June 2, Shanghai - A Day Trip

Phil (Chris’ old boss) and his wife picked us up at the hotel at 9:30 AM. We drove about an hour due west (away from the river and water – while it looks on a map as if Shanghai is on a river just miles from feeding into the sea, it’s actually sort of like Baltimore, where some of the city is on the water, but most of the development is not anywhere near the water.)

Anyway, we drove to a very old village (about 750 years in many places) that had been preserved, much like Eze in southern France, as it had been then. People still live in the city – in very primitive dwellings. See below:



This was much like the homes of those living in the villages in the countryside that we had passed on our way out to the Great Wall.

Anyway, it was a great day trip. We walked through the old town’s narrow streets and markets, selling everything from modern goods to local jewelry to food that had to me the scent and appeal of, ahem, s**t. See below:


The old town was split in two by a canal – this canal was actually used to shoot the scene in China in Mission Impossible III for those of you that have seen the film – with several bridges, some nearly 200 years old – spanning the canal.:

We stopped in a restaurant located in a section of the narrow street-market. It had a second floor overlooking the canal, as you can see here (I took this picture from the ground looking up):


As with dinner the previous night, Phil’s wife handled the ordering of food for the table. We started with fried rice and vegetables and tea, and then moved onto more adventurous foods: bean curd and mushrooms in a sweet sauce, lotus root in a molasses-like sauce, a local cooked pork dish, the broth and meat-filled dumplings from our first day in Shanghai, and perhaps most spectacularly, a chicken broth that included a whole chicken – raised right on site in the area. It was incredibly fresh, and the broth was absolutely one of the best soups I have ever had – and as some of you know, I love soup. Here’s a picture from lunch:



What was most interesting is that Phil’s wife went right for the chicken’s foot when the dish was served. Phil explained that it is considered one of the best parts of the chicken once cooked, and that, interestingly enough, the US exports to China most of the chicken feet it consumes, as they are usually discarded in the preparation of poultry in the states.

This time, Chris and Alex and I paid for lunch – for all of the food and several pots of tea, the bill was 300 yuan (less than 40 dollars) for all 5 of us to eat local delicacies and enjoy the breeze and views of the old town. Shanghai’s weather has been more temperate than in Beijing (although it has rained in the evenings), but Phil said that in 2 weeks, the hot season will begin and it will be over 90 and humid for 2 straight months. It seems our timing was opportune.

After lunch, we rented a small boat that was paddled by a local man, and took in the views along the canal. Here’s a photo or two:


We headed back to the city around 2 PM or so, arriving about 3:30. We stopped at a market for a little bit and poked around for a t-shirt or two. Chris bought a belt. We then set off on a quest for a good tea shop – Alex and I had enjoyed the green tea at lunch that day and were going to purchase some to bring back. Chris had been to a good place near his old office with sit-down service and an explanation, and thus we decided to hike it up to this district, which was about a 35-minute walk from the Nanjing Road area where we had been.

We walked through vegetable markets, tech areas selling stereos and cell phones, and a small bird market where ducks were being processed in the open street. Don’t worry – we kept our distance, and there was actually gov’t monitoring of the situation, which was comforting.

We finally made it to the hotel containing the tea shop. Our legs tired from a day of walking and a 35-minute hike had us excited and ready for the experience. But it was not to be. Not only had the stores in the hotel closed (it was almost 6 PM), but the tea shop had been replaced by a conference room. (In Chris’ defense, it looked like a nice conference room.). It’s just one more example of Shanghai is changing – as we take the elevator up to the 14th floor of our hotel, our vista is of high rises melting into a district marked by a square mile of what we called “hooverville” shanties. In 5 years, someone taking the same ride won’t see a single building there that is not a high-rise. It’s amazing to consider, even if it takes a closed tea shop to poorly illustrate the point.

We headed to a local pub for dinner (food was average) and then briefly met up with a few of the girls at a karaoke bar. It was getting late, and I was tiring of singing in English and listening in Chinese, so we gave up and headed home to get some rest. It had been, after all, quite a day!

Tomorrow will be quite an adventure - we're taking the world's fastest train to the airport for our trip to Shanghai. Tomorrow will also feature a guest writer - Alex is going to author tomorrow's post. More soon!

Mike