Write on Travel!

When most people think of Shanghai they envision the pointy sci-fi-orific Pearl tower, the glimmering European-esque stretch of the Bund, or the ethereal fog that clings to the city like cotton candy to children’s fingers; but for those who dare to venture off the tourist track there is another untamed world worth exploring that will make your visit to this city of juxtaposition unforgettable.

I was on a tour, which is something I had never done before, with a group of very nice sales rep’s from a big budget telecom company and we had hit all the obligatory shopping outlets and silk and jade factories, so when it was announced that we were to be deposited at yet another “retail outlet center” I decided to ditch and chart my own course.

This is when I discovered the crickety, cobblestone, worn streets of Old Shanghai, and my Chinese love affair began.

At the mouth of the old market place with the card of my hotel in hand, with trepidation I bid farewell to the tour bus and started to walk towards the Starbucks at the top of the square. While Gweilo sipped on weak western-style beverages, the locals were enjoying something far more unique. I was intrigued. At a rickety vendor’s cart people queued to buy a crisp, crunchy, delicacy with the skelecature of a small sparrow on a stick. And that’s exactly what it was, fried bird. This was my first clue that I was in for a truly unique Shanghai experience.

Venturing on I lost myself in the scents that permeated the streets; the pungent herbs, salted fish, roasted duck and dust, and I found myself in a maze of quaint shop upon shop. In the cavernous stores that stretched back and down into the bowels of the historic city, I found everything a treasure seeker could wish for; Chinese antiques, jade and pearl jewelry, silk robes, herbs to cure any ailment, war memorabilia, tea houses, beaded slippers, and yes even the cheesy tourist trinkets.

I felt light and strangely peaceful as I meandered through old town at my own pace, with the knowledge that I was one of the few foreigners in the midst of Asian faces. I winked at other Gweilo passersby excited at the thought that so few of us had found the true Shanghai, a gem amidst all the factories and reproduced designer goods and knock off DVD’s. There were no tour buses here. This exemplified the genuine magic of China for me, where the old world meshed with the new.

I browsed leisurely until my last stop, a rare gems boutique where a beautiful black pearl necklace caught my eye. When the shopkeeper approached my pulse began to quicken. With calculator between us we began to bargain. I won’t say that I got a steal of a deal, but it felt good to find something precious and unique that whenever I would wear it, it would whisper this awesome experience back to me.