Shanghai - Day 2

Weather: upper 40s and smoggy (no shadows)

Today was an interesting day.  After grabbing a very non-american style breakfast, including noodles and dumplings, i exchanged money at the local bank.  I tried to do this yesterday, but it didn't work out because I didn't have my passport with me.  After that, a small group of us got together to go on an adventure.  We gathered and got a few more cellphones for folks in the group.  While some people were trying to get phones, someone else was buying food off the street vendors.  I got to eat something today -- i just have no desire to eat.  Apparently it was a well seasoned heart from a medium sized bird.. about the size of a large plum.  It wasn't very good. After we got the phones, we continued to the subway.

The idea behind today was to get to the river probably 2 miles way.  We went down to the subway and tried to get a metro card.  The man didn't speak much english so it wasn't very easy.  I went up and spoke with him and got nothing.  One of my friends came up and spoke with him in limited chinese - and after a small delay of 15-20 minutes total, we were on our way.  We rode a few stops up to People's Square.  An interesting place that was captured well in the Shanghai "Paul Merton" video I talked about in November, their were plenty of folks in the park all looking for potential mates for their children.  The typical ad listed the height, weight, occupation, some build information about their children.  It was all in chinese so I couldn't figure out too much of it.  We walked around the park a bit and then decided it was time to lunch.

Lunch was a few blocks from people's square.  As we walked down the street a young man asked if we'd like to go to his restaurant - so we went.  We had a large private dinning area and got many dishes of meats and vegetables.  It was a great way to taste a lot of things on the menu.  We ended our lunch with a bill 710 yuan, divided by 13 people.  It wasn't very expensive.

We then started on foot to head towards the river because it was mid-day and had not much else to do.  We walked through a few parks, saw theaters, and underground walkways.  A women tried to sell me a kite in the park, when she deployed her large fishy kite near my head - I grabbed my head and started saying " Fish! Fish! Fish!"  We left.

After seeing the Hong Kong Shopping Center located beneath the park we had just walked through, it seemed like something interesting to go see.  It was a very warm mall underground.  We continued east and saw many shops and other things.  Walking through a more touristy area, there were folks trying to sell knockoff goods.  They'd holler and try and get the attention of the group, we pursued one man out of interest.  We were then lead down an ally (not comforting) and then into some low level stores.  Of course the shop was full of Rolex watches and fancy purses - nothing authentic.  A few blocks down the road another chinese man, speaking clear English, said hello.  A small conversation pursue and we found out he was a teacher for a local art school and there was an art gallery he'd like to show us.  The gallery was small and full of fantastic art.  The man then offered to make some calligraphy of our names for free.  At the end of the hour or so we had spent with him he showed us some pieces his students had made that were for sale, some people bought - some didn't.

We continued on our foot journey to the river; and arrived by 530pm.  The had gone down and we were all pretty sick of walking.  On our way to find something to eat, a coffee like shop was offering buy one get one on all drinks - including alcohol.  We thought it'd be a good deal.  The prices were pretty steep.  The language barrier was very harsh.  There was someone in the restaurant who spoke chinese and tried to help us with our rather simple order.  We wanted to divide the bogo drinks between two people -- against the rules.  It turned into a 1+ hr fiasco.  Another customer came over and told the first "translator" he should be fired because he wasn't helping us at all.  If we wanted to split drinks we should be able to because we're money in an essentially dead restaurant.  After our order was in and the tension lowered in the room, I thanked the man for trying to help our cause.  He was a local, a writer who'd been here for 10 years.  He recommended a bar that would be more fitting for our age group; "I Love Shanghai Lounge"  He said that on Saturdays, alcohol was all you can drink for 100 yuan (~$14).

We grabbed a few cabs and ended up there.  Had dinner at the Singapore type food restaurant below it and then headed upstairs.  While we were a bit early - it was not very busy.  A few of our folks participated in the deal - many did not.  It had a very western feel to it and I would describe it as a dorm room feel.  Silly posters, beer, pool table, espn - very american college.  Very small place, smaller than a average american hotel suite.  A few hours later and it's midnight.  I'm heading to bed.

Fact: 

Most all drinks are served warm.  The water used to make the drinks needs to be sanitized and that is done by boiling, so most things are very warm when served.

No ice for drinks because it's not treated - one american bar had ice which is pretty awesome.

Large drinks don't accompany meals.

Cats roam like squirrels on campus.

Smog is very very thick.

One person got a coke from the freezer case, it was about lukewarm; but at least it wasn't hot.

JBiber