Adventures In China

Up at 6 and soon on the obligatory run. A brightly lit cafeteria drew me in for a glutinous patty filled with bean paste. Two bakeries and an hour later I found a jumbled market sheltered by a dilapidated tin roof. As I wondered around the stalls I was conscious of each vendor staring at me. I noted circular slabs of stone for cleaving meat, their pocked surfaces showing many whacks. Chunks of meat and fish were laying everywhere, no refrigeration in site. It wasn’t until leaving that I noticed everyone was looking at me. Now I know what it feels like to be a rock star.


Our group foray started in Old Town. A labyrinth of crooked alleys exhibited women washing clothes with clotheslines strung overhead with dripping garments (don’t look up). Homemakers were preparing meals, an old man sharpened a cleaver and another wrenched a bike.


Past this was the Old Town Bazaar. A commercial shopping area packed with Chinese tourists who were snapping as many pictures as we were. On our allotted 2.5 hours I wandered for half of it with Rudy and Monika. Had a unique Peanut Milk Roll at BreadTalk.


Breaking on my own I moved out of the bazaar to seedier shopping and the omnipresent hawkers. A couple of marts were busy multi-story monoliths with narrow aisles packed with merchandise.


Rodolfo, Monika, Larry, Joyce and I opted out of the group lunch to start our free afternoon early. Originally from Brazil, Rodolfo & Monika were resolute at dining at Brasil Steak House discovered in my tourist book photocopies. We trekked 2 hours across town seeing the business districts, culture of museums and opera houses and finally the high end accoutrements with marquees such as Ferrari, Versace and Gucci.


Our walk was rewarded with a spectacular feast of barbecue carved right off the spit at our table. Roast beef, bacon wrapped chicken, lamb, chicken hearts, sirloin, tongue, duck, more beef and even bananas. Cost? 55 Yuan. Or seven bucks.


A weary Larry and Joyce grab a taxi back to the hotel while us remaining three deciphered the subway system to get to Nanjing Road. This stretch of pedestrian only street is a wide sea of countless shops and signage. This street culminates at The Bund.


Following the river The Bund is a stretch of various impressive architecture styles and is a reflection of Shanghai’s colonial period.


For 2 Yuan we crossed the Huangpu River to Pudong as night fell. This area has become representative of Shanghai’s growing economy with attractive modern skyscrapers arising one after another. One such is Jin Mao tower. From its Hyatt’s 54th floor lobby we could see visibility was poor so skipped the observation deck. We walked past the Pearl Tower landmark to the Bund Tourist Tunnel to get back across, or rather under, the river.



By this time The Bund and Nanjing was lit up in neon glory. Think Times Square many blocks long. Another subway ride brought us as close to the hotel as possible and into a shopping mall. A taxi ride and the end of another visually packed day.