Shanghai 07/04/11 - 09/04/11

07/04/11 Arrive Shanghai

When I arrived in Shanghai I got the bus to yan’an Road which took about 2 hours and cost Y20. I got kicked off and had no idea which way I was heading, I didn’t help that I had printed a map showing the correct hostel but printed the name of the hostel and the directions to a hostel on the opposite side of town. Depending on if the person I asked could read or not, depending on which direction I was sent, needless to say after 2-3 hours, two taxi’s and one wrong hostel later I was happy to find the hostel I was supposed to have found after 15 minutes’ walk.

I’m staying the YHA Hikers which I just down the road from the bund so located well enough. I checked into my four bed dorm (Y40 per night) and met one of 3 girls sharing the dorm with me, she is called Linda and is from New York. We spent a while chatting and then a while sleeping before I got up to meet Johnson at 4pm (Johnson will be my travel partner in Hunan Province, I’m sure you will much of him later). After a brief chat I headed out to the bund for a little walk in the rain and around the surrounding streets. I may have mentioned this last time I posted about Shanghai but walking about the streets is my favourite part.

After my walk I came back to the hostel and met up with Linda again, we went out to eat. Linda, like Bill seems to be a lonely planet’er. We wandered around Shanghai on the metro for a while before finding the restaurant that Linda had recommended we go to, she had seen a list of the 50 best dishes in Shanghai and this was one of them. Linda bought a chocolate cupcake from a shop nearby and decided to eat it with chopsticks when her food didn’t turn up which was a bit odd, not as odd as the video of an aborted foetus she had seen and explained to me in detail while I was eating. We had a good laugh and early night as the jet leg was still taking its toll on me.

08/04/11 – Got up about 11am and started to walk. I have the worst sense of direction in the world and even though I had a little map I still managed to get lost about 2 minutes after leaving the hostel. I had a great day wandering about on my own, I got to ?? Road which seemed to have lots of people walking up and down, I got approach by 3 couples of girls altogether which I just fobbed off with a boo yow, the third set I let put the spiel on me as I’ve never had it done to me before. They started off asking about me and explaining they were students for about 10 minutes, they went into lots of details about 1 of their parent visiting and how excited they were, very committed performances. The inevitable “I am taking my friend to see the tea house show today”, I tried to make my excuses but they were having none of it. “would you like to join us, it will only be on for 20 minutes and then we can practice our English with you”. It was all very interesting but unfortunately for them I had no desire to be ripped off today.

I then wandered the back streets and eventually came across the old town (at least I think it was). In that time I saw mechanic trying to fix a scouter with a hammer, I saw the biggest toad’s I’ve ever seen (destined for someone’s plate). I had a walk about with a transvestite, I visited the Temple of God and a guy hit me repeatedly with a bunch of sticks (a taste of a massage and ironically not the most painful massage I’ve had in China). I also saw a government employed cleaner sweeping the street with a tree branch. After all the fun I managed to find my way back to the bund where I met Robert from New York, he’s family is from Shanghai so speaks fluent Chinese. We arrange to meet at the night which we did and proceeded to get drunk on beer costing between Y50-80 a drink!!

We were in a German bar walking down stairs when we were ni hao’d by two girls. Obviously they were after one thing and (not the thing we wanted to give them though), I had only that afternoon told the story of my first night in Beijing to Robert so was surprised when he fell straight into the trap and before long we were in a taxi and heading to the karaoke bar. Even after trying to warn Robert, he didn’t really seem bothered as he was on his expense account. Once in there, the beers and whiskey came out, also the fruit. The girls were getting us up singing and dancing, I could see Robert was loving it and decided to leave but not before clearing my conscience by passing him Y100 to cover my bill. I have just emailed him so will post back if he lets me know how much it cost him. Once leaving I went to McDonalds for some nuggets and the place was full of sleeping locals. I got back to the hostel to find Linda in bed and we chatted for a bit before bed.

09/04/11 – Leaving Shanghai
I woke up in the morning and checked out. Linda took me to breakfast a metro ride away. I chose the same drink as her which turned out to be full of ginseng and almost killed me, a pricy breakfast at Y100 but it sorted me out for the long journey ahead. We got a taxi back and met Johnson before spending the rest of the day on the train to Changsha.