A Chinese Metropolis

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Shanghai, Shanghai, China
Thurs 10th Sept. Tour Day 19: Shanghai

We arrived in Shanghai around lunchtime after a short high-speed train journey from Suzhou. Shanghai is the financial heart of China, one of the fastest growing cities in the world, an outpost of glamour, high living and decadence. In the latter 19th century, it was divided into "concessions", where foreign nationals lived in miniature versions of Britain, France, USA and Japan - these concessions still exist today in terms of the architecture.

We first paid a visit to the Yu Yuan Gardens. The gardens comprised small lakes surrounded by pavilions with ornate, intricately-carved figures and sculptures on the roofs, and large rockeries recalling the peaks, caves and gorges of China. Unfortunately, as was Deng’s wont, his feet were working overtime and he rushed right through the Gardens. The Gardens were surrounded by the Yu Bazaar, comprising 100s of souvenir shops, restaurants, etc, with fanciful roofs.

In the evening, we watched a Shanghai acrobat show. Some very impressive stunts - balancing acts, juggling, and gymnastics, rounded off with a stupendous, nerve-jangling motorbike setpiece where more and more motorbikes would, in turn, enter and ride around inside a large, metal-girdered ball, criss-crossing each other with dazzling speed, seemingly about to crash into one another at any second.

Afterwards, we visited the upmarket French Concession, with cafes, restaurants and bars. We wandered around aimlessly for a bit, no-one agreeing on which bar we should enter, until Dave spotted a bar selling real Guinness in pints so we headed off there. Compared to the prices for alcoholic drinks in the rest of China, the prices here were a bit of a shocker – Guinness 90 Yuan a pint (~£8), and my 330ml bottle of Carlsberg was 73 Yuan (~£6.50) – I made it last!

Friday 11th Sept. Tour Day 20: Shanghai

Shanghai didn’t really seem that geared to the tourist, and there wasn't much that I wanted to see looking through my guidebook. However, this morning we had a tour of the Pudong area - the whole area was just barren land about 20 years ago but had been developed at break-neck speed to be the financial heart of the city. A forest of skyscrapers, some of the highest buildings in the world were here and in a few years, would be eclipsed by the Shanghai Tower. From here (Deng had disappeared quite quickly), we could see across the river to the Bund, home to many colonial buildings. There were supposed to be some nice riverside walks here but at the moment, the Bund was just a construction site. One place of interest I found in one of the guidebooks was the Sex Museum, but after asking a few people, we found that it had been closed down, either that or our attempts to make ourselves understood failed miserably (I dread to think what they thought we were looking for)!

Three of our group left today (Sam, Dutch Jo and Beth) and we gained four others – Dunstan, Erika (German, now living in NZ), and Michael and Rachel from Australia. In the afternoon, me and Dunstan had a KFC, caught a bus back to the hotel, then met in the lobby later at 4pm for a few tinnies.

After dinner in the hotel restaurant, Jen rushed in and told us that her and Dave had found a place down the round where we could drink all we wanted for 30 Yuan, about £2.50! I didn't need a second invitation and was off like a shot! The event was called "Party in the Park" or somesuch, it seemed to be a kind of talent show. On paying the cover charge, you got an armband and plastic glass which you could refill as often as you wanted from the "Beer Bus", served by a group of young Chinese fitties in miniskirts! The beers were soon flowing and chicken kebabs were being devoured. We got chatting to lots of new people too, including a group of very drunk Chinese blokes and a group of foreigners who had moved to Shanghai and worked in the finance district. A very good night was had!

Saturday 12th Sept. Tour Day 21: Hangzhou

In the morning, hangovers in tow, we took the public bus to Hangzhou, about 3½ hours from Shanghai.

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