district that was so un-Chinese. This is just a personal pet peeve of mine, but when I’m in Asia, I want to see Asia and all it’s colours and history and architecture. I love it over here, this is my comfort zone, and I keep coming back for more. So it drove me nuts when the others were thrilled to not feel like they were in China anymore. But then again, Europe might be their comfort zone, so they were equally as happy to find something soothing and familiar for them as I had been for the rest of the trip. It had to be the lack of sleep that caused me to internally overreact and have to bit my tongue the whole time we wandered the cobblestone alleys. I was glad from the French Concession we on went to the Jade Buddha Temple, because the peace and tranquility of a Buddhist temple never fails to calm me down and put things back in perspective.

Finally late afternoon we at last rolled into the Ramada Plaza Gateway hotel. By this time we were running on fumes and seriously needed some downtime to recharge. Really nice hotel, big (but probably classified as mid-sized in this city), with good sized rooms. Tiny bathrooms, though. This was the first place we’d been without bathtubs. After a short rest, during which I ran out and finally bought stamps for those postcards I’d been carrying around since Beijing, but just hadn’t had time to actually write or mail, we all regrouped for dinner. Apparently in my haste to get in touch with the people back home, I had missed the memo to dress up for dinner. Everyone came down looking really nice, a bit more formal with some more makeup than usual, and there I was in a hoodie and tank top. I felt like such a knob, but there was no time to change. At least it was my best hoodie!

One more identical dinner and then to the Shanghai Acrobatic show. I seriously cannot recommend this show more. If you’re going to Shanghai, go. Don’t ask, just go. It’s not that expensive, and is and hour and a half of pure entertainment. The things that these talented performers can do, like spinning a hundred-pound ceramic planter on their head, while balancing on a rolling beam, or soaring high above the crowd with no safety net, holding on one-handed to just a simple swatch of fabric and supporting another person by only their foot – we could not be sleepy during this show. “There’s no way they can do tha- oh my God, they did!” The finale was eight motorbikes riding formations inside a twenty foot sphere. We were seriously sitting there waiting for the scream the crash and the arrival of the paramedics. I’ll let you guess how that turned out. Needless to say, we were far more awake after this show than we were the cultural dance in Xian, and I actually managed to change into both halves of my pyjamas before falling asleep this time!

Tags: BlogSherpa, Bund, China, flight, French Concession, Jade Buddha Temple, museum, Pearl, postcards, Shanghai, skyscraper, sunny, tired