Chinglish Signs: Entrance to the Shanghai Pearl Tower

I had completely forgotten I'd photographed this sign, but once rediscovered I had to share it. Personally I never leave home without my baleful biology, sword and smell of effluvium. Thank goodness we decided not to go in.

Gratitude

Inspired by reading Thanksgiving posts and an exercise in Liz Miller’s Mood Mapping (more on that tomorrow) I’ve compiled a list of everything that I am grateful and thankful for:

· Being reminded of my only ‘Thanksgiving Dinner’ – a double cheeseburger at a McDonalds in Shanghai’s Old Town, which we settled on with relief after having been shouted at for asking if the baozi (dumplingey buns) at a booth were pork. My friend then bought what looked like a hotdog, only to find it was some form of candied fruit that tasted like a toffee apple which had been doing crystal meth in parking lots
· The opportunities I have to travel and work abroad, especially to work and travel freely around China
· Being born in a wealthy country, and one with free (at the point of use, anyway) schooling and health care
· Being born in a time and place where as I woman I can access education, health care, contraception and have the freedom to work, travel and choose my own path in life
· Living in the internet age
· The support and love of my family and friends
· The attention demanding antics of my felines
· Getting into the MA programme
· The three bars of Green and Black’s chocolate that are sitting by my computer
· A comfortable, warm bed to sleep in, sometimes with the addition of a ginger cat
· Being able to read and write
· Having levels of mental and physical health that allow me to look to the future with optimism
· Having some secure to live
· Knowing what I want out of life
· Having developed a robust sense of self worth

Photos are some less touristy views of the Old City area of Shanghai. I miss seeing people out on the streets or in the park playing badminton (although having to duck the occasional stray shuttlecock not so much).

For other views around the world, visit My World Tuesday.

Shanghai: Pudong and the Bund

The next day we headed over the Pudong, Shanghai's gleaming new business district, and the Bund, on the other side of the river, the famous stretch of old Western style buildings dating from when Shanghai was a foreign concession port. We kept with what had become our Shanghai protocol by managing to get lost within about three seconds of leaving the subway.

We were heading for the Jinmao Tower, the rather stately building on the left, rather than the one that looks like a giant wine bag. Infuriatingly, we could see it, but just couldn't work out how to get there as the road was blocked by construction. We did try to walk through the construction site, and were stopped by a security guard who helpfully pointed out to us the direction we should go in so I suppose that we were probably not the first people to do that in desperation! We even ended up being followed by some other tourists who were even more confused that we were. I did feel tempted to tell them that of all the people in Shanghai that they should trail to the Jinmao Tower, we were the very last they should have chosen!

But eventually we got there, and enjoyed the breathtaking views over Shanghai. I did wonder if the inspiration for this development was Monopoly!

This shows the Orient Pearl Tower, and whilst Lonely Planet despairs of it's vulgarity, I rather liked it. It is one of the few totally unique modern skyscrapers or commercial buildings I have ever seen, and although the Jinmao tower is undoubtedly more tasteful and classical in design, it lacks the originality, exuberance and sheer I-like-this-and-don’t-give-a-flying-wotsit-if-you-don’t-ness of the Pearl.

We crossed the river to the Bund through this bizarre tunnel, where small transportation pods whizz past a selection of flashing coloured lights, streamers and inflatable figures. It has to be one of the most bizarre 'tourist experiences' on offer in China, and, quite possibly, the world.

We strolled along the Bund, dodging Chinese vendors offering to sell us anything from a picture of us superimposed on a pre-shot background (erm, have you heard of digital cameras) to assorted flashing, whizzing toys which no doubt do not comply with any safety standards whatsoever. This is my favourite building, the Maritime Museum. It was quite strange, as between the European style buildings of the Bund and the could-be-any-city skyscrapers, you didn't feel like you were in China, a feeling I had again later on when we went out in the city centre.

I was quite suprised that the river was still a busy commercial waterway, being more prepared for Thames-style pleasure boats. (Which there are too). I love watching boats, and photographing them too, so it was very enjoyable to just relax, lean on the riverside wall and snap away.

Tour the globe with My World Tuesday.

Shanghai: Yuyuan Garden

Back in early November, me and a friend managed to find a bargain flight deal to Shanghai, and spent a very enjoyable long weekend there. The theme for the weekend was getting lost, and it started as soon as we tried to find the subway stop at the airport which apparently no longer exists. So we had to take some dodgy looking bus into the city centre, and get on the subway there. We accidentally managed to get on the wrong train line on the subway, a fact we only noticed when it became apparent that the buildings outside rather slummy looking, or as Lonely Planet would no doubt put it, ‘charmingly authentic’.

Getting lost on the Shanghai subway isn’t all tears and frustration though as it is infested with some of the best bakeries in the world, which I presume to be some sort of legacy from the French. I purchased, and then consumed like a famine struck Ethiopian, this half-doughnut half-danish concoction filled with berry jam-syrup. Later on in the week, we also discovered the joys of a bread roll covered in a slab of real bacon and cheese, which, again, sustained us through a few geographically difficult moments.

We decided to spend our first afternoon at Yuyuan Garden, a Ming era garden. I think we spent more time getting lost than we did at there, as it’s located at the back of the Old Town Bazaar. Think of cartoon old China, then throw in a liberal sprinkling of spangled souvenirs, Starbucks and McDonalds, then imagine that the person who designed it was drunk

The garden itself was beautiful, and, blissfully, almost empty on a chilly but sunny midweek winter afternoon. It was also one of the most fun, and playful, traditional sights I’ve been to. There was a sense of joie de vivre and intimacy that contrasted with and complimented the formal layout: the garden was divided into sections using white walls topped with black dragons. Entering a new section you were unsure what you would encounter: a pagoda, a pond, beautiful lush plants and twisty trees, intriguingly shaped stones or a weathered statue. Often it was a combination. Sometimes you could catch an intriguing glimpse into another area, to tempt you on.

It was somewhere you could imagine men gambling, women laughing and children running around. Whether they ever did or not is a moot point, but I enjoyed myself imagining it.

The swarms of goldfish were quite impressive to behold. We obviously would not have thrown a piece of chocolate into the pond, just to see if they would eat it. As we didn't do that, I can't tell you that the fish gobbled it down.

We had caught a bus to the Old Town area from our hostel, and naively assumed that the bus stop would be on the same street, roughly opposite the one we’d got off at. We wandered up and down, being assured by people that it was ‘just down the street’ until we wondered if we had finally been broken by China and had developed a form of joint insanity that manifested itself as an inability to see the bus stop that was clearly evident to everyone else. Then, on a side street we saw our bus stopped in traffic. The driver refused to let us on, and look very smug about the fact, so to find out where the bus stop was we had no choice but to run along after it once it started moving. The bus stop, obviously, was located two streets and several blocks from it’s partner.