Shanghai Breather

Hung out at the hostel all day except for a quick stroll to get a bite to eat and a coffee. I asked about a place to get my hair done and was recommended to a professional-looking spot.

Before going back, I enjoyed a typically western Caesar salad wrap (my friend Jolene would have been totally thrilled~) with a mocha all eaten in this straight-out-of-downtown-America Somewhere called ‘Munchies’. Truly original. Great food. Super manager. Three thumbs up!

Went off to get my hair done. Chose a color. Relaxed. Really enjoyed watching ‘The Hulk’ on a flat screen TV in the saloon. (What a great idea!)

Maybe enjoyed it too much as I didn’t notice how the color was transforming on my head. Before long I looked like a Chinese person with purple highlights. That’s how dark my hair was. In the end I guess it looks okay, it was just a little shocking. I sort of wanted red..? And this was kind of …black?

Hahaha I look like Doris Day gone goth.

Next, I joined a couple of traveling graduates for a movie called ‘Ping Pong’. I couldn’t last it out but a Finnish girl had joined in so we had a nice chat. Later we tried the hostel’s banana/orange milkshakes at the rooftop bar. (bananas, marmalade, powdered milk) Quite nice.

When I asked my new Finnish friend what she had studied in school, I found out she speaks 7 languages! Swedish, Finnish, English, German, Italian, some Spanish, I think Latvian and now she is learning French. She wants to work at the embassy in Rome.

 I would like to work at the embassy in Rome! What a great idea. She would be perfect for it. She also mentioned that Finland is always looking for English teachers. (Don’t tempt me! I think and then imagine how that could possibly work out…)

Right now I am looking into things that could be done in and around Shanghai during the next two days. I am realizing what a boon it is to have found a hostel in this area (the French Concession) with all its tourist attractions and potential for biking outings.

PS Love the grass in Shanghai. I have taken every opportunity to walk on it.

My Finnish friend has a Chinese friend that's thinking of going on a river cruise.   Water.  Lights, Night,...no lines....  A river cruise sounds lovely…

Shanghai, Loves Me Not!

 I just read a sign at our hostel saying: “Ignore those who chase you for student arts or tea ceremony, etc. …especially at public places.”

ARGGGG!! Can you believe it!  I fell for two scams—in less than half a day!! No wonder I felt sick at the Pearl Tower. Those incidents happened right before I went up there. I knew it. I wondered if it was a scam!  It was not just one—but two!

The only few people that were friendly to me outside in Shanghai wanted something from me. What a horrible first impression to have of a city. I would expect it in Hong Kong, but in Shanghai? Which I thought was so cultured.  It just threw me. You don’t even know you’re in a scam until it turns that corner. Then you remember things they said that didn’t add up.

Two college students on an art showing trip here for 2 weeks and they’re just starting to see things? Then in the end it’s their ‘last day’?   Then the teachers (man and lady) who are traveling together from Xian but one has a fiancé and the other has a boyfriend? 

Weird right? And they wanted me to choose how many teas we sampled--each costing 60Y a piece. (They wanted to sample six apiece—but I couldn’t afford that. Here I thought I was being a nice foreigner by going along with them.)

They were the ones who wanted to go to the tea ceremony. But they wanted me to pick how many teas WE should sample. That should have told me right there. Clever, clever. (Hey, didn’t they say it was free in the beginning..?)

And what about the look the local girl gave me as I came in. Again, not a ‘festival in a mall’ as they had said, but a small shop. Was the look almost pity?  ..or disdain? I guess you know it’s a scam when the friendship involves money and the story keeps changing. Two people being friendly seem so less suspicious than one person.

I feel sick.

Shanghai and Away!

Day 4


Got up late again. This time because of a late-night phone conversation with my Mom. I have had some misgivings about coming home right away. I would love to have a little down-time in the US and catch up with friends and family, but I am in a rather good place right now with a community and job opportunities.

 I would hate to leave too quickly and enter into difficulties. Interestingly enough, one of my dorm mates is an American who met a lot of other Americans travelling through Thailand because they recently got laid off or were in-between jobs.

It’s not that I don’t have faith for a job in America. It’s more like I don’t want to go back and find out if that faith will or will not pan out. James would say it’s not faith if it’s untried. 

Day 4 and 5

It seems like getting up late is the mainstay of this vacation. Did that again, check. I took a little walk outside. The air was muggy and it looked like a storm was brewing. But I think that’s just Shanghai every 4 days. Otherwise, it’s been beautiful!

I went to my fave little western place to eat—it’s perfect if only because I like the décor.    Also, it won’t make me sick before I travel long distances. Today I was battling last-minute doubts about going back home.   I spent a good chunk of the day researching jobs here in Shanghai. I am worried that if I go back home, that’s it. I’m never going out again. That’s the reasoning behind the news--or the lack of it--for today.

I also watched Miss Congeniality II.    Sometimes a girl just has to watch something light.
It looks like I’ll be heading home. I’m relieved. (It was helpful to find that one-way tickets back to Hong Kong are only $297) :] in case I start to feeling land-locked.

I///

So, see you all State-side! :] (that’s me waving to you)

PS  (Reflecting later, I wish I had stayed in China but worked at the University level in another area.   If I could choose, I would have tried to find a position on Hanoi Island.   It would be in Southern China but with a better climate and better air quality than Guangzhou.   And well, I wasn't quite up to the speed of Shanghai.)



 

Shanghai Golden ~

In the Pearl Tower…


After making it to the first viewing section, I started to feel nauseous. At the top section, which I had waited an hour and a half to see--and way too much money, all I could think of was ‘how fast can I get out of here!’ That’s when I noticed the line circling around the elevator making it another 30-45 minutes of torture to get down from each level.

And that’s when I started making throwing up motions to the security guards.

They very quickly and graciously moved me to the front of the line. Truly, I could not have waited anymore in that line without losing my cookies. Once I lose my cookies I keep losing them until they are all gone.

After all that anticipation, how strange to be finished with the Tower and so grateful to be away it.  Only beautiful from afar. The Pearl TV Tower will always be a bittersweet memory for me. ‘Look but do not touch’.

God is so gracious. He is a God of second chances and make-up fors and comforting back-pats. Left desolate and still slightly nauseous with my flight from The Pearl, I went in search of the metro to go home and admit defeat.

 I started down a construction alley that looked familiar. I asked if it went to the metro and people said 'no'. I started to go back the other way, when a familiar feeling hit me. ‘You enjoy this'. (I was walking between tall buildings looking at the city lights.) 'You’re feeling okay now.  Just keep on walking.’

 I walked a little further.  I thought it might be The Peace.  It seemed to hang around. I waited for the thunderclap to sound. No thunder. Hmm. I kept walking.  Then I finished a subway sandwich  I bought on the road (thank goodness for Subway).  I had a feeling I was walking in the direction of the Jin Mao Tower.  It was the tallest tower in Shanghai.  You could see the whole city from there. 

Someone had recommended a ‘Cloud 9’ bar on the top. where I could sit and have a drink.  It had a great view of the city from there that was the same price as a trip to their observation deck. I decided to try for it.

Three elevator rides--quick ones--and many concierge smiles later, I was sitting in the most relaxing, dimly lit, view-entrancing restaurant I have ever seen. After so much stress, it was a warm blanket wrapped around my still-frazzled nerves. 

Calming travel fears and nursing back confidence in The Peace, I ordered a cup of Earl Grey tea and some frozen yogurt.   I was contented as a little girl in bed with the night-light on.  In that dark, vast, upstairs cave of a bar with the view of the lit-up city all around me, I could have been Wendy in Peter Pan—out for a lark, soaring through the night sky.

 I was also in the stream.  I wanted to follow The Peace more completely so I decided to see if I could get out of my ‘unpeaceful’ hostel decision. Unbelievably, I came back to a hostel that had ‘no room at the inn’.   A taxi ride later, and three wonderfully helpful Chinese boys were rolling my bag to the door of a beautiful French Quarter style building. 

When we arrived, I came into that feeling that you love to have when you travel to a new place and don't know what you'll run into next.  When the Peace meets you there and you know you’re home.  You're on-track and you're okay. It was there and it’s still here and…

 ...now it’s calling me to sleep.  :]  To forget about the awful Pearl and sink into the memory of sitting in the stars. 

Good-night.

Shanghai Pearl - Just Don't Do It!

I still am following the road that will lead me to that grand TV Tower of the Orient. I miss a metro stop that would take me right there. Instead I walk to what should be the famous ‘Bund’. On the way I hear from two other girls say, “Hi! Where are you from? We are having an art show, would you like to see some painting?”

 I tell them, “I’ve already met your friends, please say hello to them from me.” But it’s after the third person—this time a gentlemen—who mentions an art show that it hits me--have I been involved in some sort of scam?

 I couldn’t believe it! They were so friendly and seemed so genuine. Bummer! I also started to wonder if the tea ceremony had been a little ‘hoisted’. But that invitation seemed a little more legit—offered by teachers on holiday. ..or were they?


After two unplanned activities, unbudgeted purchases bought and subway opportunities missed, I finally saw The Pearl. In all its glory, there it was just a few meters away ready to be exhumed. I had heard about another building with a great view where you could sit and have a nice drink and watch the sunset.

But I wanted to experience The Pearl not just see it from afar. I wanted to walk on its steps, see through its glass, breath its space-age essence. “These things must be touched, felt and breathed to really experience,” I said to my conscience a little too strongly when thinking about the admission price. Only too vividly and for too long did I feel, touch and breath the essence of this tower.

If one word could sum up this experience it would be LINE. Only in a line could you experience these features so vividly and for so long. You have hours and hours to re-live every minute detail in your mind of what you see and especially what you hear.

The screaming children, the endless silver rails keeping you from the elevator that takes you up and down, the aching feet walking on the tower floors... You got to know your line-neighbors pretty well.

There was the Hong Kong couple living in Beijing with their little girl, the two aunties with their daughter and the obnoxious young couple with a little son who kept trying to butt ahead. The Hong Kong couple was very nice. They helped make sure I didn’t get lost in the shuffle.

So yes, line after line after line. A line to get to the line to get to the elevator that had a line after going up to get the next elevator line. There was also a line to go down the elevator followed by another line to go to the very bottom level.

 (PS this wouldn’t be so bad if I hadn’t already been walking for four hours in 95 degree heat without having had lunch yet? Silly of me, only there was no way to see the line from the ticket booth. You had to go in blind.)

Oh, if I had only stayed outside to see the Pearl in all its glory.


 

Shanghai Loves me?

Day 1 - Shanghai

Okay, I am burdened down—heavy ladened—if I can call it ‘pulling an ‘April’ (who tried to carry in as much as her weight restrictions would allow.) After passing inspection after inspection and security points that made me sweat bullets, I finally arrived in Shanghai at the Pudong airport. With a help of a few angels,(and I mean a few--most people just stared at my difficulty) I got to the key junctures that got me to the next key junctures.


       The Journey into Shanghai

It started with a high-speed train that took me to a station where I had to get a taxi--whose driver didn’t know where my hostel was.  I got to a hostel after not sleeping for two days only to find that it was a storefront in a busy area of town with a loud restaurant attached. Great for food/location, bad for well-being.

At this point, I had a really bad feeling about the hostel. It began earlier in my research.

And so the sinking feeling came with a great conviction.  I needed a good night’s rest in a quiet place without boys sleeping in the same room with me.  I especially did not want to share a bathroom with said boys.

 (Of course everyone is very nice and neutral and the place is so clean and rather quiet.) But it’s not peace that I have. After that day, I didn’t think I could leave right then and there in the middle of the night. The decision was made for me the next night when I came back and they had no rooms.

The only hostel that had a place was my second choice whose name was ‘Le Tour Traveler’s Rest.’ The name should have told me that it was the place I would be looking for all along. I am so blessed here.

I am so happy in the common room with its air con, cushy chairs and late night computer users. I have lots of common rooms to chose from to sit in and think or write. My things are safely stored in a locker near my top bunk with the provided clean sheets, in my bedroom filled with other traveling girls.  Happy am I.

But before I get to sleep a quick recap on the day:

Friday -- Toured a little park trying to think. Hit some awesome Shanghai malls before heading off to the ‘un-peace’ hostel to sleep. Woke up the next day, packed up everything again. Stored it there and went off to find The Pearl Tower. (It’s now 1:00 pm)

 I'm on my way, going through a park trying to get to a Starbucks that someone asked me something.  Could I take their picture? “Sure” and then they say, “Where are you from?” And before you know it, I am joining them for a tea ceremony and am spending a third of my Shanghai trip money. Ah! But some of that tea will make for cool presents.

Now, on to find that elusive Pearl Tower.

It’s not 5 minutes later when, “Hello! Where are you from?” finds me again.   It’s two art students visiting the city through their college art class displaying their paintings. Before I know it, we are gabbing like old friends and they are taking me to see their artwork (in a building nearby.)

It was very informative, their pictures were beautiful, but then came the, “We have some prints, would you like to buy some?” “Oh”, I say, “I would love to. How much are they?” They quote a price that is beyond ridiculous but I want to support their work and encourage them so I buy two.

Well, amid some bargaining and 160 yuan later (for three) we part.   Happy to be finished with what felt like a car buying experience.

But later I found out.....

Hong Kong and The Country Garden Bus Systems

Travel to Hong Kong-

It was pretty easy to get to Hong Kong. You could either go by bus or train--there are benefits to each.

The train goes straight from Guangzhou--nearest big city to Country Garden--to Shenzhen and then you can link onto the Hong Kong metro line (MTR). It takes like 3-5 hours to get there from CG but less if you are already in Guangzhou. (The train takes like an hour from Guangzhou to Hong Kong--great!)

The train station--I think in Shenzhen-- is crazy big!   This is the only point that isn't so pleasant. I'm not sure you always have to stop there though. When you get to China, you will get a chance to do this with other people. I would go every 5-6 weeks when I was there.
You are here. The train to Hong Kong.

What many people do is take a bus/train to the closest city outside of Hong Kong (Shenzhen) and stay at these 24-hour hotel/spas --amazing amenities for the same price as a regular hotel room.   You then cross over to Hong Kong the next day via bus or metro rail.  

Even though anything in a foreign country is a little daunting and harder with the language barrier, getting to Hong Kong was relatively easy.

Here's a link to my favorite spa:
Queen's Spa in Shenzhen (wish I could get some pictures for this...)

Best thing about working in Southern China were the cheap flights that you could take all over with Southeast Asia.     E-long Travel is also a good one.  There was one couple at CG who would take a mini-vacation every time we had a long weekend.

Sometimes they got two $25 tickets to Malaysia or something. www.airasia.com had some great specials!   For winter break, all my colleagues went to the tropical islands of Koh Samui off of Thailand. I went to Bangkok twice while I taught there. Loved it!      www.asiaexpat.com was also a good website. 

The CG Bus System

There is a bus system throughout the Country Garden country clubs. (There are two--one is the 'new' the other 'old' one) It gets you from apartment blocks to school to mini-marts or grocery stores and to the main gates.   From there, more of these Country Garden buses take you to nearby cities in surrounding the areas. I think it covers cities in a 2-hour away radius. These are free for you.

*important* When you are out and about in Guangzhou or other towns, you must only get on the Country Garden Shunde (shun-duh)  bus.   There are more than 13 different Country Gardens so saying the right Country Garden--and double-checking if it's the right one--is paramount to getting home.     Remember:  Shun-duh (Bi Guay Yuan)  Country Garden

Maybe this website has some pictures.

 Long-ride buses are like your average greyhound bus.   Some are newer than others.   It's better to sit in the middle or front because in the back you usually get alot of fumes.


They have the bus schedules at the bus ticket booth at the main gates of Country Garden.   They usually have a Chinese and an English version.  You do need to ask if it is up-to-date, because sometimes it has changed. 

In the past, I've accidentally gone off an old schedule.  Also, ask if any bus pick-up/drop-off places have changed, because that will really mess up an afternoon when trying to get back home!    Asking people around you from CG--especially the younger generation--has been really helpful in getting to the right place at the right time.

Good luck!