Vast, grand, cavernous. Our train pulled into Shanghai's Hongqiao station. Newly built, but next to the old airport, Hongqiao is typical of the probably dozens of new, huge, railway stations being built across the country. China's central planners have launched a huge program building mile upon mile of high speed rail, from north to south, east to west, criss-crossing practically the entire country. Parts of the network have already been completed, although much remains to be done. However, China's existing railway infrastructure could never have have coped with the increase in passenger numbers that high speed rail is predicted to bring, so the lines are supported in most cities by huge - usually located on the outskirts and probably over engineered - new stations. As edifaces of China's economic rise, these beasts are easy to spot, not least because they contrast so sharply with China's older, crumbling and definitely more crowded stations. For example, my next stop in Qingdao will be at a station over one hundred years old. All of China's new high speed rail stations must have been built in the last five years or so.
"Airport like" is how some describe them. Wide open, spacious, gleaming marble halls is what they are. It would not be a surprise if they were all designed by the same architect, and cast from the same mould. They do have pseudo-airport like security, but they also tend to have too few shops and a lot more platforms than might seem necessary. Regardless of any excess platforms, Shanghai's Hongqiao is strategically located alongside the domestic airport and two metro lines, and despite arriving during the rush hour, I was wisked to my accommodation in no time. On my way out of the metro at my final stop, an old lady even stopped to advise me on the best route out of the station to my destination. I'm not sure what inspired her to believe that her instructions in Mandarin would be understood, but understood and appreciated they most certainly were.
I would be staying with a friend in Shanghai, so rather than the typical backpacker hostel I would be putting up in a reasonably central private apartment block. China's overheated property market is practically the stuff of legends now, and this was my first look behind the door. Juding by the fake crystal chandaliers and ornate seating, this was an apartment tring to pass itself off as high end. Juding by the mosquitoes and stained upholstery in the lobby, it was not quite succeeding. Like many things in China, the superfiicial appearance was impressive, and was probably an attempt to bestow "status" on its occupants, but the attention to detail and intrinsic quality was a notch below.
I have been to Shanghai at least twice before, so unlike for many fresh of the boat here, this would be no mysterious voyage in the Orient for me. Familiarity however did not prevent my first day in Shanghai from being something of a blur. The bund was a building site the last time I had visited, due to preparations for Shanghai's hosting of the World Expo, so this time I wandered by the river, admiring the contrasts between old and new. On the west bank, the bund itself, with old colonial buildings, banks, trading and financial houses from the days when Shanghai was a treaty port. On the east bank, towering modern sky-scrapers built to house Shanghai's modern financial district. On the river lumbered old, slow, hulking cargo ships - dark and blackened enough to betray that their cargo was coal. And amongst them scurried much smaller, newer, faster, shining pleasure boats carrying tourists here and there on the river for a pleasant hour or two voyage.
After a brief nap in Costa, I wandered north to an old, renovated and now repurposed slaughter house. Being a former slaughterhouse had bestowed the building with a strange concerete internal structure of wide sloping alleyways up and down which cattle could be herded, and narrower doorways, steeper stairwells and the occasional overpass - up, down and along which people could rush, to do the herding. If you didn't know what purpose this building originally served, you could while away a few hours trying to guess what it was all for. The current occupants - smart restaurants, bric-a-brac shops and the Shanghai Ferrari owners club - would not give many clues.
From old to new Shanghai, I spent the next day on a shopping mission around the French concession, exploring various boutique shops and upscale malls. The boutiques were well stocked with stylish fashions and perculiar curiousities. Strange T-shirts appear to be something of an Asian speciality, and here was no exception. A standout number was a luminous yellow piece overlaid with a montage of black sillhoutted Monty Python "silly walk" vignettes. I bought it. The upscale malls in Shanghai, like in the rest of China, are more of an enigma. They always seem to follow the same pattern. On the ground floor, by the enterance, is almost certainly a Gucci, alongside a Prada, Mui Mui and other world famous luxury brands. Spread across the other low level floors will be a similar arrangement of top line fashion brands such as Burberry, Armani etc. The most important feature however is the lack of customers. While it wasn't a huge shock that the Gucci store in Xi'an - a western dust bowl really only known as the home of the terracotta warriors - wasn't doing a roaring trade in high end fashions, seeing the trend repeated on the east coast and even in Shanghai was more of a surprise. I wonder if Gucci et al are not undermining the cachet of their brand (not to mention their bottom line) by being the front door tenant of every desolate shopping mall in China.
After finally finding a shopping mall that would sell something useful like a mobile phone, I was hungry. Hungry enough to eat a lion, and in the end that is what I did - or a lion's head to be more precise. I had only seen this dish on a menu once before, of a Shanghainese restaurant in Singapore, so it might just be a Shanghai thing. But "Lion's Head" is the literal name and, perhaps anti-climactically, a meat ball is in fact what it is. I ordered a lion's head with noodle soup and it was delicious. Not too big of a meatball that you couldn't eat it with chopsticks, but big enough not to be incongrous with the "Lion's Head" monicker. Another successful, not to mention cheap and delicious, "authentic" Chinese eating experience.
My last night in Shanghai would need to be an early one, as the only ticket out to Qingdao that I could get was at seven in the morning, so an early start back to Hongqiao for the next day.
