Stay Signed In
Do you want to access your site more quickly on this computer? Check this box, and your username and password will be remembered for two weeks. Click logout to turn this off.
Stay Safe
Do not check this box if you are using a public computer. You don't want anyone seeing your personal info or messing with your site.
We arrived in Shanghai in time to celebrate the new year in style. I had made a reservation at M on The Bund. It was a pre-fixe evening that started with champagne and cavier in their downstairs ‘Glamour’ bar, delivered a 5-course meal with as many rounds of wine, and ended with rooftop fireworks. I was happy to see my parents ring in the new year in such a once-in-a-lifetime way.
Shanghai itself is this really amazing bustling city full of people, 20 million people to be exact. Around every corner is some tangle of humanity and concrete. The city is full of well worn urban neighborhoods, at once both quaint and gritty.
People watching becomes a porthole into a different existence as parks provide a window into social networking through dice and mahjong games; narrow alleys a glimpse into the structure and utility of everyday commerce; and busy streets hinting at the range and reality of a blue collar’s uniform and schedule.
And while this may not be politically correct to some people, Chinese kids are really the cutest kids in the world. It's those little round, rosy cheeks. And when they're all bundled up for the cold. AAAhhhh.
This time around at the Forbidden City, we actually rented the audio tour. It's kind of genius. There are sensors all over the site that actually trigger the appropriate recording to start. I had one funny moment in which the man dispensing the audio equipment gave me the russian lamguage tapes. I think it was a combination of my giant puffy long coat and fur boots and the moment I physically pushed two Chinese guys out of line. They had cut in front of me because I had given a whole 2 feet of personal space to the person in front of me. I have lived here long enough to know that you don't take that shit. When I told him I needed the tapes in English, he looked sheepish. It's good to know that there is a culture that the world thinks is more agressive and obnoxious than ours. That was my American "feel good moment" of the year.
Once that was over, the few hours we spent were nice - very few crowds - so we got to linger. I think my favorite spots were the dynastic warrior attire and the imperial gardens, which housed places with names like the "hall of mental cultivation" and the "hall of literary glory". I love that! I want a special room for cultivating my mind and glorifying my literature. That would be.....good. Wait, a bigger word is needed.....excellent, no marvelous, no superb, yes, that would be superb.
Am I allowed to say Tiananmen Square was boring? I mean compared to most cities in the world it would be this amazing must-see tourist destination, but it's in BEIJING, which has like a million cool things to see.
Imagine if Washington DC also housed the Golden Gate Bridge, the Grand Canyon, the Puget Sound, the Alamo, Bourban Street and the Empire State Building...... would you REALLY be that impressed with the Washington Monument. (sorry, not really sure how the Alamo made it on my list - I was just writing down things that tend to define American history, John Wayne came to mind and...... sorry).
But you get my point. Anyway, we walked around. I took pictures. It was fine.
Visiting the Hutongs was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Hutong essentially means lanes-local, and it's how people have traditionally lived in Beijing. The modern world sees the old Hutongs being torn down at an alarming rate and being replaced with massive housing structures. Now the plus side is that infastructure; water, heat, gas, is a positive byproduct of this modernization - and one that fundamentally is better for the population. I think it's easy to be a tourist and say "oh what a shame", but just because they're charming does not make all of the old places easy, comfortable or safe to live in.
They are preserving the Hutongs closest to the Forbidden City. There is some community and bustle to the area that could not be imitated anywhere else. We did the rickshaw tour, watched families ice skating on the small local streams and lakes, and even go inside a home to visit with a family who had "owned" the palce pre-cultural revolution and gotten it back post-cultural revoltion.
We ended the day with a dinner at the kitcshy Red Capital Club, which served us dished like "Socialist Economic Model Meal", which was meat and potatoes or "Jade Trea of Gold Coins" which was essentially greens veggies with mushrooms shaped to look like a tree with coins on the ground below. It was fun....pure kitsch.
