Band of Bloggers: Shanghai

The last stop on our tour and the most highly recommended of the cities, we were both looking forward to Shanghai. It was good. We both enjoyed it. Unfortunately the rain, which had mercifully let us be so far, decided to pay a visit. The first day we arrived in Shanghai was nice, not too cold and very clear. Thankfully we chose to go to the Bund to have a look at the budding Shangai riverside. This is the iconic set of highrises and the odd looking Oriental Pearl Tower that have come to symbolise the city. It was a lovely view and, save me getting a load of candy apple shite all over my coat, it was nice. As I say, it’s a good job we got to see that view the first day as for the rest of our stay the whole area was covered in low hanging clouds and fog, rendering the buildings across the water almost invisible. Oh well.

There were still some interesting sights though, The Oriental pearl tower was resplendant in its garishness, especially when placed next to the Jin Mao tower, the 4th tallest building in the world and possibly the most entrancing building I've ever seen. Seriously, it looked like something a comic book super-villain would reside in. It was magnificent.

Unfortunately, we found that most of the infamous street markets of Shanghai, full of dirt cheap brand-name clothing and some of the city’s main attractions, had been closed down, no doubt due to international pressure. No cheap Gucci for you. The Friendship store, a shop opened by the British to supply expats during the Empire, which was still operating according to the Lonely Planet, had also been demolished to make way for a hotel. Because you know, there aren’t enough of those in Shanghai.

We ate out a lot mainly because the food was so good and so cheap. Thanks to the ever-present Lonely Planet in Hannah’s bag, we were able to search out the finest the city had to offer. This included a lovely health food place that we went to twice and a vegetarian place whose tofu dishes were textured and flavoured meat imitations. It was actually unbelievable to me that some of the dishes weren’t meat; the breaded chicken tofu was, in almost every way, exactly the same as actual breaded chicken (minus the fat and gristle).

Also, I got a haircut.

Other adventures led to us encountering the famed People's Park English Corner, a gathering of which we were blissfully unaware. Basically all the English speakers in Shanghai (or so it seemed) decended on the area known as People Park every Sunday to practice English. Into this we stumbled. Having been warned to run screaming from anyone approaching us and speaking English it was probably best that the first thing they said to us was "Don't be afraid." It was rather surreal.

Soon we were talking about every topic under the sun. Of particular note was the question of Japanese people. One man, pictured below with me and Hannah, had been coming to the corner for 60 odd years and told us the fascinating story of how he and his English teacher were seperated during the Japanese occupation of China and reunited several years later. The general opinion was that the Japanese were stuck up and unfriendly and generally disliked. Hmm.

Shanghai is probably the only place I’d go back to. Beijing was good but now that the sites have been seen, it offers little incentive to return. Xi’an probably ended up being our favourite city but is so far away that we’d need a reason to go back. Shanghai is an hour and a half’s flight away from Fukuoka and a great place.