I guess my skepticism was due to the steady offers of phone cards, Rolex watches, CDs, DVDs, girls to have "tea" with, and so forth, that bombarded me as I walked along Nanjing Road. The Shanghai people have certainly learned the art of the hard-sell! And, these offers are made to westerners and local people alike. How can so many people be trying to sell the same things to the same people? How can this possibly be a way to make a living? In all of my walking I never did see any of these offers being accepted. I guess there must have been a few, but the success rate had to be much less than 1%.
Nanjing Road ends at the riverfront, which is called the Bund, where there is a wide walkway along the riverside. It is clearly the place to go, for many local people (and tourists) are walking the Bund, taking photos, eating snacks, and just sitting and watching the parade of people. The Orient Pearl Tower is directly opposite on the other side of the river. I first walk north to the Monument for People's Heroes, an inverted-V structure in honor of those who died fighting the Japanese in WWII. The monument also is the north end of the Bund, at the entrance to the Wusong River, a small river that flows into the Huangpu. I then head south, going all the way to the other end of the Bund, about one mile or so. At this end there are several tour boat companies, offering various boat rides on the river. It will soon be dark, and I start heading back north again, stopping occasionally to take some photos of the tower across the river. The evening is very mild. I had been concerned that it would get a bit chilly when the sun went down, but it has not and I am still quite comfortable with only a long sleeve shirt.
I head back back-up Nanjing Road, towards Peoples Square subway station, enduring the same various offers, although now that it is dark there are more offers for girls to have "tea" with than before. When I walk past the Xian art shop several young ladies call-out "Richard"! I turn and meet 4 young ladies, who also say that they are from Xian, and that the other girl, Wang Li, had told them about me. Her description must have been very good, for they were able to pick-me out of the hundreds of people that walk buy. Their greeting and what seemed like an innocent and sincere manner made me feel more confident about Wang Li and the art school story.
I then took the subway back to the hotel. At 7:00 I met S for dinner in the hotel lobby. S and I met in HK the night I went out to Lan Kwai Fong. She was the lady in the black dress. Tonight she is wearing white. We take a cab to the Old Train Station restaurant, where she has reserved a table. It is about a 15 minute ride, going generally southwest from the hotel. The building was never actually a train station, but in the courtyard they have an old locomotive that S tells me may have been the personal train of an emperor's wife. The service at the restaurant is very good, and the seating area is very fancy. We are seated and the waiter unfolds our cloth napkins and places them with one corner under our plate, and the rest hanging down towards our lap. We order tea and dinner, which turns out to be much more than we can eat. There are 2 small appetizers--some small candied fruit, similar to a cherry, and another that I cannot describe adequately. I like the cherry-one better! Dinner is comprised of 4 dishes: cold cooked fish with a sweet glaze (very tasty); steamed shrimp (OK, but you have to peel and eat, too much work for me); twice-roasted duck (very good); and some chinese green veggie similar to spinach (also very good). The fancy meal costs about 250RMB, or about $30 for two. Not bad!
We then take a cab to Xiantindi, the trendy restaurant and bar area. I had walked thru this area on Sunday afternoon with W, but now it was much more active! S took me to a night club named "T-8", which she said is owned by a client of hers. T-8 is both a bar and a restaurant. We were seated on a couch with a long coffee table in front of it, and regular chairs at each end of the table and on the other side. The couch was adorned with teddy bears, which apparently is one of the marketing themes for T-8. The atmosphere was classy, relatively quiet, very nice. We ordered drinks--she a Baileys, and me a soda water and a brandy straight-up. It was a pleasant place. We talked about my trip, her life plans, and other miscellaneous topics. Soon it was almost 10:30 and she still had to go home which was about an hour away. So we took a taxi back to the hotel, where she dropped me off and continued on her way.
In the room I tried to telephone the USA using a phone card that I had purchased in HK. It did not work. It seemed like the lines to the USA were all busy. Or, maybe I just wasn't doing it correctly. Oh well, time for bed.
I sleep late. The hotel is very quiet, the bed very comfortable, and it is almost 9:30 before I roll out of bed. Well, this is a vacation, right? I walk to a nearby McDonald's hoping to have some pancakes for breakfast. They don't have pancakes, so I point to the picture on the menu card of a sausage and egg sandwich, hash browns, and coffee, all for 17RMB (about $2.10). I guess Shanghai customers like catsup and mayo, because my sandwich has both. Oh well, live and learn. At any rate the good price makes up somewhat for yesterday's breakfast cost. I then walk down Huaihai Road. Even in the morning the wedding photo shops are open and busy. I see a bookstore and buy an English language map of Shanghai for 8RMB. A similar map at Barnes and Noble in the US would cost about $8.00 (65RMB).
Today I need to start making my arrangements for flight to and hotel in Beijing. I go to the travel agency at the entrance to the hotel property. The designated English speaker is Cherry, another attractive young lady, who speaks very good English with a slight British accent (her husband works for Virgin Atlantic). The flight to Beijing will cost 1000RMB (about $120). The best price I would find on the net was about $160, so this is a good deal. I tell her I want a hotel in Beijing, cost about 400RMB per nite, good location, with in-room internet access. I give her the names of two hotels that have been referred to me--the Song He Hotel, and the Friendship Hotel. When I check back with her later in the day she tells me that the Song He Hotel is in a good location, it has internet access in the room, and the price is 420RMB. Sounds OK to me, but I tell her I will let her know tomorrow.
In the afternoon I take the subway to Peoples Park station. I am expecting to exit the station into Peoples Park. However, I enter a construction zone instead. The entire intersection of Nanjing Road and Central Tibet Road (what could be called the true center of town) is all torn up. But, I find a walkway over the construction area and walk east on Nanjing Road towards the river. The first several blocks are a pedestrian walkway, no traffic. One of the first stores I see is Shanghai No. 2 Department Store. This must be a store that dates back to the communist days. I remember reading that back then there was not much to actually buy in these stores, with a poor selection, poor quality, and high prices. I wonder what they are like now? So I walk in and find a typically very busy department store. The first area sells cellphones. There are 4 or 5 separate counters, each offering several dozen cellphone models. Well, so much for the old days! Even the government stores have fully entered the 21st century!
As I am walking thru the store a young lady from a cosmetic counter takes me by the hand and tells me that she has a face cream that will make me look younger! She leads me to a nearby stool, and starts rubbing some cream under my right eye. She tells me that if I use this cream for 10 days I will get rid of the wrinkles under my eyes and I will look much younger. While she is doing this one of her co-workers starts rubbing another potion on the back of my right hand, telling me that this will make my hands cleaner and younger. All of the female attention is lots of fun, but I decline the invitations to buy. As I walk away I see they have found another western couple to make younger!
I am getting hungry and I see a Pizza Hut. I have not had western food (other than breakfast food) for quite a while, so I decide to try it. When I enter a young man and woman greet me at the door. They are dressed-up as wizards. It is near Halloween, and all of the staff are wearing some sort of Halloween costume. It is quite cute. The woman wizard leads me upstairs to a large seating area. It is very modern, clean, quiet. Soon I order a small veggie pizza and a coke. The pizza is actually quite good.
Shanghai Page 4