Yellow New Yorkers

The more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that Shanghainese people are the New Yorkers of Asia. The city is really happening, stealing thunder away from the country's capital, Beijing, and really unparalleled in terms of modernity. It's a place rich in history, that has been architecturally scarred by numerous others, and there's a certain aristocratic hierarchy associated with being originally from here.

In the past 3 days, I've walked for 20 minutes before being able to hail down a cab, had to deal with unfriendly clerks and cashiers, and have walked in some innocuous substance which I couldn't identify either by sight or by smell. Hell, I even pushed a lady aside, telling her to fuck off and wait for another taxi because i had been waiting for 15 minutes on the same corner. She muttered something in return but didn't make a big deal about it. I guess life goes on, people here know that.



Things change at the speed of light; that Shanghai Internet Club I had so fondly adopted 4 years ago as my cyberspace haven has now become obsolete (I'm guessing compared to the broadband and wireless bunch) and made way for a hat shop (hats, on the other hand, are of an eternal breed, unlike computers). My mother's old house is now covered by the corner store, and my father's building was obliterated in the name of a highway. I once heard the story of a man who hadn't left his house for 10 years due to illness; he probably would have died had he ever made it to the door and looked outside.

I went to a house party; I was served red wine, of the Great Wall variety, in a wet mug, while boxes of Pokey stick cookies were passed around like dope. We played card games, including a sedated and civilized but more communist version of truth or dare; the most risque task was suck and blow, and even that was almost scratched off the list because it wasn't very clean to suck on a pack of cards bought around the corner for a buck and a half. The night ended with a round of ghost stories in the dark; half were scared to death, the rest of us just fell asleep.

So I guess in some ways, they're not that different here, halfway around the world, obvious cultural discrepancies aside. Perhaps the one thing that makes people here stand out is that yes, they still ride their bikes and no, they couldn't give less of a shit what you think about that.

Hong Kong and Yangzhou

I ended up liking Hong Kong more than I had expected...It reminds me a lot of England, but with a lot more yellow people...After having asked around, I came to the conclusion that there's not much to do except shop and that's pretty accurate...the quantity of goods cramped on this tiny island is mind-blowing...if you can think of it, they have it

I walked over from China, crossed the border by foot (a great majority of people do so) and took the train into town...I got off at the wrong station and ended up hauling my suitcase down the street for a good kilometer until I found the Cosmo Hotel, little sister to the Cosmopolitain right next door...While I was a bit taken aback that we were next door to a Sikh temple, I noticed that the more expensive Cosmopolitain had a muslim cemetery behind it so I didn't complain for long

I checked into my room and rushed in to scope out the view...



Talk about advertising...quite representative of the city though...The room itself (and the whole hotel for that matter) were in this neo-futuristic decor...turns out, the rooms are color-coded (lime, lemon and orange) and the desk clerk is supposed to assess your personality and assign an appropriate room to you...oh the inferences




At 7.30, I went downstairs into the lobby and waited to see if Nicholas Charles would show up...low and behold, he did, his sister Charlotte in tow...we went out for supper at a poly-asian restaurant (Thai, Cambodian, etc)...the food was not bad, but what made the meal was the LIVE! Band...we could even request songs, and I ended up having "I've Had the Time of My Life" dedicated to me on the occasion of my 5th wedding anniversary...a special guest even jumped in to help with the bongos



The next day was spent wandering the streets, stopping at every couple of rickshaws and carts to gawk at the jewelry, Communist memorabilia and Tkin'latte mittens...at night, I bid farewell to Nick and Charlotte and returned home the next day...all in all, a brief enjoyable stay in Hong Kong

**********

After returning home to Shanghai, I packed up again and left for Yangzhou (not to be confused with Hangzhou, where I was a week ago)...it took us 3 hours, innumerable tolls and one pee pit-stop to get there

Yangzhou used to be a really prosperous and important city, economically speaking (it's well-located around masses of water)...but these days, it's just plain jane...it's not boring but I'm glad I only stayed a day and a half...everything is really spread out, there's no traffic and the streets are really wide



I was shown around by this couple named Lewis (Liu Wei) and Iris (I have no idea what her chinese name is)...they went/go to school in Halifax so they could get by on English...their mom, on the other hand, couldn't understand jackshit of what I was saying but she was really nice about it so I have no grudges

We went to this ancient park, hitched a ride on a boat...enjoyable but would have been more had it not been freezing cold...a very sweet Chinese girl gave me the tour in English...she was quite impressive!



After that, we went to eat...now, here's the thing..the food in Yangzhou is the most amazing Chinese food I've ever tasted...and I'm pretty picky...everything was so simple yet tasty...nothing flashy, or too spicy..just enough for the taste buds...I didn't even take any pictures of it because the minute it got to the Lazy Susan, it flew off the serving platter



We left the next day, right after having gone to a newly-built history museum...so back in Shanghai...until I come back...it's nice to finally settle down

Barriers

I flew into Guangzhou in the south of China, and was picked up by Jerry (the son of the lady who I'm working for) and his girlfriend Sunny. Jerry lived in Toronto for a good 10 years so he can speak English perfectly; Sunny only speaks Mandarin and some Shanghainese (the dialect I can get by with).

They drove me around town for a while...There are actually palm trees all over the place and the weather is quite mild...my tour book says that this was an oasis of escape for emperors back in the day.

The first night was quite awkward...On top of being thrown in with two strangers (albeit, of my age), the language barrier didn't help...I guess it didn't hit me until now, since I was in Shanghai most of the time that I'm pretty much helpless everywhere else in this country...And I feel the requisite dose of shame and embarrassment

I stayed in their apartment which was nice and had high ceilings but it was essentially made of marble and glass and I actually woke up in the middle of the night because I was freezing to death...I walked around in a sweater the next morning..until I stepped outside and realized in looked and felt like Palm Springs.



In the afternoon, we drove down to Shenzhen, which is the closest to Hong Kong you can get in Mainland China (the border is 6 kms away from downtown)...In Shenzhen, once again, I couldn't even ask for the bathrooms and two of Jerry and Sunny's friends joined us for supper...they were quite empathetic and did their best to decipher that I was asking for tea, not the time...but all was well in the end when we went to Karaoke...I guess singing drunk is an international language which crosses borders...I downed 7 Heinekens (at 4.7% mind you) and ended up sleeping like a log by the time we got back to the hotel.



Saturday was spent at the "Window on the World" theme park..which consists of scaled-down versions of every international landmark you can think of...though none from Canada apart from Niagara Falls...The highlight was the traditional African village where a bunch of dark brown asians performed folk dances...Upon exiting the village, there was an attraction that was hidden by bushes by we climbed up to see what was going on...turns out it was an entire savannah with toy animals stampeding (think the Lion King)...but those sneaky designers, I knew they had something up their sleeves:



After our theme park adventure, we went for a foot massage...I was crossing my fingers for the cute guy in a track suit but ended up with the tomboy with a 'stache... but she was quite charming, especially when she realized that I had no idea what she was saying and proceeded to rub my feet like a mother from there on...at one point, she hit this painful spot and I told her it hurt and she matter-of-factly said: "This is the stress spot, you're not sleeping enough"...I was in love

Sunday morning, we went for a final meal in Shenzhen...and I inadvertently ended up with this on my plate:



(I know, it's easy to make things look gross on a plate and take pictures but this one was too priceless to pass up)...I politely poked at its eye and proceeded to declare that I was finished eating....After lunch, I was driven to the border...and basically walked from China to Hong Kong...it's quite common and many people do it (it doesn't sound as refuge as it does)



the rest of Hong Kong in another post!

Progress

Yesterday and the day before, I was essentially chaperoned around town, being shown around. On Tuesday, Tony ('my asian boyfriend' as I affectionately call him, though not to his face) took me around the downtown area.



There are so many department stores here, it's mind blowing...and the merchandise isn't cheap (as in, nothing is "Made in China"...everybody probably knows somebody who "makes something in China" so it would be kind of dumb to go out and buy a North Face winter jacket when you're sister's neighbor can swipe you one when she punches out of work)



I guess the most disconcerting thing is that all these major, luxury brands all have boutiques here. While Louis Vuitton is the most obvious scapegoat, I think it's safe to assume that they only came to Asia because all the knockoffs and fakes were becoming detrimental to their business...but the others (ranging from Tiffany's to Prada), I just don't understand...a dress shirt costs more than the average net 6-month income of most people here...who's buying this stuff?...the prices are the same as in Europe and in North America...so nobody's getting a deal...I guess the local rich people are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer...the gap widens



It's both exciting and scary to be in a country which has changed so drastically over the past 10-15 years..even though I was obviously not here to witness it, you can feel it in the air...something is boiling, there's a rumble building underneath and you can't help but think that there's just that one little thing missing to catapult this country to the forefront...it's a matter of somebody getting their act together...



I'm off to Guangzhou (in the south of China) and Hong Kong today...will write from there...I hope I don't get maced by the cops in H.K....Mic

Routine

Nothing exciting has been happening for the past couple of days; I've been in Shanghai, going to bed at 9.30pm, 10 pm tops...and waking up at 6am..I think that this is the best I can do with the time change...at least I didn't waste 3 days away in and out of bed like the first time I came here.

I've been basically going to the office of the people I'm "working" for everyday...see, I'm not sure if they flew me out here to talk business or to just sightsee...It's been really ambiguous which is driving me nuts, since I have absolutely nothing of really useful to do when I'm at the office, except for trying to decipher their Chinese Apple G4 with OS 9 *shudder*...I'm not complaining though, at least I can check my emails in a non-stressful environment.

Here are some pics of my bachelor's pad...the complex I'm staying in consists of pretty large grounds, encompassing a good 10 high-rise apartment/condo buildings...a bit like in Toronto (or Scarborough)...I was told that it's mostly non-Chinese people who live here...i.e. Japanese, Korean, American, Western Europeans, etc...because it's pretty pricey (Chinese standards) and most people who buy these places end up renting it out anyways



My apartment has a mezzanine, where my bed and the bathroom are..there's also a nice alcove where there's a large desk...downstairs, there's the kitchen and the living room but you wouldn't catch me dead there because the heater doesn't work








The weather is not horrible per say...it's around 15 degrees celsius outside...but the wind is cold, which doesn't help..but the part that takes the most getting used to is that nobody turns on their indoor heat..they just walk around their houses with their coats, mittens and scarves on...there's a heater next to my bed, which heats up the entire mezzanine, thank god...so I basically spend my nights kooked up upstairs, dashing downstairs to get a drink of water or to turn off the lights.

First Weeked in Shanghai...

Welcome to the Cunning Linguist! I'll be changing the name of the blog soon so that I can actually log onto it while I'm in China (it's getting filtered out for some reason...)

So the plane ride over wasn't bad at all; I ate, drank, slept, read, watched some really bad movies and finally got to Shanghai. It was great, I got the aisle seat right in front, so there wasn't anybody in front of me and the flight wasn't packed so there was also an empty seat between me and my row buddy...which allowed for great legroom, and taking pictures of my neighbors while they were sleeping (I know, it looks like the apocalypse but it was really quite cozy)




I didn't even have time to settle into my bachelor's pad (pics to come) when I left for a road trip, by train, to Wuxi, a city northwest of Shanghai. This place is known for its spare ribs (I kid you not, they're sold in boxes everywhere) but my 3 dashing hosts and I ended up being invited to lunch up this hill in some shithole.

It was crazy misty and we had to slink up a curvy mountain to get to the restaurant. Tony (my roomie in Wuxi) asked me if I liked seafood and I said no, and 5 minutes later, I'm sitting with this on my plate :



I think I almost died when I realized we would be eating seafood ("Not sea!", they isisted, "LAKE food!") but I had promised myself that I would try everything that was put on my plate on this trip and I did...Thank God the waitress comes to give you a clean plate every 10 minutes, I just picked and fake-chewed until a virgin piece of round porcelain was put in front of me.

After the meal, we visited Three Kingdoms World, which is the Asian equivalent of one of those back-in-time villages in Ontario with white people standing around a well, while out back there are scantily-clad Natives spear-fishing. It was a misty day, which made for nice pictures but I've realized that anytime you look through your camera in China, it looks like you're going to take an amazing picture because everything is so foreign, which is why pictures of cats on garbage cans are so excitingly artistic all of a sudden.



Anyhow, we stayed overnight and the next day, before taking the train back, we went to eat these famous wontons and small pork-stuffed buns which made up bigtime for the fish from the day before...really, they were the best wontons I've ever tasted in my life (not the kleenex-in-toilet-with-no-meat variety found at the chinese buffets back home)...I stuffed my face like a child of the third-world and happily returned to my abode and prompty fell asleep.

I'm going to Hong Kong next weekend (hopefully will manage to meet up with Nicholas Charles) so the next few days will be spent roaming the streets of Shanghai.

Feel free to post comments! (Don't ask me how, the browser is in Chinese here so you're on your own) ; ) Mic