Last Day in Shanghai

For our last day in Shanghai, we tried to pack in the things we hadn’t yet done, without becoming too manic and stressed-out.

We began by taking the metro under the river to the Pearl Tower on the east side (the Pudong). We’re pros on the Shanghai metro now, and arrived much more quickly (and safely) than we would have if we’d traveled by cab. We rode the elevator to the observation deck at the tower, and then visited the museum that’s in the base.

The museum visit occupied a couple of hours but was well worth it. The exhibits gives you a whirlwind history of Shanghai, from 6,000 years ago to the present. As you enter you pass replicas of mud and straw huts with wax inhabitants. By the time you exit, you’re reading plaques and posters about today’s Shanghai.

The best part of the exhibit is the collection of photos of the Bund, showing the changes through time. We had just viewed the Bund from the tower’s observation deck, and seen the nighttime view from M on the Bund restaurant a few days earlier.

At the museum we learned that the Bund has been a commercial and administrative center for centuries. By early nineteenth century, the street looked like any commercial street from London or Paris, with just a touch of Chinese influence. These days the area is definitely Shanghainese; the Bund and the view of the Pearl Tower across the river is the image of Shanghai most presented in the media.

When we exited the Pearl Tower and its museum, we proceeded directly to the object known as the “Tourist Tunnel.” This strange ride took us back under the river and to the Bund, which runs along the west bank. You can buy a ticket for just the tunnel, but if you’re thrifty you’ll get the package deal that includes a ticket to the Sex Museum. We didn’t really have time for another museum, so Nancy asked for the tunnel ticket only. We were somewhat startled when the ticket seller asked, “Want sex with that?”

On the other side of the river we ate lunch at The Heights restaurant, located in the “Three on the Bund” building next door to the “M on the Bund” restaurant. The Heights is a good place for lunch and I’m sure dinner there would also be good. It enjoys the same fine views as M, but is a bit less expensive.

We walked over to the Peace Hotel to look around. The hotel’s Art Deco design is well worth a look, and if I didn’t like our own hotel so well I might be tempted to stay there. Outside the Peace Hotel it was easy to get a taxi over to the Jade Buddha temple, where we tried some medicinal tea. This temple is not highly recommended in our guidebooks, but we’re very glad to have seen it if only because it is one of the most peaceful places we’ve been in Shanghai.

From the temple we hailed a taxi to the Xintiandi — stone gate house — area. This is a section of Shanghai with a particular type of architecture, where the houses were once occupied by westerners. In a sense some of them are now re-occupied by westerners: we found another Starbucks there.

We walked over to Huaihai Street and used the pedestrian overpass to get to Fuxing Park, where we found people practicing Tai Chi and ballroom dancing. Crossing through the park, we located the former residences of Sun Yat Sen and Chou En Lai, as well as a former Russian Orthodox church and a great batik shop.

The walk back to Hengshan Street, where our hotel was located, was a long one. We stopped for dinner at Lapis Lazuli, a great place just down the street from Simply Thai, where we’d had dinner Saturday night. We finally returned to the hotel, twelve hours after we’d left, tired but glad we’d been able to see so much on our last day.

Back to Old Town

Or, Nancy and Vera’s triumphant return to Old Shanghai

Monday, May 22nd, Nancy did not have to teach. Finally, we could spend the entire day visiting points of interest around Shanghai, and I would not be ambling about all alone.

So naturally it rained.

Nancy and I are not easily daunted. We gamely headed out to the Yuyuan Gardens in spite of the rain. Clutching our “cheat sheet” card that tells the taxi driver where to take us, we caught a ride to the Old Town area of Shanghai. To review: the Old Town area is the area we walked to from the Bund our first morning in town. Though we found it successfully and bought the pearls we were after, it was a long walk and we felt lost part of the time (though we were not really lost).

This time we got to see that this part of town is fascinating, beautiful, and a little overwhelming. Instead of staying on the outside, at the pearl market (and the Starbucks), we headed through a gateway and down a lane, right into the bazaar. Everything China-related was being sold there: tea, pearls, porcelain, silk — or fakes of those things. At every corner we encountered men offering “GucciPrada” or a woman inviting us to see her brush paintings. After wandering around for a few minutes, we found the entrance to the Yuyuan Gardens, and managed to escape the hawkers. (I half expected them to follow us in.)

“Garden” does not really describe this place, which is as much rock as plant. It’s the way the plants and rocks are arranged, and the small, perfectly proportioned buildings sprinkled here and there, that makes Yuyuan a wonder. There’s no way to put into words what this place is like, so I won’t try. Nancy and I took dozens of photos, including one of the floor toilet since it was the first one we’d seen.

My favorite memory of the garden — besides the beauty and symmetry of the place — was happening upon a concert by students using traditional Chinese instruments. The tourists stood around a small stage, were a small group of young women were poised with stringed instruments similar to kotos, flutes, drums, and bells. One woman made a brief announcement in Chinese, and the group began to play. I expected to hear traditional Chinese music, but what emanated from the musicians was the overture to Bizet’s opera, Carmen.

The next excitement was the Yuyuan Garden’s teahouse, where we drank flower tea and ate some little Chinese snacks that were strange to us but good. Since we were very hungry, we moved on to the Nanxiang Steamed Bun restaurant, where we shared a table with an amused Chinese family. We couldn’t speak to each other, but they somehow communicated kindness and interest in how we liked the food, which was wonderful dim sum-like dumplings and buns. If you’re in the Yuyuan Garden area, plan a stop at Nanxiang Steamed Bun restaurant, and check out the crab ovaries. They’re excellent.

Back in the bazaar, we bought tea so we could take the flower tea experience home with us. See the photo for an explanation. The tea literally blooms in your pot or cup!

The rest of the afternoon we spent returning to sites of previous adventures. Back to the pearl market to buy a few more strands of pearls and beads, and then back to the Shanghai Museum, where we discovered that the museum shop is one of the best places in town to buy souvenirs.

Finally, we made our return trip to the hotel (which we had begun to refer to as “going home”) on the metro instead of by taxi. Riding the metro may be my best recommendation for anyone coming to Shanghai. If you’ve ridden a subway in New York, the Shanghai metro will not be a problem for you. And if you haven’t, try it anyway — it’s easy to teach yourself how to find the right train and exit at the correct stop. The metro is safer, cheaper and (especially) safer than taxis.

Lunch had been ample so we didn’t need for dinner. We briefly visited our home base at the hotel, then took the metro to Circus World and a performance of the Shanghai Acrobats. The show was a blast, especially the motorcycles chasing each other around in a steel cage. But you have to be there to believe it.

Shanghai Simply

Saturday Nancy had to teach all day, so I was on my own. I spent the morning in the hotel, writing. In truth I was a little homesick, missing my family and my dog Alfie. I checked my email and instead of messages from my family found Flock Bugzilla (software bug) reports. I could see that Flock’s UI has changed yet again, just as I predicted. I downloaded the latest Flock and found the help text I’d written a week ago is now hopelessly out of date. But I have the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, so it is okay.

In afternoon I ventured out into the neighborhood around the hotel, all by myself. After the previous day’s adventure I hesitated to explore alone, but the fact that I am writing this attests that I made it back, safe and sound. I was very proud that during my walk I located the restaurant, Simply Thai, where Nancy and I had dinner reservations for the evening. Simply Thai is highly recommended by both my guidebooks. I found it in a very international section of our hotel’s neighborhood, the Xuhui district, also known as part of the French Concession.

The French Concession — called that because when the colonial powers divided up the city (didn’t they always do that?), this was the French part — is a vast, sycamore-lined section of Shanghai. From our hotel window we look down onto Hengshen Street, and it’s like looking into a forest. The trees are large and numerous. There are two or three restaurants and bars per block, and lots of shopping opportunities.

I found a store I’d been hoping to locate — Simply Life. It was next door to Simply Thai restaurant. It turns out they are related, and they are both trendy spots. The store sells a Simply Life branded design on silk placemats, boxes, and jewelry bags; it also sells Asianera labeled porcelain ware, a design I’d never seen but immediately liked. I did a little early Christmas shopping.

When Nancy returned from teaching, we strolled to the restaurant, and I felt like a cool person who knew where she was going. The food was very good, but sadly, we were show to the worst table in the place. I wish I could rave about the place, because I love Thai food and this is reputed to be the best Thai restaurant in Shanghai. But when we arrived we were ushered past the pleasant outdoor garden tables, and upstairs to a small hot room and a tiny table next to the kitchen. The staff nearly climbed over me and my chair as they passed back and forth. A screaming baby completed our misery. Since I had reserved this table twelve hours earlier, in the morning, I expected better. So if you’re going to Shanghai, my advice is to bypass Simply Thai, or else be very clear about where you want to sit.

On our way out, Nancy discovered that some of her students who were also dining at Simply Thai. One of the students apparently dines there every time he comes to Shanghai.

On Sunday I was on my own again, while Nancy did her last day of teaching. I repeated my walk, going farther this time and taking photos. I walked by the Iranian consulate (which is well-guarded), and shopped in two small stores: Madame Mao’s Dowry, and Skylight. Madame Mao’s is a good place to find vintage clothing, China-style, and propaganda memorabilia.

In the evening we took a taxi ride out to the Bund, and had dinner at Shanghai’s famous and fancy restaurant, “M on the Bund.” M is on the seventh floor of one of the Bund’s neat old buildings. We were offered seating on the balcony, where we could see Shanghai’s famous skyline at night. We had to peer through the smog, which was the worst I’ve ever seen, but the Shanghai skyline is amazing.

The food at M was excellent. Nancy had the rare seared tuna, with garlic mashed potato and vegetables. I had the couscous “with three meats.” Both were superb. Dessert was not quite as exciting, but we should have known better than to order it, since we’d already eaten enough.

We were able to get a taxi right outside M on the Bund, and returned to the hotel promptly to get a good night’s sleep.