Friday, August 17, 2012

China Day 2 - Shanghai

China Day 2 - Shanghai  8/17/12

Today started early, especially after a long day of flying. Up at about 5 a.m. First real view of Shanghai. Quite a contrast between the old and new. Our room at the portman ritz carlton is very nice and overlooks the "friendship plaza" a gift from the then soviet union.
Buffet style breakfast at the hotel, which was very good. Bread pudding even, so both mom and I are happy. Funny to read the China Daily English paper. One article had a picture of kids jumping off an embankment into the river with a caption that read something like parents need to teach their children to not do stupid things.
On the tour bus at 8 a.m., for what will turn out to be a long day. First stop is at the Bund for a quick tour and photo op. I would really like to spend more time and just wander but that isn't in the plan for this trip. By the way, I forgot to mention that I am really skewing the tour group statistics here. While I'm not a good judge of age, most everyone else is at least 10 years older than me. Anyway, the city skyline is quite impressive, and almost all of it built within the last 20 years. Our tour guide "tony" also said that chinese law requires that all new buildings be torn down after 70 years. No sure I'd want to buy a condo costing upwards of $2k a sqft knowing that it will be dust in the future. But by then I might not care. Interesting to see the Pudong side to the east and the old shanghai to the west.
Traffic is insane, even though Tony seems to think its pretty good. After the bund, we're off to the Yuyuan Garden. It's hot and very humid today, so we're already soaked. The bus Ac works well, but just stepping out the door is like jumping into a sauna. It's very interesting to see the dramatic difference in wealth just walking down the street...a guy driving a Bentley next to a poor guy on a motor scooter down a street with $1m apartments on one side and falling down shacks one the other.
The gardens are nice but crowded as is most everywhere. For peace and relaxation, I much enjoyed the gardens Portland and Sydney much more. Seems a little dusty and in need of maintenance. Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying the chance to see it
Back on the bus and off to the No. 1 Shanghai Rug Company! Beautiful rugs and amazing work. One woman (rug making is apparently woman's work) is working on a rug that will take 18 months to complete, and she will be the only one working on it from beginning to end. The price is determined by the number of knots per inch. Naturally, I found a small one (2'x3') that was very nice. Turns out to be 1000 kpi and $26,800. Needless to say, it stayed there.
Now off to Dim Sum lunch. But first a traffic jam...45 minutes later we've gone 4 miles. Lunch is also another shopping experience...but then everything seems to be a shopping experience. Think "Exit through the Gift Shop." The silk embroidery is amazing. Many of them look like photographs. Didn't think to take any pictures of them of course, and at $500+ I won't be bringing one home either. Lunch was served "lazy Susan" style, which is apparently quite a novelty.
Final stop for the afternoon is the Shanghai Museum. Beautiful pottery, jade and bronze works. Didn't have much time there because of traffic. Back to the hotel with just enough time to wash up and head to dinner. More traffic and dinner served "lazy Susan" style. It was pretty good. Some of the folks are starting to grumble about the food...speculating what it might be. I quite enjoy it. Similar, yet totally different than what we get at home. From dinner, we're off to see a Shanghai Acrobatic troupe...but first more traffic. Out of the cool bus, into the warm theater, and I am out! Tried not to doze, but couldn't help it. What I saw of the show was fun.
Wanted to walk down for some night pictures of the bund, but that will have to wait for another trip. Tomorrow we leave early for Shuzhou and Nanjing.


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