May 10 2007 - Shanghai - The BIG City that makes me feel so very SMALL

This is definitely a city that makes you feel so small! Everything in Shanghai has been done on a BIG scale. The buildings tower over and the skyline is border-line crowded with skyscrapers. The design of the city is amazing - I thought it was fairly easy to get around, although things are VERY far apart.
PHOTO ALBUM

In the taxi from the airport to the hotel (we stayed in a Super 8 - NOT my idea - hahaha) we drove by an IKEA! That was our first stop the next morning. I wanted to buy EVERYTHING - I know most people have this feeling when they go to IKEA in Burlington (or wherever), but it was overwhelming here. After so much time without seeing familiar things, I wanted to bring it all back.

Shanghai is full of some really cool areas. Some are quite grand - the pedestrian mall on Nanjing Road (there's a McDonalds every 5 minutes on this road and it's also full of designer stores), People's Square - the Shanghai Museum and the Shanghai Grand Theatre are here, the area along The Bund - a walkway along the river with beautiful views of the buildings on the other side of the water. And some are a little smaller - we found a cool pub/bar/restaurant area. It reminded me of Hess Village in Hamilton, but much, much cooler. Lots of patio bars, candle light, live bands and so many foreigners (of course).

We did a lot of sight-seeing, but still didn't manage to see everything we planned. The Shanghai Museum was really interesting - I think there was 5 or 6 floors, all with different themed rooms. Old coins & paper money, traditional Chinese clothes, Ancient calligraphy, Jade, etc, etc. There was an exhibition of art from America - we saw some Andy Wharhol paintings - so cool.

And the food - WOW. Mexican, French, American and all of the things that are not available in my city. Try living without variety for 8 months, and you can maybe know how I feel.

Shopping - we saw REAL Louis Vuitton, REAL Chanel, REAL Hermes, REAL Prada, etc. But we did not shop there - we found a fake market just down the road from the REAL stores. I bought some really nice designer bags, that even if they didn't have a name like Prada or Gucci, they would still be really nice.

There are some downsides to such a big city, especially in China. The walkway near the water is a popular hang-out for local beggars. And they are not shy. They will come right up to you, shake their tin cup and say any English they can - "money please" and they look so sad and dirty. If you don't give them money right away, they will follow you for a few minutes. The garbage on the sidewalks & streets is ridiculous. People just throw their garbage on the ground as if it's nothing. I see this in my city too and it's worse in small villages.

I took a picture of a girl publicly urinating on the sidewalk. This happens ALL the time! My city, Hong Kong, Shanghai. I've tried to discuss it with some of my Chinese friends, but I don't think this will change anytime soon. If you want to start a business in China, please try to make diapers popular!

Another really sad thing we saw involved an old man and a small girl. I don't know how common this sort of thing is, but everyone I tell this story to is not surprised - sometimes they come back with an even worse story. We were walking down a busy street, maybe around 8 or 9 at night. I think we were the only foreigners around. Coming towards us is an old man who is wearing really shabby clothes and is in serious need of a shower. I thought he was going to ask for money. Instead he grabbed the arm of a little girl beside him and whipped her in front of us. He continued walking and this sad dirty little girl is holding a cup in front of us and saying 'money, money'. Things like this are really hard to swallow. I've heard stories about men like this going to small villages and convincing really poor parents to sell their daughters. Then the girls are taken to other cities and forced to beg for money - or worse. I don't know what kind of help - if any - is really available in this kind of situation. It seems that many people know about, know it's wrong, but then it stops...it's this way with many things that would not be acceptable / tolerated in Canada.

We also had some really nice local people help us around too. One taxi driver got a little lost taking us to the hotel one night, so he stopped the meter - quite surprising. Another time, we were looking at the subway map and trying to figure out where we were and which line to take (there are 4) and a girl around 20, came over to help us. We also had a conversation with a man in a wheelchair who had a scar around his head - apparently he had an accident in a factory when he was young (how young, I didn't ask). But he was really nice, told us not to shop in the expensive area and gave us some weather forecasts for the next day.

I would recommend Shanghai to anyone coming to China. Despite some of the sad things, it really is an interesting city. I posted lots of pictures in the photo album. Enjoy!