Impressions of Shanghai

It's been a long time that I haven't written anything on the blog. I do have an excuse, however - I've been busy exploring places in and outside of Indonesia and, be assured, taking pictures that I hopefully will find the time to upload in here. In the previous post I promised to write a bit about Shanghai. And so I did.

I came to Shanghai on a train from Yiwu for a very short visit of two and a half days. My train wasn't the fastest one available but it doesn't mean it couldn't go some 250km/h. Having arrived at Shanghai's Hongqiao station, I stepped into a crowd of people and almost getting wedged, I managed to push my way through to get to the metro, and finally reach my hotel. With people here, people there, people just everywhere, Shanghai seemed pretty crowded at first sight. Only later I found another side of Shanghai, a city full of little, seemingly forgotten and empty, streets with tiny restaurants and a lonely cat here and there. This is the side of Shanghai that caught my attention and helped to build up the affection I have developed for this charming (yes!) metropolis.

Without any plan and not knowing even a tad about what to see in the city, I decided to go with the flow. Random two girls started a conversation with me? I asked for a recommendation. Talked with the receptionist at my hotel? I asked for an advice. This way, I saw some apparently interesting parts of Shanghai. Like Nanjing Road, a pedestrian heaven, where thousands of people go to shop and show off. Or Bunt, a touristic Mecca with a stunning view on the most modern part of the city, Pudong, home to the famous TV tower and most of the skyscrapers. A river tour along the Huangpu? Sure, why not. But all these things are nothing special, nothing that distinguishes Shanghai from other mega towns on our planet. I waited for something different and luckily enough, the next day brought some more experience.

So I woke up at around 12, completely confused about everything. The cleaner's singing ensured I couldn't get a proper night's sleep. I needed something to put me on my feet and a steaming hot won-ton soup did the job. After tasting this heaven-in-a-mouth, I decided to have a tour around the city. Just by accident, I found an interesting indoor market with dirt-cheap clothes to buy. After some more wondering-around, I decided to go to Yuyuan Garden which is considered to be one of the finest Chinese gardens in the region. I never got there, however. On my way, I saw one of these small walking paths with no people at all and decided to follow it and see where it takes me. I passed a lot of houses, tried to look inside, see how the people live. Somebody was preparing a dinner, there were some men playing cards and chasing the bitterness of loss with beer, or a woman hanging laundry just above the path.

After walking for a couple of minutes, I ended up in a parking lot that seemed to attract crowds. Yes! I found one of these little stands with some sort of shashlicks and beer. Without much consideration, I decided to give it a try and sample the chef's cuisine. Not only have I found some wonderful meat to eat, but I also ended up at the gates of Old Town. Just when I finished the feast, a group of people approached me and started a conversation. It turned out they are Korean students from Seoul who came to Shanghai for a week with a student organization. They regularly visit various fairs and expositions in search of companies for whom they could become representatives in South Korea. We enjoyed talking and after some time decided to go to the Old Town to get some more food. Our pick was a famous restaurant serving dumplings. Believe me, these were one of the best dumplings I have ever tried and eating them with friendly Koreans made them taste even better.

As it was already getting dark, it was the time for some more evening-oriented activities. So we looked for a place to socialize and an Irish pub was a good beginning. A few beers and playing pool together made me feel like I've known them for a long time, but it has been only a couple of hours! It was Halloween that night and the Chinese seemed to have adopted the idea as I've seen loads of people totally dressed up, albeit not looking for candy. Being in this celebration mood, we decided to celebrate our own way - we found a nice club with a state of the art sound system and indulged ourselves in all-night dancing.

Next day, very early in the morning, I had to take the metro to go the airport, and thus finish my stay in Shanghai. I didn't feel like leaving; I felt like these 2.5 days were not enough as I just started discovering the real face of this city. One thing is sure - I will return.