October 1st is the Chinese National Holiday, a celebration of the Communist take over of China in 1949. This was year 59. Since Oct 1st fell on a Wednesday everyone originally had Wed - Fri off work and then of course the weekend. About 2 weeks after we arrived here it was decided by the biggies in Beijing that the country deserved a whole week off. So everyone worked and went to class on Sat/Sun to make up for missing Mon/Tues then the country mobilized starting starting Sunday PM.
Getting train tickets anywhere was an experience in Chinese bureaucracy in and of itself that involved a lot of decoding of the system and the frequent use of words like “what ? why? How?” More than anything it was a class in cultural training that no powerpoint presentation could attempt. We all managed to use our magic language skills to acquire the appropriate transportation and made our way out into China. My students went every which way and I boarded a train for my first stop on Sunday after church - Shanghai. A Deer Valley co-worker, Chris Rock, took me up on the invite to visit China while I am here. She was scheduled to arrive 3.5 hours before my train pulled in. We were to be greeted by some of her friends who live in Shanghai and teach at one of the local colleges, Fred and Joyce. About 4 days before I left I had emailed Fred, but he had not replied with a phone number to call or plans to connect. Besides email I had no way of getting ahold of him. The train was leaving regardless, so I joined the herd of Chinese at the station and hoped for the best. Fortunately, I had given Chris my cell number.
It has been 14 years since I have been to Shanghai ~ and the train station is still the crazy zoo I remembered. With the trains completely packed, and everyone exiting at once, I could only walk slowly to the exit. From observation, I was the only white person in sea of Chinese. It is difficult to describe exactly how many people are in this country, but it is almost scary to be with so many people in a tight space. Somehow I escaped to the outside and began wandering. Since I didn’t know if Fred had my cell, and I had no knowledge if Chris had actually arrived, my back up plan was to get a hostel somewhere and get on the internet to try and at least email them.
About 15 minutes after coming out of the craziness the station to the outside craziness my phone and wandering around like a lost tourist dragging her suitcase around my phone rang ~ it was Chris, et.al. They had begged a phone off a Chinese guy who spoke minimal Enlgish. After a few more calls, some deciphering of the Chinese guy's unintelligible English and a quick ride on a motorcycle taxi to the other side of the station we finally connected.
(I have to say that I was impressed with Mr. Wang’s (my motorcycle taxi driver) ability to strap my suitcase to the back of his motorcycle, along with his knowledge of the fine American sport of WWF wrestling. I did have to bald face lie that I didn’t have a cell phone that he repeatedly requested the number for. I passed up a fine opportunity for him to call me later and show me around the town. He did, however, give me his number just in case I wanted to see places in Shanghai that no one else goes to.)
My first night in Shanghai was spent eating at an Isreali restaurant and then breezing through the knock-off market to see what China is copy producing these days for the interested consumer. North Face Jackets, Gortex ski pants, Spyder wear for kids – these were the things I was most interested in.
It wasn't until the next morning that I pulled out the cash but even walking by a shop is mildly dangerous to even glance or stop briefly at a shop. The sales person will practically accost you and drag you in all the while telling you in English about the good quality, prices, etc. An expressed interest, or touch to an item immediately produces several versions and sizes being dragged out for your viewing pleasure. Then comes the bargaining:
“you like? 300 yuan, I sell you good price – 300 yuan”
“I’ll give you 100 yuan”
“oh lady! That too little! This good price, good quality, OK OK, 280 yuan – good price”
“No, I think 100 yuan is OK”
“I work so hard, this good – you see you see here, good quality, good sewing, fabric special and North Face”
(I start to walk away)
“OK OK OK – (pulling me back into the store) I sell 210 yuan”
At this point I stick to the 100 yuan price and just start walking away and down the hallway.
(Running down the hallway to catch me and physically drag me back to the store) “OK OK – you come here, you speak Chinese so good, from America – big country. I give you special price, 130 yuan”
“100 yuan” (cause I really don’t want to get it for more and there are 20 more shops with the same exact stuff)
Look of distress - “OK, OK! 110 yuan, that best price, 110 yuan”
At this point it’s $1.50 US more than 100 yuan so I agree. I pull out my cash from my secret passport pouch while they wrap it up in a big bag for transport. I have no idea what their profit margins are, but I feel I got a deal and they made something otherwise they wouldn’t have sold it to me at the 110 yuan price.This was our Monday morning was spent, as my friend Chris put it, “like a cow in a Parana stream.” Treasures were found, and the prices were good but I worked for it.
Our plan after shopping was to ascend to the 100th floor of the newest tall bldg in Shanghai the Financial Trade Center. (the bldg pictured to the side with the hole in the top) We arrived at the center into the first of our upcoming week’s experience in Chinese tourist travel – lots of people.
The line outside didn’t look too bad, however there was a sign placed at the snaky line entrance advertising that the wait to the top would be 2 hours. OK – we lined up with everyone else. We waited for 30 minutes to be allowed into the downstairs ticket issuing area where we waited another 45 minutes to buy tickets. After scanning our bags, etc and doing the safety check thing we waited in another line for another 20 minutes to watch the “preview show.”
We were stuffed into a dark space-agey room. In the center was a large replica of the building enclosed in a round plexiglass casing. All the lights dimmed, the building started to spin then more things spun and laser lights flashed while cartoon fish and other cutesy animals swam around it. If you watched it long enough you began to feel like you were a cute fishy swimming dizzily around spinning building. The purpose the "preview show" was never clear but everything stopped spinning and flashing we waited a little while longer to get in the elevator that took us to the 97th floor feeling a little dazed sick.
Once on the 97th floor, where we could view the city almost as well as from the 100th floor, we realized that we had to wait in another 1 hour line to take the special elevator up to our destination the 100th floor. By this time we were invested, but I was so hungry (as it was 2pm) the my patience for Chinese people in general was gone and all I could think about was how I was beginning to hate being 97 floors in the sky. To avoid losing it I sucked on a few Altoids. By the time we got to the 100th floor, took all our photos and did the appropriate ooo aaaah over the height and the newness of the place we immediately descended to the bottom and found the nearest bathroom – all the while wondering if it was worth it.
The toilets in the bathroom were more equipped and had more "cleaning" options than my local car wash. First of all the seat was heated, very nice. Then, off to the side of the bowl 
was a full panel of buttons offering you cleaning of your choice, TP was only required for drying. A stream of water would shoot up from inside the toilet, and depending on what you preferred, you could select front back or middle with complete adjustable options in both strength of stream, temperature levels, timer, on/off switch, etc. All three of us women took more than our usual time in the stall (see side photo for visual). It was only then that we decided that the 150 yuan and 3+ hours spent on the tower was worth it just for the bathroom and that perhaps that should be advertised as the grand finale. I’ve experience more diversity of toilet options in China than anywhere I’ve ever been. This was far cry from that open stall ditch I was using 2 weeks ago in public toilet down in Anhui province.
From there we ran around for another 2 hours essentially looking for a place to eat and finally (after I was near passing out from hunger) ended up in Chinese restaurant in the French Concession area of Shanghai (an area that the French developed back in the early 1900s). It was one of the best, and most relished, meals I’ve had since arriving here.
From there we made our way to Old Town and then to the Bund. The Bund is a section of downtown Shanghai on side of the river that features large business buildings built by all the foreign country occupiers of the late 1800s. Across the river is the modern architecture of Shanghai featuring its Pearl Tower and other bldgs that have been built in the last 15 years (see photo below). It was a wonderful night of wandering around old China, colonial era China and modern China. Several vendors along the Bund walk way managed to convince us to buy a few toy’ish items and other flashy wares. We finally made it home about 10:30pm exhausted and happy from a full day tour of Shanghai. I will be returning in November – there is more to see, do and buy, but I think that ascent in the tower was a once in my life time experience.
music and narration that is blared over loudspeakers. apparently, we weren't the only tourists/locals who had heard about this cause it seemed that the whole town, the surrounding countryside and a few other million people came to see the show too.
