A Brave New City

My primitive vocabulary does no justice to Shanghai when it comes to describing the city.  I don't want to raise expectations for any of you who decide to come, but I honestly think that many people's conception of China are only what we see on TV and in the movies.  It's not to say that there aren't very poor areas here in Shanghai, in fact there are a lot of shabby places.  Stinky, gloomy, noisy - almost any unimaginable condition exists in this city.  And in the the backdrop of this old China, is a modern one, with tall buildings and neon lights.  Such a contrast!

There are many districts here in Shanghai.  Although I've been to a couple of them, I only know the name of two districts.  The previously mentioned tourist area is probably the most reknowned.  Commonly referred to as 'The Bund', every tourist to Shanghai goes there.  If we were speaking Metropolitan Toronto terms, the geography of Shanghai has the Bund area around the Warden and Eglinton area of Toronto.  Immediately east of that area is a zig-zag winding river (the Huang Pu) about a kilometer wide running through the city in a North-South fashion.

I travelled east over the river for the first time yesterday to visit my aunt who came in from HK for business.  This area just east of the Huang Pu River is called the 'Pudong' area and is truly something else.  It's a newly developed area and  every single building on this side of Shanghai is brand-spanking new.  Many of the new commercial buildings are here (HSBC, China Telecom etc.)  and the world's tallest hotel (The Grand Hyatt Shanghai) is here too.  We had dinner at the Grand Hyatt last evening, buffet meal at totally bargain prices.  There's about 85 floors in the Grand Hyatt, and it shares some of its space with offices.  Again words cannot describe!  The area that I was in, in Pudong was definitely a very wealthy one.  Not as crowded as most areas of Shanghai, this newly developed area seemed to cater to the more affluent in society.

I found out another cool thing yesterday too.  That Torontonian teacher I was talking about, she has a friend who works in China as a helicopter pilot and flies around China for 3 months here and there for business shipping people to and fro.  He's dying to show people all the majestic wonders he's seen around China and it looks like I'm going to be meeting him.  Hopefully, I'll be able to tag along on one of his excursions.  If that happens, I'll be visiting Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia and all those crazy places Brad Pitt makes movies about.  Suh-weet.

Simon is getting excited. 

And a happy birthday to Marv, Daphne, Rodger and Mommy!

Shanghai, Shanghai (In the key of Sinatra)

My few days spent so far in Shanghai have brought nothing but wonder and amazement.  I've been here for about 3 days now, each bringing with it a whole new adventure.  The city's splendour is truly breath taking and I hope to, in time, share this with you when I figure out how to get a scanner for pictures here.

Since learning how to use the underground mass transit system, I have been to many areas along the Shanghai subway lines.  Unlike Toronto, there are 3 subway lines here that criss-cross each other.  Every day of every hour is rush hour here, always so many people.  I visited Nanjing Lu two days ago, it's a tourist area located in Downtown Shanghai filled with huge department stores along both sides of the street.  All very tall buildings, many lights... indeed much more vibrant than any Toronto street I've ever seen.  I've never been to NYC, but I'm sure that Shanghai matches NYC in its grandeur.  The ground along Nanjing Lu is tiled (not asphalt) and is about 30 - 40 feet wide.  The tourist area runs for a good 8 blocks or so and is lined with department stores on both sides that are at least 6 - 10 floors high.  Every couple blocks is a much larger commercial building, with at least 80 floors.  The Western conception of China is so backward when Shanghai is taken as an example (I'm sure most other parts of China aren't like Shanghai), but Shanghai is definitely an exception to the case.  Cars everywhere, bicycles everywhere, skyscrapers everywhere, and people everywhere.  Shanghai is hustling and bustling.

I met a fellow Torontonian yesterday while walking along Heng Shan Lu, a district lined with about 2 - 3 blocks of Cafe's.  She looked confused so I asked her if I could help out.  Relieved to find out I was from Toronto, we really hit it off and had drinks together at one of the cafe's on their patio.  I can sense some of your brows giving me thet "eh?" raise.  Well, she is a 40+ year old married caucasian lady here on a teaching assignment from Centennial.  You sick bastards.  Anyways, after speaking to her, I'm thinking of doing some English teaching on the side to make some extra cash.  She charges 200RMB ($40 CDN) an hour so I'm thinking of charging 50RMB ($10 CDN) an hour.  With a class of 10, I might be able to make $100 CDN a day!  I have a lot of cool ideas actually, the kids here probably just need someone to practice with, and vocabulary to converse with everyday people.  I'm thinking of taking them on expeditions to touristy areas and have them approach confused non-asian tourists to practice their English.  Pretty good idea eh?  Well, there are much more, but they'd take too long to explain.  I'm working on a curriculum now though.

As for the women here?   Well, there's a lot of people in Shanghai, I'll write about them when I have more time I guess.

Simon is enjoying his day