I've posted some pictures of Shanghai below, and the important ones are now on my webshots account (there's a link on the right hand side of this page). Shanghai is most definitely a city I could live in and be happy.
After a forty-four hour train ride, my classmate and I arrived in Shanghai just after dawn. Although we didn't know which train station we had arrived at (Shanghai has several), we took a gamble that it would be the one next to the metro line and decided the best course of action would be to find the subway hole. We lugged our stuff off the train, through several underground passageways, and into the daylight. The hostel we had booked was reported to be a five-minute walk from one of the main lines, although finding the metro station proved harder than initially thought. We wandered around for a short while, lugging our bags and searching for the elusive subway hole. Finally we stopped and asked a local-it was right in front of us. We spent the next half hour trying to figure out where to buy a ticket. It was one of those things that should have been easy, but like most things in China was hard to figure out. That seems to be the way of things here: they are always twice as complicated as they should be and take twice as long.
Anyway, we made it to the hostel in one piece and I was pleased to see that it was very, very clean. In fact, I would wager to say it was the cleanest place in China. It was spotless: no bugs, no mosquitoes, no dirty sheets, no smelly bathrooms, no overflowing garbage cans... It was like heaven in a dorm room.
I spent nearly everyday wandering around the city. I loved looking at the architecture and art deco. I wandered in and out of old buildings and new shopping centers. There's a lot to write about, but I think I'll just share some things that I wrote while there. These are excerpts of emails I sent during those ten days.
"The People's Square is ironically surrounded by shopping malls. I
wandered in a few of them, looked at the overpriced clothes and then
wandered back out again. There's a ton of Korean, Japanese and Western
food here, it's really tempting to buy it all. Even the grocery stores
carry more Western food than in Chengdu. I ate Doritos for lunch
yesterday, Oreos for breakfast today. I finally found a bottle of Diet
Coke (almost non-exhistant in Chengdu), and drank that with the Oreos.
There's a bunch of Western candy too, but in the spirit of self
discipline, I didn't buy any.
I tried to get some pictures, but it's hard to get a perspective of
the city. I ended up taking a lot of photos from pedestrian
overpasses. I'm looking for a book with good pictures so I can show
people something better than what I took."
"I saw the old Cathay Hotel (now the Peace Hotel). The interiors of
these old buildings is really amazing. Many of them have mosaic
ceilings, stained glass windows, large chandeliers...
The Cathay Hotel apparently was the place to hang out if you were rich
and shady. The original owner of the hotel used to say, "the only race
greater than the Jews is the Derby." When the communists "liberated"
Shanghai, the owners ended up giving the hotel to the state in return
for exit visas. The communist government made them pay "back taxes"
though before letting them leave."
"After the train station, I went for a walk to find Sun Yat-sen's
former residence. I ended up in the French Concession, which has a lot
of really cool old houses, and a lot of trendy boutiques.
Before going to Sun Yat-sen's place, I took a side trip to the first
meeting place of the National Congress of the CCP. Ironically enough,
it's in a neighborhood that has been renovated to be a trendy shopping
district. My guidebook says all the brick buildings had been rebuilt,
and that some of the town's best restaurants can be found inside.
The meeting hall was in one of those old brick buildings. After buying
the ticket, you are taken into a museum which houses artifacts of the
founding of the People's Republic, as well as artifacts from the
foreign aggressors. After you make the round of the museum, you're
taken to a dusty room where there sits a table with about a dozen
chairs. This, the placard tells you, is the sight of the first
National Congress. It's not much of a surprise, the museum houses wax
replicas of all the delegates sitting around a room that looks
suspiciously like the one before you.
Next I headed to Dr. Sun's place, which wasn't too far of a walk away.
The museum part of this attraction is actually housed in Dr. Sun's
neighbor's house. It's pretty nice, the artifacts are all preserved
well, and the Chinglish is minimal. Next I was shown by a guard to the
souvenir room and then on to Dr. Sun's house.
The house is preserved just as it had been when he lived there. You
aren't allowed to enter any of the rooms, but you are allowed to walk
the hallways and peek in. If you don't mind the guard following you,
it's a pretty cool experience.
After visiting the house, I decided to walk back to the People's
Square and catch the metro to a Catholic church that I saw yesterday.
The sign said they hold mass the first Friday of every month, and I
thought it might be fun. However, on the way back I saw a road sign
that said, "Second Meeting Place of the National Congress of the CCP."
I'd been to the first, I just HAD to go to the second. I followed the
road signs until I came to a park. Just off the sidewalk sat a brick
building that was nearly identical to the one that housed the first
meeting place. I tried to walk in, but was shooed away because people
actually live there.
By the time I got back to the People's Square, it was too late to go
to mass."
Besides the Las Vegas/Shanghai photos below, here's some more pictures of Shanghai:
My future office building:
Right next to my other future office building:
My future apartment building:
In my future neighborhood:
Including my future movie theatre:
And my future shopping center:
And some other random places I'm sure I'll be going back to:
