The 10-hour train ride to Shanghai was not as bad as it sounded. We splurged for first class tickets, so we enjoyed lots of leg room, pillows and seats that reclined heavily. Aside from making instant noodles, I slept most of the time.
Sherry, Annie’s Chinese Holland Fellows partner, greeted us with a huge smile at the train station in Shanghai. P.A. and Jesse departed in a cab for their hostel, and Sherry helped me book a train ticket for the return for Beijing. I will be spending three nights at Sherry and her father’s apartment and three days in Shanghai, China’s most largest metropolis and the sight of the 2010 World Expo.
We took a cab to Sherry’s apartment, and the first thing I noticed about Shanghai was how much cleaner it looked than Beijing. This is mainly due to cleaning efforts because of the Expo, much like how Beijing was treated during the 2008 Summer Olympics. There were “Expo 2010” signs and Haibo (‘the official mascot of the 2010 Expo’) charicatures everywhere I looked. We got to Sherry’s apartment, which has a small entrance way and two bedrooms. Sherry set up two places to sleep on the ground, one of which was mine. It was actually more comfortable than my bed at the apartment in Beijing, so I had no trouble sleeping that night.
The one downside of staying at Sherry’s place was that her bathtub had formed a leak the day before we arrived, so to take a shower, we had to walk about five minutes to her grandmother’s apartment. In the hot Shanghai weather, I was sweating again by the time I finished my shower and walked back to Sherry’s the next morning. I also could not communicate directly to Sherry’s father, who only speaks Mandarin and Shanghainese, nor her grandmother, who only speaks Shanghainese.
Sherry’s father provided breakfast every morning – steamed buns filled with meat – which I grew to love and even bought for myself twice in Shanghai. He also is a great cook and made a lot of the food that we had for lunch that day, which Neo joined us for. The four of us had fun catching up and talking about the adventures in the States that we were all about to embark on. Annie will graduate in December and try to roadtrip to Canada in the winter before leaving for Ecuador. I will graduate in May and see where the journalism job market takes me. Neo will spend a semester away from China at Rice University in Texas. Sherry will have the biggest change when she leaves China on the same day as me for SUNY Buffalo to participate in a 5-year Ph.D. program.
After lunch, I set out on my own on a bus to the Oriental Pearl Tower. This is a huge tower that was erected in 1994 and resembles the Space Needle, but shines pink during the day and sparkles at night. I didn’t go up the tower even though it has a glass floor in the second “ball” because of a two-hour wait. Instead, I took pictures and did what I have grown to know best in China – shopping. Uniqlo, a Japanese store similar to H&M, was having a sale, so I bought some shirts and a pair of very Chinese pants.
From there, I hopped on the subway to the Expo. Originally I planned to meet up with Victoria, a fellow Tar Heel who did UNC B-school’s Globe Program with my friend Caitlyn and had been interning in Beijing the whole summer, but it turned out we were there at different times. I’m really glad I waited until the afternoon to visit the Expo, though. I avoided a lot of the lines, crowds and heat.
Because of these differences, the Expo was a lot better than people had told me. I had a lot of fun and actually would go back to see more pavilions. The first pavilion (besides China, which needed a reservation to even line up) to catch my eye was India. I waited for a mere 15 minutes, during which I got to use my portable chair that I bought in the train station a week ago for 10 yuan. Other pavilions that I visited included Sri Lanka, Vietnam, DPR Korea, Iran, Lebanon, Ireland, Ukraine, Canada, Australia, and the Czech Republic. I also got a Hogaarden beer at the Belgium Pavilion and a Dutch veal croquette and fries at the Netherlands Pavilion. I won’t go into detail about these pavilions, but some were definitely better than others. I’d have to say that my favorite was the Netherlands. I was disappointed that some of the Central and South America pavilions were closed by the time I reached them at 10:30 p.m., so I left the expo on a subway home.
The next morning, after another lunch cooked by Sherry’s father, I contacted Victoria and we made a plan to meet up at an art district with cafes and stores like Nanlougu Xiang in Beijing. We walked around there for a bit but didn’t buy anything. Our next stop was People’s Square, a park which is popular among locals and tourists. To escape the heat and learn a little more about Shanghai and China, we went to the Shanghai Museum. The museum was shaped like a ding, a Chinese food vessel, and was laid out in a way that made it very easy to see anything and everything you wanted to. I especially liked the mask, jade and painting, and ceramics exhibits. Best of all, it was free and air conditioned!
We made our way over to Nanjing Street, which is very similar to Wafujing in Beijing. It is a huge walking street full of clothing stores, outdoor entertainment and different food venues. We ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant that was tucked away and we would not have noticed had it not been for Vicctoria being able to read Chinese (her parents are Taiwanese) and my keen sense of smell for vinegar (read: dumplings!!!). The dumplings and spicy noodles that I got hit the spot. I said goodbye to Victoria and rounded out the day with a trip to Yu Gardens, another tourist attraction. There is a garden that you can pay to enter, a lake and several streets of souvenir shopping. I enjoyed just strolling down the streets as the sun went down and the bright lights and neon signs came up. Every place I went this day was packed with Chinese and foreign tourists visiting Shanghai’s other attractions after or before a day at the Expo. I felt a bit clostrophobic at times, but enjoyed myself nonetheless.
I woke up early the next day and met Victoria at the train station to purchase tickets to Suzhou. This is a relatively small city outside of Shanghai that is suggested as a day trip in all of the guide books as a way to see ‘scenic gardens.’ The train was only about an hour long, but Suzhou was HOT (35 degrees C) when we arrived. We felt a bit lost at first, not really planning much past the return train ride before arriving. Once we got a hold of a proper map, we took our own advice from the day before and started out with a free and air conditioned tour of the Suzhou Museum. Many of the things on display were similar to the items in the Shanghai Museum, so we spent the bulk of the time touring the outdoor courtyards and pavilions, which seemed like a clever maze, stumping us at times.
We checked out the details of two gardens before deciding on which one to spend our money on. We chose the smaller and cheaper one, which was both good and bad. First of all, the Chinese don’t think of “gardens” the same way we do – instead of flowers, bushes and bright colors, Chinese gardens are characterized by pagodas, courtyards, fake rock formations , manmade lakes and general landscaping. This came as a surprise, as did the immense number of Chinese tourists who made the same cheaper decision as we did. Feeling claustrophobic, we left the garden and headed toward the commercial district for a bite to eat. We both got smoothies, which we had been craving since we met in Shanghai. Not feeling like shopping, we walked farther south to Suzhou Park, which was free and open to the public. It was similar to all the parks I’ve been to in Beijing – old people synchronized dancing, men fishing in non-fishing areas and beautiful lotuses. After failing to get closet to the Twin Pagodas (it was closed early for some reason), we took a bus back to the train station, had a steamed meat bun, and took a train back to Shanghai. We could only get standing tickets, but luckily, I had my handy Expo seat with me, and the train was air conditioned and only lasted about 35 minutes.
We were back in no time, but the sun had gone down in the process, so I decided to go to the Bund. This is an area that overlooks a river and the Shanghai skyline. It was a great view, but filled with way too many sweaty tourists, so I didn’t stay too long before heading back to Sherry’s for an early night’s sleep before returning “home” to Beijing.
Showing posts with label Shanghai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shanghai. Show all posts
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Tsing Tao beer will give you passion and happiness [60-62.5]
This past week, I started my vacation with a trip to Qingdao with Pang Li, Annie, Jesse and P.A. Initially we were planning on going to DaLian, another beach city, but there was an oil spill just weeks ago that has ruined the waters and beaches (sound familiar?).
There are really only two words I need to describe Qingdao: beach and beer. If you want to get more cultural about it, I can add that there is a heavy German influence in the architecture and history.
The train from Beijing to Qingdao went by fast, and once we arrived, we took a van to check in at Kai Yue Youth Hostel/Old Church Lounge. This was my first time staying in a hostel, and it was a great experience. The hostel was recommended by Hostelworld.com and Lonely Planet. They had a bilingual staff, a bar/hang out area and one free beer per day per customer! We stayed in two eight-person rooms with other Americans, an Irishman, and a Taiwanese family. My only complaints: no hot water and the front doors are locked at 2 a.m.
Once we were settled in and got our free beers, we called the van driver from earlier. We (read: Pang Li) struck a deal with him that we would pay 300 yuan to hire him as a guide for the three days we would be in Qingdao, and he would take us wherever we wanted to go. He recommended (as did Lonely Planet) that we go to Beer Street, which houses the Tsing Tao brewery that makes Tsing Tao beer. Both Qingdao and Tsing Tao are pronounced "ching-dow," but they are written differently because of the evolution of Chinese pinyin. Beer Street also had numerous places to eat, drink and listen to live performers. We ate outside at a barbecue restaurant that the driver recommended. Since Qingdao is a port city, we had lots of delicious seafood. The pitchers of fresh Tsing Tao were also great and “the real deal.” We even tried black beer, which I think was only appreciated by myself and Pang Li. Our driver was fast asleep by this time, so we bribed a taxi driver an extra 5 yuan (US$0.75) to let us cram all five people in his cab and got home safely.
The next morning, we enjoyed an American breakfast (that’s even how it was advertised on the menu) at the hostel with eggs, bacon, sasuage, coffee, etc. It hit the spot, especially the coffee. Pang Li was not impressed and insisted that we give Chinese breakfast a chance the next day.
We set out for the day to an island called Little Qingdao that could be accessed by one road with waves crashing upon it. On the island, we walked along the rocks, let the waves crash upon our legs, took some pictures, and marveled at the number of Chinese people disobeying the “do not cross” signs to get nearer to the sea.
Next we went to one of my favorite places in the world: the beach. It was pretty crowded, but we found a spot to put our stuff down and lather up. The sun was out in full force, and the Chinese people all had their personal umbrellas to help. They also had an eye-catcihng range of clothing, bathing suits, and floating devices. I’m talking inner tubes, rafts, and even wing floaties (yes, grown men were wearing floaties – many Chinese people don’t ever learn how to swim). The sea water felt great, and we even got Pang Li to go in to his waist (he also can’t swim).
Once we were good and pruny and had seen enough small children running around the beach in the buff, we set off in search of lunch. Jesse and P.A. recognized a Chinese restaurant they dined in the last time the ASU group was in Qingdao, so the driver joined us for lunch there. It was amazing, but we all ate so much that we were in need of a nap back at the hostel.
We woke up and set off for a restaurant/bar that John recommended. John is an Englishman that works in our office and taught in Qingdao for a few years two years ago. The French restaurant, Le Bang, was a pretty big letdown as we were among the only people there, the service was slow, and the menu was pricy. We tried another of John’s recommendations, Corner Jazz Bar, later and this was equally disappointing. We decided to leave the empty establishment after one Qingdao. This proved to be a great idea since we found a place called Beer Bar (although it was basically just a few kegs and small chairs outside on the street across from our hostel) selling pints of beer for 2 yuan (US$0.30). Annie busted out the cards and we taught Pang Li B.S. and Spoons (which we improvised for and re-named “Chopsticks”). It turned out to be a great night full of lots of laughter.
The next morning, we held up our end of the bargain and ate a Chinese breakfast of dumpling soup and vegetable buns. Surprisingly, I liked it a lot, though nothing will replace bacon and buttered toast. Next, we set out for Mount Laoshan, which was about an hour outside of Qingdao. It was pretty touristy, but great to get away from cities and have a good sweat and hike. We hiked past pagodas, waterfalls, and a monastery that was supposedly 500 years old (although it looked pretty new to me). We even saw some goats, which reminded me of the last time I had hiked abroad on Mount Pilatus in Greece.
We returned to Qingdao and ate on Snack Street, another strip of restaurants specializing in barbecue seafood. I had a crab, a large shrimp (Qingdao’s specialty), some kind of large clam, and a fish that we picked out and watched get killed (sad, but, as Pang Li says, “TIC: This is China.”). We decided to give up on the bars and embrace our hostel’s amenities, so we headed back home to out free beer and hookah. This was another first for Pang Li and something I had been wanting to do in China ever since I heard that Hookah Bliss in Chapel Hill had closed (moment of silence, please). We worked our way across the street and down a bit to a place where the beer was, believe it or not, even cheaper. We eventually even got a bag of beer, another #onlyinchina moment. While we were out drinking and socializing, P.A. didn’t feel well so he was in the hostel meeting an American roommate named Chris who, no lie, graduated from UNC and was originally from Charlotte. P.A. told Chris about me and sent him out to find us. We flagged him down as the only other Westerner sitting amongst Chinese people and had a great conversation. It turns out that he did a summer in China when he was my age through UNC’s B-school and decided to learn Chinese and return before starting work for Habitat for Humanity. We “bar hopped” and toasted to yuan fen (read: fate) for introducing two Charlotteans and Tar Heels in Qingdao!
The next morning, while Chris set off for the airport to go back to the States, we had another Chinese breakfast, said our goodbyes to Pang Li and set off for the train station.
Next stop: Shanghai!
There are really only two words I need to describe Qingdao: beach and beer. If you want to get more cultural about it, I can add that there is a heavy German influence in the architecture and history.
The train from Beijing to Qingdao went by fast, and once we arrived, we took a van to check in at Kai Yue Youth Hostel/Old Church Lounge. This was my first time staying in a hostel, and it was a great experience. The hostel was recommended by Hostelworld.com and Lonely Planet. They had a bilingual staff, a bar/hang out area and one free beer per day per customer! We stayed in two eight-person rooms with other Americans, an Irishman, and a Taiwanese family. My only complaints: no hot water and the front doors are locked at 2 a.m.
Once we were settled in and got our free beers, we called the van driver from earlier. We (read: Pang Li) struck a deal with him that we would pay 300 yuan to hire him as a guide for the three days we would be in Qingdao, and he would take us wherever we wanted to go. He recommended (as did Lonely Planet) that we go to Beer Street, which houses the Tsing Tao brewery that makes Tsing Tao beer. Both Qingdao and Tsing Tao are pronounced "ching-dow," but they are written differently because of the evolution of Chinese pinyin. Beer Street also had numerous places to eat, drink and listen to live performers. We ate outside at a barbecue restaurant that the driver recommended. Since Qingdao is a port city, we had lots of delicious seafood. The pitchers of fresh Tsing Tao were also great and “the real deal.” We even tried black beer, which I think was only appreciated by myself and Pang Li. Our driver was fast asleep by this time, so we bribed a taxi driver an extra 5 yuan (US$0.75) to let us cram all five people in his cab and got home safely.
The next morning, we enjoyed an American breakfast (that’s even how it was advertised on the menu) at the hostel with eggs, bacon, sasuage, coffee, etc. It hit the spot, especially the coffee. Pang Li was not impressed and insisted that we give Chinese breakfast a chance the next day.
We set out for the day to an island called Little Qingdao that could be accessed by one road with waves crashing upon it. On the island, we walked along the rocks, let the waves crash upon our legs, took some pictures, and marveled at the number of Chinese people disobeying the “do not cross” signs to get nearer to the sea.
Next we went to one of my favorite places in the world: the beach. It was pretty crowded, but we found a spot to put our stuff down and lather up. The sun was out in full force, and the Chinese people all had their personal umbrellas to help. They also had an eye-catcihng range of clothing, bathing suits, and floating devices. I’m talking inner tubes, rafts, and even wing floaties (yes, grown men were wearing floaties – many Chinese people don’t ever learn how to swim). The sea water felt great, and we even got Pang Li to go in to his waist (he also can’t swim).
Once we were good and pruny and had seen enough small children running around the beach in the buff, we set off in search of lunch. Jesse and P.A. recognized a Chinese restaurant they dined in the last time the ASU group was in Qingdao, so the driver joined us for lunch there. It was amazing, but we all ate so much that we were in need of a nap back at the hostel.
We woke up and set off for a restaurant/bar that John recommended. John is an Englishman that works in our office and taught in Qingdao for a few years two years ago. The French restaurant, Le Bang, was a pretty big letdown as we were among the only people there, the service was slow, and the menu was pricy. We tried another of John’s recommendations, Corner Jazz Bar, later and this was equally disappointing. We decided to leave the empty establishment after one Qingdao. This proved to be a great idea since we found a place called Beer Bar (although it was basically just a few kegs and small chairs outside on the street across from our hostel) selling pints of beer for 2 yuan (US$0.30). Annie busted out the cards and we taught Pang Li B.S. and Spoons (which we improvised for and re-named “Chopsticks”). It turned out to be a great night full of lots of laughter.
The next morning, we held up our end of the bargain and ate a Chinese breakfast of dumpling soup and vegetable buns. Surprisingly, I liked it a lot, though nothing will replace bacon and buttered toast. Next, we set out for Mount Laoshan, which was about an hour outside of Qingdao. It was pretty touristy, but great to get away from cities and have a good sweat and hike. We hiked past pagodas, waterfalls, and a monastery that was supposedly 500 years old (although it looked pretty new to me). We even saw some goats, which reminded me of the last time I had hiked abroad on Mount Pilatus in Greece.
We returned to Qingdao and ate on Snack Street, another strip of restaurants specializing in barbecue seafood. I had a crab, a large shrimp (Qingdao’s specialty), some kind of large clam, and a fish that we picked out and watched get killed (sad, but, as Pang Li says, “TIC: This is China.”). We decided to give up on the bars and embrace our hostel’s amenities, so we headed back home to out free beer and hookah. This was another first for Pang Li and something I had been wanting to do in China ever since I heard that Hookah Bliss in Chapel Hill had closed (moment of silence, please). We worked our way across the street and down a bit to a place where the beer was, believe it or not, even cheaper. We eventually even got a bag of beer, another #onlyinchina moment. While we were out drinking and socializing, P.A. didn’t feel well so he was in the hostel meeting an American roommate named Chris who, no lie, graduated from UNC and was originally from Charlotte. P.A. told Chris about me and sent him out to find us. We flagged him down as the only other Westerner sitting amongst Chinese people and had a great conversation. It turns out that he did a summer in China when he was my age through UNC’s B-school and decided to learn Chinese and return before starting work for Habitat for Humanity. We “bar hopped” and toasted to yuan fen (read: fate) for introducing two Charlotteans and Tar Heels in Qingdao!
The next morning, while Chris set off for the airport to go back to the States, we had another Chinese breakfast, said our goodbyes to Pang Li and set off for the train station.
Next stop: Shanghai!
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