Sunday, Miro and I woke up a little bit later and after eating in the hostel headed out to Yu Yuan Gardens. Yu yuan gardens are an imperial gardens that are hundreds of years old. The gardens were very scenic with lots of cool buildings and water features. In my opinion it was very similar to the Forbidden City, just with more plants and water. There were many different “rooms” separated by walls.
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| Yuyuan Gardens |
In my opinion, what was cooler was the market area that was outside of the gardens. This market was composed of what at least appeared to be authentic old Chinese buildings that were all clustered together. There were restaurants, and shops selling every possible Chinese souvenir possible. There were even some items that you could get custom made with your name or your picture. We spent a fare amount of time here. While their I introduced Miro to a very cultural experience, a Dairy Queen Blizzard. Apparently Finland does not have Dairy Queen so he had never experienced a Blizzard especially it being served upside down. We stopped in a Starbucks for the free wifi and then took the metro to the spot of the first meeting of the Chinese Communist party.
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| Yuyuan Market |
The meeting spot was just a smaller building in a residential area of Shanghai. Something that was interesting about it was the lack of attention they gave to Mao. Usually everything that had even a little to do with Mao is exaggerated. Here there was simply a picture of him on the wall along with all of the other people attending the first meeting. This meeting had to be kept secret because both the ruling KMT and the British/French governments did not approve of the formation of the CCP. This museum was of course full of the usual propaganda about the CCP, but it was still interesting. After the museum, we found a nearby Apple store so we could use the internet. We must of spent a little too much time there, because eventually some not very friendly looking employees that instead of having colorful shirts and name tags wore all black started approaching us. At that point we decided to leave.
We headed back to Yuyuan gardens to get some lunch at a dumpling restaurant. The food was very good. Leaving the market Miro and I decided to take one of the bicycle carts that were being offered to us. The driver told us that it would cost 20 yuan for the trip. When we arrived at the destination however he tried to convince us that he meant 20 yuan/person instead, which would be more expensive than a taxi. He even cornered us against a wall with his bike and for awhile we exchanged “you said 20” and him saying “si shi quai (40 dollars).” Eventually we paid him 30 total, but it was still annoying.
Miro’s time in Shanghai was running out and he wanted to visit the former French concession to see some European Architecture. We took the metro to the nearest spot and spent some time walking around in the former French Concession. Overall it was pretty disappointing. Although the buildings were definitely constructed in European rather than Asian style, there was nothing really special about them. From the cars and the people walking around though, it was pretty obvious that we were in one of the very nice neighborhoods of Shanghai. We were hungry, but as a result of the above mentioned niceness (=higher prices) we choose to eat a quick lunch somewhere else.
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| Maglev Train |
After picking up Miro’s luggage we headed off toward the airport. Shanghai has a Magnetic Levitation train that connects the downtown area to the airport and I wanted to ride on it, so I accompanied Miro to the airport. We took the metro to the Maglev terminal, bought our tickets, and boarded the train. Riding on the train was very cool. It reached a top speed of 431 km/h (~267 mph). The coolest part for me though was when we went around turns the train banked very strongly (up to around 30 degrees). Due to the speed though, unless you were looking out the window you could barely tell that it was banking. Due to the speed we arrived at the airport shortly and then Miro left to catch his flight. While waiting to board the train back, I got to talk to a very friendly man from Tokyo, and it was very interesting to hear his impression of the events taking place in his country. He said most Japanese trust their government’s story and handling of the disaster, which is almost the opposite to how many western news outlets portray it.
After arriving back in downtown I went to find a night ferry ride on the river. After fighting off many people trying to sell me tours and products, I found the place that had been mentioned in the travel guide I looked at. The views from the boat were very cool. I got to see both the skyline of Pudong and the Bund from different angles than I had been able to before. It was also a very nice break from all of the walking I had done over the past 3 days.
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| Skyline from Night |
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| The Bund at night from the Boat |
While wating to leave I took a taxi to the nearby Shanghai botanical gardens and walked around admiring the nice flowers. This was cool because it seemed that it wasn’t really a tourist destination. I was probably the only non-chinese person there.
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| Botanical Gardens |
I took a taxi back to the train station shortly after and waited for my train. The train ended up being delayed by about 40 minutes, which I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t looked up the character for “delayed” on my iPod. Eventually I boarded the train though. Riding the train was a very interesting experience. If only the seats were filled the train would have been crowded, but they also filled the aisles with people including me. To make this worse, they occasionally rolled carts through the aisles with food. Although, the physical experience of this ride is something I would not want to repeat, it was all made up by the conversation I had with the people near me. They were all from Shanghai and spoke English. We had a nice conversation about a wide range of topics, such as schooling in China vs. the US and American sports and food. The girl that I mostly talked to told me that in high school she had about 6 hours of homework a day, and that she really liked that her father let her play basketball for a whole 1 hour a week. After we arrived in Hangzhou she was also useful because she waited with me in the taxi line and told the taxi driver where I wanted to go. While waiting in line, I got to experience the well known corruption of China’s police force. A police officer was patrolling the taxi line trying to keep unofficial drivers from bother people waiting. This officer, however, only really kept off some of the unofficial taxis. He actually helped some of them to convince those waiting in line (I know this thanks to the girl’s translation). I am sure there was some money exchanged for this preferential treatment.
By the time I arrived at West Lake, the day I had hoped to have in Hangzhou had been reduced to 5 hours. I spent that time walking around the lake and enjoying the scenery. There were plenty of Chinese people, and not many westerners. I ended up walking to a giant pagoda on one end of the lake and paid to go up in it. This pagoda was a little odd because it was not ancient at all. I think it is a replacement to a previous pagoda, but this one had elevators, and other very modern features. The view from the top was still very nice though. After the pagoda, I walked across one of the 2 causeways that cross the lake. I was pretty tired of walking so I took multiple stops to just rest and enjoy the view overlooking the lake.
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| Xihu (West Lake) |
On the other side of the lake it was my intention to get some food and then catch a taxi to see another pagoda along the river. I found food, but afterward it was impossible to find an open taxi. There were plenty of taxis going in both directions on the road I was walking on, but all of them were occupied. I kept walking hoping to find the place that they were exchanging passengers, but only after walking for another 40 minutes along the edge of the lake did I finally find an unoccupied taxi. I showed the driver where I wanted to go on the map, but upon arrival I realized the pagoda had closed for the night, so instead I had the driver take me to the train station. I had bought my return ticket before leaving and had chosen the fast train with a seat. Overall I am glad I went to Hangzhou, because it was nice to see the lake, but I wished I had had a little more time to explore the surrounding area, I am still glad for the conversation I had on the train ride there though.
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| Cool Modern Pagoda |
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| Lanterns over the water |
The train ride back was much more comfortable and I slept for most of it. I arrived in Shanghai at a few minutes before the metro closed and me along with most of the passengers ran to the platform. Thankfully I had purchased a transit card, so I did not have to buy a ticket and was able to make it on the last train, saving me the expense of a taxi ride. Unknown to me, and most of the other passengers this metro train was on an express route, and skipped every other station. This was announced eventually in Chinese, but as I did not understand that I just guessed the meaning. When the train stopped one stop before my destination I decided it was better to get off then, or else I would end up on the other side of the river. I walked back to the hostel, and went to bed after a very long day.
The next morning was my last day, so I intended to do all the things I had missed. My first stop was the IFC building. This building is shaped like a giant bottle opener, and is home to the tallest observation deck in the world. Thankfully, due to the time I went there were very few visitors. I got a private introduction to the building by the staff, and then took the elevator to the top. Something I noticed in the exhibits at the base was the lack of mention for the oriental pearl tower. Some people don’t like the look of the oriental pearl, and I guess whoever owns the IFC building is one of those people. There are 3 viewing decks in the building, but the coolest one is the tallest. It provided a great view of the city and it was very cool to look down from the 3rd tallest building in the world.
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| Shanghai Finance Center Observation Deck |
I went down from the upper observation deck and spent some time in the lower admiring the view (and the free wifi), as well as sending some postcards.
Eventually I took the elevator back down to the base and headed to the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum. This museum is in People’s Square and has a bunch of exhibits about the plans for Shanghai’s future, as well of a cool model of all the current or planned buildings for Shanghai.
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| Red Panda! |
After a bit of souvenir shopping nearby I got my luggage from the hostel and headed in the direction of the airport. On my way, I stopped to see the Shanghai zoo. Like others I have seen in China this one was a disappointment in the way that they treat the animals. The best part for me was the red pandas though they had a decent enclosure, although it was sad the amount of garbage that people fed to them.
After the zoo, I took the metro to the airport and shortly after took my return flight to Hong Kong.
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| Dumb guy sitting in the Penguin Enclosure |
My trip to Shanghai was very enjoyable. There was lots of walking, but I still really enjoyed the blend of ancient Chinese, western, and modern Chinese cultures. The metro system is also very very efficient and made getting around very convenient. Of all the skylines I have seen Shanghai’s is the best. I think that I may not have needed as much time as I spent in Shanghai as I had, but I found stuff to do for all of it, and it was a great trip. It was also an interesting experience to travel all by myself for the most part, and be able to do whatever I wanted to.
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