Mismatched Adventures Carving a new destination from the inside out.

Shanghai - Written 4/5/09

There were a few things that summed up China for me today… I was riding on the underground subway and I was the only non-Chinese person on the subway. Most of the time I’ve been here I have traveled w/other white peeps or there have been a few tourists around (especially the West Lake area) but not today. I was alone and I stuck out like a sore thumb and it was really cool. I put on my earphones and listened to some music and I was in a bubble looking out, it was strange. People stared and children pointed at me and whispered to each other and giggled. I stood the entire time even though every now and again a seat or two was available. People would scramble to get the seats, they didn’t stay free for long. And then I looked around and noticed a man with one leg missing and I wondered why no one was offering him a seat. My confusion tripled when he hobbled by me and I saw that he also had a very young child strapped to his back. He was the only one on the entire subway that looked me in the eyes, nodded and smiled at me. And as he made his way down the isle, not waiting to get off the train, still no one offered him a seat. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to understand this.

When I went to a friend’s house and he made me lunch, I helped him cook – my first home-cooked meal in China! And when he gave me my bowl of food I waited to eat it but he said, “go ahead and start” and I said, “no I can’t, that’s not polite, I’m waiting for you”. He laughed as he sat down with me saying he has been here for so long he had forgotten that, the politeness factor. Another friend commented on the same thing as I waited for him to get his coffee. He said, “why don’t you go sit down with the others?” and I said, “that’s not polite, I will wait for you” and when the group of us sat outside talking… Duncan is from the UK, one of the other guys is from Barcelona and Biggi is from Iceland… Duncan commented on how he’s been here so long – over 20 years – that polite has left his vocabulary and radar completely.

It was so nice to hang out with friends. Sam let me stay in his home for 3 nights. I was supposed to stay for 2 but I’ve been having such a good time with these guys that I wanted to stay an extra day to sight-see. And that’s what I did today.

Yesterday I spent getting to know people and hanging out with them talking. I found out today that we were in the French Concession and I was ga ga over the area but didn’t know where we were. There was a really cool bookstore where the books were in English. At night Biggi and I met Kristian for dinner and the place/food was fantastic. We got out too late to see the lights down people’s square to the bund plus it was pouring rain but they were troopers and walked me all the way to the bund anyway. It was too late when we got there and too overcast/hazy to see anything.

This morning I decided to sight-see and Sam wasn’t feeling well enough to go with so I went on my own. I wanted to see old architecture and ended up in the amazing part of the city where the architecture and the feel and look and the life was exactly how I imagined it would be only more so. I’ve never seen anything like it. I was shocked and amazed and awed. I absolutely loved it. And these were old, poor areas… I wandered further, looking for Yuan Gardens, which I thought were actual gardens. It took me 3 hours to find the place which was fine because I saw some amazing sights along the way. Once I got to the “gardens” the architecture was “rich” old and amazing, the palace look. I stood in the middle of the 9 turn bridge with my headset on for an hour and just watched the throngs of people and the madness. I’ve never seen anything like it. And that’s when it all started getting to me. I called my friends and Kristian and his girlfriend Hong met me for dinner. We had traditional Hong Kong style food. I will say the food in Shanghai is much better than the food in Hangzhou with the exception of “hot pot”. Everything I’ve had here has been fantastic and not super expensive like I was told. I even ate from a stand today in old town and the food was great and fresh there too without lots of oil and no msg.

And speaking of… since I LOVE food – I was thrilled to walk through old town and find and buy freshly made “biscuits” of hei zhi ma, watermelon on a stick, durian and warm freshly roasted chestnuts. I was in food heaven!!! I even had to buy a new purse/bag (my only non-edible purchase in Shanghai) just to carry all the food I bought.

After dinner Kristian and Hong took me to the bund again to see it in all its glory. And it was PACKED with people. On the roadway there, people’s square, apparently a thief unzipped my bag to steal from me. I had my new bag with my food slung over my shoulder, not minding it because there was nothing of importance in there and I had my bag with money tightly held and watched in front of me. So the thief unzipped my food bag/purse – which has a few zippers (the other pockets were empty) and the only thing he could get was my hair clip which rested on top of the food so he took that. Kristian says he probably would have taken the food too but it was wedged in there pretty tightly.

It’s funny… after 3 days in Hangzhou I felt as though I’d been there for three weeks but after 3 days in Shanghai I feel like I just arrived yesterday and am sad to go. There is something magical about this city and I know it has a lot to do with the people I’ve met here and their hospitality and love.