1. CHINA 2005: Americans in Shanghai — 12/17 and 12/18/2005

Hi all-

This will be shorter than I’d like, but it’s nearly midnight and I’m pretty wiped out… I also don’t have any Internet connection in my hotel room and Internet cafes are much harder to find than I thought.. certainly not like Cambodia and Laos where there were Internet cafes on every block.. So I’m here in the hotel’s business center. The computer is slow and I’m the only one here.

We arrived on Saturday night at about 8 p.m. — body time — who knows! The Peace Hotel is a bit tired.. probably was a grand place in its time.. but it’s well-situated and just fine, except for the Internet situation and the fact that the beds are like sleeping on a sheet of plywood. We are scheduled to be here 3 days and then on Monday we move to the Four Seasons, which I suppose will be like staying on the moon. Actually, we like it here, but the woman in Hong Kong who helped with the arrangements really pushed for a different hotel. Immediately after unpacking we went up to the rooftop bar for drinks and to get a view of the city at night… which is definitely “something else”… Over the past 14 years, more than 5,000 giant skyscrapers have been constructed in Shanghai, and each is lighted like a stage set.. As you are probably aware.. each is also competing with the other architecturally and height-wise (They definitely have a thing about height.) So the Peace Hotel is dwarfed at a mere 10 stories… with buildings 90 and 100 stories all around.. but the Peace Hotel is in a great location at the river, so the rooftop allows for some nice views.

Oh– It’s pretty cold.. about 40-50 during the days and about 32 at night.

We woke up fairly early on Sunday and began a very long day.. walked several miles from the hotel to Peace Park, along a pedestrian mall absolutely lined with shops.. the place is like consumer heaven. Everyone wants to sell us Rolexes (fakes) and shoes and DVDs and what have you on the street.. Shops are teeming with people as are the streets.. mmm 17 million people in Shanghai??? that’s more than twice NY…

We eventually found our way to the Urban Planning Museum which has an incredible model of the entire city of Shanghai — the model is 5,300 sq. ft… takes up an entire floor of the building.. impressive, and interesting in that it does seem as if there is a lot of thinking going on in terms of what gets built. We did a quick run through the Shanghai Museum and the Shanghai Art Museum, stopping for lunch at a rather unexpectedly sheek little cafe at the museum…  then some strolling in small streets perpendicular to these skyscraper streets, only to find the more usual older Shanghai… complete with stores selling insects! and merchants hawking goods.. and tiny stalls selling anything you could imagine and more. Then hopped a cab and went to the top of the TV tower, which requires three elevators each getting smaller than the other… zipping us up about 95 floors… the elevator moves faster than any I’ve
been on and is absolutely silent… You’re body to body on the elevator, so if there was any bird flu or other germ floating around, be sure I’ve got it.. Anyway, once at the top the views are spectacular.. sort of like what Windows on the World was like in NY before 9/11… but probably more spectacular..

But the city is a real study in contradictions. .. and everywhere you run into some bizarre mix.. As you wait to board these ultra modern elevators to take you to the top of the tower, music is playing everywhere and it’s always things like the theme song from Ponderosa.. or other corny American tunes.  Can’t be for the tourists because there are hardly any Anglos here.. and we haven’t run into a single American.. The few non-Asians we’ve seen have mostly been from Australia.. After the Tower, and a walk back to the hotel we found our way to a little Shanhainese restaurant in the old French section of town — Yang’s Kitchen.. which was a real feat to locate, down some alley.. Food was great. Restaurants all seem over-staffed, but I suppose since the salaries are ridiculously low it’s possible to have lots of help. We ordered a fish.. and in a few minutes the waitress appeared with a plastic bag from some department store.. In it was some water.. and our fish.. for approval before cooking!

We left dinner at about 11 and headed to the top of a 90 story building called Jinmao, where we had drinks at the bar called Cloud 9… advertised as the highest bar in the world.. I think I believe it.. Here too you get the weird mixes… sleek bar in this rather high tech building.. but with a guy who comes around with a parakeet to tell your fortune.. I was told that I would have a long and successful life but that I carried around too much stress which could affect that long life with heart problems.. smart little parakeet.

We taxied back to the hotel at about 2 a.m.

Today was even more complex… Left the hotel for a long walk that took us to the old section of Shanghai.. through markets and meandering through tiny alleys… Gotta sign off.. more on Sunday’s excursions when I tell you about Monday.. I’m fading.. it’s about 1:30 a.m.

Fern