I've been in Shanghai now for just under 24hrs and I'm already exhausted. When I first got here I really wasn't sure what I was going to do, but in the short time I've been here...I've done HEAPS!
Yesterday evenings' flight from Xiamen to Shanghai was probably the noisiest flight I have ever taken in my life. I seemed to be sitting in the middle of a large family group and I had to try my best not to mind as they chatted loudly around me and passed food to each other(including spam-like blocks of meat) right in front of my face. Meanwhile at the front of the plane one of the cabin crew with a microphone in one hand and a full basket in the other, explained to the passengers that many products were available for purchase during the flight. All I can say is thank god for my iPod, that magically started working again the other day. By putting my headphones in, turning on The Stooges and closing my eyes, I was able to escape the madness.
I arrived at Pudong Airport at about 8pm and got a taxi straight to my hotel. After checking in, I went for a short walk around Nanjing Road, which is a pedestrian only road and famous for it's great shopping.
While Nanjing Road is a wonderfully central area to stay, it's also a huge pain when it comes to hawkers. I thought the ones in Guangzhou and Hong Kong were bad, these guys are HORRIBLE! They will follow you and poke you and some of them even have roller skates. I have quite a normal amount of patience, but after dodging a few dozen of these hawkers I wanted to start punching them! Hopefully I'll be able contain my self during my stay here.
This morning I awoke early and decided just to head off for a walk with no real ideas of where to go or what to do. After walking around Nanjing Road and The People's Square for about an hour, I was approached by two people. My first reaction was HAWKERS! RUN! but it turned out they were just friendly people who wanted to say hello. The two women, Linda and Lu, are sisters and in Shanghai for a week from their home town of Tsingtao (where the beer is from!) We chatted for a while and they invited me to join them for a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. I have been warned that tea ceremonies, while very interesting, can be pricey. It seems they were very right on both accounts, but I was more than happy to spend some time with my new friends. Linda translated for me as the professional tea demonstrator, a small woman dressed in pink, explained how to make and drink the tea, as well as it's benefits to the body and spirit. We tried six different types of tea: green tea, fruit tea, jasmine tea, black tea, rose tea and flower ball tea, which is made from several different types of flowers balled together.
After saying good bye to my new friends, I felt quite refreshed. There's nothing like meeting some friendly strangers to restore ones faith in humanity.
So, because it was still very early, I decided to head towards The Bund to see the sights and soak up the atmosphere. I walked down Nanjing Road and as I got closer I spotted the amazing Pearl TV Tower. It looks so space-aged and all I could think of as I stared at it was flying cars! Hahaha.
My walk along The Bund was quite pleasant, even the hawkers couldn't annoy me. After a while I was approached by another small group of people. We chatted for a short while and they told me they were art students in Shanghai to exhibit their work, and they invited me to have a look. I went with them simply to have a look, but of course they cornered me into buying something. Although I do understand that people do need to make a living, it does get quite tiring having everyone hounding you to buy something. I was disappointed that the students hadn't turned out to be just the friendly people I thought they would be. They were friendly enough, but they still pretty much demanded I buy something. I felt backed into a guilty corner and they explained how they'd spend hours slaving away over the canvas'...I guess I would've felt rude not to buy something, so I bought four little paintings from one of the girls.
As I left the gallery I felt a little disheartened. I suppose I shouldn't have been so nieve to think they didn't want something from me, but I suppose that is just the nature of human beings.
