Well it’s been a few weeks since I sat down to compose something. Well with Typhoon Muifa sweeping past shanghai I have a wet and windy Sunday afternoon to deal with (just like late October in the UK. Not sure the hype and local consternation was warranted. I learnt one thing the weather forecasters here are as good as they are in the UK, Michael Fish included.)
Three weeks ago my wife and daughter arrived. My wife permanently, and my daughter for a holiday. The latter has been expensive; she is now worrying how to fit it all into her suitcase on the way back. The need for constant entertainment has forced some activity and in three weeks we have done more than I did in the previous nine months, and the golf has been reduced.
My wife and daughter have visited all the markets and malls in Shanghai and are now self-confessed experts at haggling with the traders, though the amount of money it has cost me either was expensive practice or the traders made them feel they are experts to keep them going back. You can decide. They are also experts at which loos are Chinese traditional and which are more western in design.
I have also forgotten how much food an 18 year old human eats and how frequently they need feeding. I had trained myself out of the snacks between meals that are so plentiful in the west. Now I am on 6 meals a day and I have to send my new Chinese tailor made clothes back for adjustment.
Still it is fun having her around and she has driven us onto new adventures. The temperature meant she wore shorts and sleeveless tops, and with blond hair has been the subject of many head turning stares as well as demands for pictures with the local population. At first she thought it funny but by the third day a little tiresome.
We went to Shanghai Wildlife Park which is a mix of a zoo and game park. You walk the spacious zoo, or hire a buggy, and ride on a coach through the game park. There were also animal shows which were fascinating though not sure they would have been permitted in the west. After the six tigers had performed their leaps through hoops, the audience could have their picture taken in the cage alongside one of the tigers. There are five pandas there in a well-designed area. The pandas are unconcerned over the presence of humans and sit nonchalantly eating bamboo just over an arm’s length away. If they wanted the panda could easily swish the humans with his bamboo canes. Only the small monkeys and orang utangs were behind glass walls, which is just as well as one of the small monkeys started to throw nuts and stones at me. Guess I got my Chinese phrasing wrong again.
We had a day at the forest park on Chongming Island, a short drive from Shanghai, through a tunnel and over a bridge into the mouth of the yellow river and Huang pu estuary. This was pleasant with temperatures in the high 30Cs. We hired bikes and my daughter and I rode a tandem. Surprisingly it was easier and less funny than we thought it was going to be. As it was a week day in the summer it was very quiet, so we glided around the avenues of trees peacefully for the best part of a day. Our driver took us the scenic route back, which began to show my family the China outside of Shanghai. The man up to his neck in the river mending his nets. The elderly people sat on chairs beside the road, passing the time of day. The small village markets. The run down housing… typically what you expect in an emerging country.
We have been to see the Shanghai Circus World acrobat performers. This is a must if you ever come here. In an auditorium of about 2500 people the troupe perform some gasping stunts. There is the usual flips and leaps through leaps with people going different directions over and under each other. This is followed by flips off a see saw as people jump on the other end, including four up. The rolling pipe and balance board (x4) act, on a rocking boat, flicking bowls cups and spoons onto his head. The leader then juggled with the huge clay pots, balancing them on his head etc. Most of us would struggle to lift them. The two best acts were the couple who tied themselves to a spinning silk cloth and performed an acrobatic dance whilst flying around the arena. The finale involved motorcycles whizzing around the inside of a cage, eight of them at once, loop the loop etc. Stunning.
Last weekend we ventured further afield to Xian to see the Terracotta army and what middle china is about. It is not as well developed and not as finished as Shanghai. It is a beautiful place, with local charm and very hospitable. The Terracotta visit is a tourist trap. There were hundreds of coaches of Chinese tourists there. It is a walk through and very noisy. However it is unlike the west – it is not a rip off. Entrance is GBP 11 each, and we had a drink, ice creams in side for GBP 6 (total for three.) It is well worth a visit, when you realise how long ago it was created and how massive it is. We went for a walk into Xian from the hotel, through the bustling streets and shopping areas (my wife and daughter were with me!) Walking along chatting mind our own way, I was nearly garroted as I walked straight into a thick power cable suspended across the path. Again a problem of being tall in mainland China. We walked back through a Muslim street market, which was a buzz of young people, stalls, food outlets, smells and lights. It went on for ages and is well worth a look. Xian has three large mosques and was the start of the Silk Road and a former capital city of China. So it is natural having links to Muslim areas west of China. We also vsisted the Dayang Pagoda (Big wild Goose Pagoda), a Buddhist temple outside the huge (intact) walls of Xian. Surrounded by parks, fountains and traditional Chinese housing. This was fascinating, from the top of the pagoda you can see all the roads fan out from the Pagoda. Being Saturday many parents brought their children to play in the park, though they were bemused by the sight of three foreigners blowing and chasing bubbles around. The taxis were very cheap, GBP 1 for about 25 minutes driving across town. We left early as the typhoon warnings threatened to close down the flights.
In Shanghai we spent a brilliant but very hot day wandering around the financial district and up the Financial Centre. For once the sky was clear and the view from the 100th floor spectacular across Shanghai. We sat in the small café on the 94th floor on a sofa in the window drinking tea and eating cake, watching the world go by. There are many worse places to be and spend a quiet half an hour.
Getting older now – had another birthday recently. So I had a little party with some friends and their children. I had to have children – that’s what birthdays are for. So we had magic, pass the parcel, candles and cake. We had balloons too, and my little friends had never seen the trick of rubbing them on your head and “sticking” them to the ceiling. Hours of fun.
Finally a watch out. To help communicate with my driver and taxi drivers I have a web link on my blackberry to a site called Smart Shanghai.com. This allows you to search for various places, and when you find it, it displays the address in Chinese in big font to show to the driver. My wife and daughter wanted to go to a fake market. So I looked it up and showed the driver – he looked puzzled. So after dropping me off at work, he looked again but drove off. Apparently he drove round a bit and eventually dropped them off, after pointing at a few shops. I had miss typed the address and so he dropped them 40 minute walk from where they wanted to be. Given it has been in the 30C for the last three weeks then you can imagine the reception I got when I arrived home. The driver thought it funny as well when I explained the following day.
Well the sun has come out now storm has passed, or the breeze has dropped in English.
No comments:
Post a Comment