CHINA 2005: American in Shanghai — December 20, 21, 22, 2005

Hi all-

I think I’ve been off by a day… and things have been so hectic and moving so fast, that I’m just hoping I can remember what we did and what’s been happening the last two days.. since the previous little travelogues..

First the really good news… I got my Fed Ex package released from the “Commodity Investigation Bureau… “The concierge at the hotel had been dealing with this for me… and I decided to take charge myself.. to move beyond the Chinese politeness… I asked to speak with the bureaucrat’s supervisor… who repeated the same story… My toiletries needed to be inspected and “analyzed” by the Commodities Bureau, and I needed to show documentation from the American Fragrance, Cosmetics Institute (????) … Anyway, I was quite polite, but said that since I didn’t understand the issue (given that if I had remembered to put my toiletries in my suitcase, the “Commission” would not have done any inspection.. etc. etc.) I then said that I thought it best that I contact the American ambassador (God only knows what he would be like… a Bush appointee)… Anyway, I sounded official and determined… They then said that they would see if there was any way to expedite the situation.. and that I should wait before contacting the ambassador (who is actually in Beijing.. so I have no idea how I would have this..)… And lo and behold within a few hours, my package arrived…

Ok.. enough about that…

We started out yesterday by walking a complex set of neighborhoods that are fairly close to our hotel… webs of narrow alleys completely lined with tiny dwellings from the 1920s… I was a big hit with some workers and other folks whom I photographed —  when I showed them what the pictures looked like on the digital camera… Others were quite adamant about not having their pictures taken… Following that investigation of these neighborhoods.. we decided to see how the metro worked… It’s a fairly simple and efficient system… extremely well used.. We figured out the purchase system, our route, and even changed trains a few times… We got off and on a few times to look at neighborhoods and walk.. bitterly cold, by the way (and somehow I lost my gloves somewhere, as did Mike, so now we each need to buy another pair for the remainder of the days in cold climate areas, but no problem.. there are about 40 stands on every corner selling whatever you might need… so my glove purchase will be a snap! Over the course of these five days we have rarely seen any Westerners…  and certainly not on the subway…

After our little Metro exploration we went to a few other parts of town rather randomly selected… and eventually went out to a somewhat chi-chi restaurant called “M on the Bund” for Mike’s birthday… Food was fantastic (with prices to match).. but frankly the food has been incredible in little hole-in-the-wall places too… But this restaurant had a great view, unbelievable presentation and service.. and interesting mixtures and textures… We tried the seasonal Shanghai specialty.. “hairy crab”… and some black cod…  For those of you who were involved with helping me put together Mike’s birthday present (a fully loaded iPod), he seems thrilled… but now has his iPod on all the time… creating obvious problems of getting his attention.

Now for today… We got up early to catch the train from Shanghai to Suzhou (a “small city” — of only 8 million people — about one hour from Shanghai…). It’s known as the Venice of China, replete with a complex canal system. One of the guys who works in Mike’s Oakland office arranged for us to visit and to meet with some dignitaries there… But the Director of Foreign Investment (the one we were to meet with) sprained his ankle so we were to be met by a “colleague” and another meeting was set up to replace the meeting with this guy… The Chinese like to have “meetings” with foreigners…  The train ride was uneventful, although getting onto the train was interesting… First the hotel arranged for the tickets. We had planned to take the 9 a.m. train to Suzhou and the 6:30 pm back… but there was some complication because (according to the hotel) it was important for us to be on the “soft seat train” not the “hard seat train” (We took this to mean upholstered versus non-upholstered?)… and the soft seat train was booked, so we shifted the schedule… Once at the station it was quite an experience to merge with tens of thousands of people and to figure out where to go. But we made it…

Anyway, Tang, the Director (who is apparently a close friend of Mike’s staffer’s father) called to say the colleague would meet us at the Sizhou train station.. We were told to “follow the crowds” out of the station  in Suzhou and to look for this guy (we had no name) at the base of the exit ramp…. Naturally there were hundreds of people picking others up, but no one who looked like he was looking for us… We hung around for a while, constantly trying to catch the attention of someone who looked like they were in search of someone they had never met.. but no luck.

Actually we would be easy to spot, since we were the only non-Asians emerging from the train.

Anyway, we phoned Tang who was home with his ankle problem, and he gave us the Big Blue on how to find the guy who would pick us up… “He was short, wore glasses, and had black hair.”.. a description that matched 99% of the men at the station… But Tang said he was calling the guy on his cell phone, so we looked for a short guy with black hair and glasses answering a cell phone call… Another great clue that limited the field to about 90% of all those at the station.. The other 10% were already on their cell phones.. But we did connect.. Naturally he could pick us out in the crowd quite easily..

Suzhou is a nice city with tree lined streets (deciduous trees, so they were all barren at this time of year)… and canals.. and great growth, so there are hundreds of 20-30 story buildings and several industrial parks.  Farrel (the colleague) took us all around town, for lunch, and for several walks.. Then we had to go to our “meeting”… which was with the Director of Garden Development.. Actually she was quite nice and we had a good discussion about urban planning policies.  Suzhou’s sister city is Portland Oregon, and everyone we met with talked about how great Portland was.. At one point I mentioned something about the difference between the two cities with regard to size of population, and Farrel said Portland was a nice small city at 1 million… When I explained that Portland only had 350,000 people he was shocked..

After a full day in Suzhou we took off for the train back to Shanghai.. another sea of humanity pouring in and out of the station.. needed to find our “waiting area”… but we did fine, even though there was virtually no English spoken at the Suzhou station… and no signs in English, as there had been in Shanghai.

When we got back to Shanghai it was a zoo trying to find a taxi… but we eventually succeeded. and then quickly ran out to dinner at a little Hunan place.. more crab.. very spicy this time..  The restaurant was packed with locals..

Now , I’m signing off… It’s getting late..  More tomorrow, assuming Xi’an is set for connecting on the Internet.

Best — Fern