We walked a few more blocks along a well shaded street.
There were lots of little bakeries and boutique shops along the road, as well
as a lot of bike traffic and more pedestrians. Travelling in a big group, we
weren’t quite as invisible and we were definitely starting to attract some
irritated looks from locals.
About 10 minutes down, we reach the subway. Taking the
escalator down, we found ourselves in the upper level of the station. It many
ways, it looked like the subway in Prague, with lots of little shops and food
vendors. It was however much cleaner and brightly lit, with tiled flooring and
reflective trim.
One of the girls (Natalie) had just gotten in from her
flight and had forgotten her subway pass (included in our welcome kit) at the
hotel. Sabrina bought her a temporary pass and we headed around the corner to
the trains. We had to pass by several guards and through security to get to the
train. The girls put their purses through x-ray machines while those without
bags hustled through. It was more crowded than the street upstairs, but no more
crowded than the subway in Prague.
Sabrina showed us how to rub our purple transportation cards
over the RFID sensor to activate the turnstile. Once inside, we went down
another set of escalators to the platform.
“We will go three stops to People’s Square and then change
to line 2 to go two more stops,” She said.
“What stop is this?” I asked, thinking it might be important
to know so we can get back.
“Jiasung Road,” she said.
When the train came we shuffled on. The doors were only open
for a few minutes, and when they closed, they closed. There was no sensor to
indicate whether or not people were still boarding or not, and they slammed
into Natalie as they shut.
We road the train three stops, got off, shuffled upstairs,
around several corners, and back down. In some ways, I was wishing I was alone
so that I could figure it out. Not that having the groups help wasn’t great,
but I think I learn more about the public transport when I have to figure it
out for myself than when I’m being led through it.
We went back down to another platform and got on line 2.
Riding the train two more stops, we got off again and went up. At the top the
subway was made up of a hall of mirrors. Like something out of Alice in
Wonderland, we now hurried along followed by several versions of our
reflection. After waving our transport cards over a sensor to get out of the
station, we piled into an elevator and headed up into the mall.
The mall was even cleaner than the subway station and very
modern looking. It have probably seven or eight floors, each laid out in
concentric circles with a glass elevator going up the middle. Again, I was
struck by the fact that most of the advertisements used Caucasian models, and
most of the brands were American names.
We had lunch in a restaurant on the sixth floor. A hostess
led us back to a private room where we all sat around a big table that had a
rotating glass platter in the center. The waiters brought out different dishes
to place on the platter and we rotated it around so everyone could try some of
everything.
All of it was really good. There was a seaweed salad that
tasted super clean and refreshing. These little green rolls were filled with a
green tea custard that was really sweet. Another dish were these moon shipped
pancakes that had a garlic and potatoe filling. I tried octopus, which was
really chewy, but pretty good. The roasted bamboo was spicy and crunchy. One
dish again resembled bacon, and there was again a beef and noodle dish. My
favorite was a fired pork in a really sweet brown sauce.
“What is this called?” I asked Emma, hoping I could order it
again.
“Pork,” she said. Everyone laughed. Something was lost in
translation.
When we finished eating, Sabrina came back to pick us up. We
road down the elevator in shifts to the ground level and headed back out into
the humidity for the day. Heading towards the main office for the recruiting
center, we had to cross a lot of streets. Every time, it was terrifying, but I
realized that if you didn’t make eye contact with the drivers, they would
generally stop for you (after honking a few times.) Once eye contact was made,
they knew you saw them and there was no hope.
The pollution in the air was tangible. “I heard that living in
Shanghai is like smoking a pack a day,” one of the girls said.
“I think it is true,” Sabrina said as she led us along like
little ducklings.
At times, we weren’t just jaywalking, we were walking up the
street through traffic on wrong side of the road. The honking continued as
people bobbed and weaved around us.
“Speaking of pollution,” I said as we crossed a bridge. This
time I was referring to the murky green water below. Trash and debris floated
under along with what looked like a cartoon radioactive stream.
In a few moments, we reached Sabrina’s office and met her
supervisor Virginia. Virginia was from Indonesia but had lived in China most of
her life. She led us through a PowerPoint presentation on culture shock and
talked a lot about safety in Shanghai.
“Shanghai is rated one of the safest cities in the world,”
she said. “You can walk around at 2:00 in the morning and no one will bother
you. But I hope you will not do this because it is more fun to travel with
people.”
Most of the presentation was review. We did talk a lot about
American stereotypes (the most common one in China appears to be that all
Americans are fat) as well as some Chinese stereotypes.
“I think my biggest stereotype of China is that it is loud,
crowded, and chaotic,” I said. “I’ve been surprised that this isn’t true.”
Virginia raised her eyebrows. “You have not been in the
right part of Shanghai,” she said. “It is definitely true, but you will see
crowded can be fun.”
As a refreshment they served milk tea. It was really sweet
and really good—kind of like an iced chai tea, but with more of a milk flavor
to it. I don’t know if I just liked it or if I was just thirsty but I drank two
full glasses in about 4 minutes.
Virginia also gave us the access for our VPNs, as well as
advice on clubs, massage parlors, online shopping, and some resources to
navigate Shanghai. When we were done, we took a group photo and followed
Sabrina back down to the street level.
We again wove through side streets and against traffic. I
noticed a lot of the shops around us were selling either lumbar or sheet metal.
The architecture was also getting more grand and very European in style.
Our next stop was a little cell phone booth in town where we
got our simcards activated by an elderly Chinese lady at her cart. I debated
rather or not to use my iPhone or buy a new phone. Natalie pointed out that if
I used my iPhone, I wouldn’t be able to use the same iMessage or Viber account
to call home over wi-fi. I decided to buy a new phone to use in China.
While we were all standing around chatting, an older man
carrying a small spinning display with bright read tassels on it came buy trying
to sell us one of his treasures. I avoided making eye contact, but some of my
fellow travelers were not so lucky. Once they enthusiastically indicated that
they were not going to make a purchase, he moved on.
“Brenda,” I said, talking to one of the girls whose grandmother
was from Shanghai. “How do I say, ‘I don’t speak Chinese.”
The said it very quickly. “I need that a bit slower,” I
said. She broke it down for me and I tried it.
“That is very good!” She said.
“Really?” I asked.
“Yes!”
“How was my pronunciation?”
“Good!”
I tried it a few more times, afraid that if I stopped saying
it, I would forget (which turned out to be true by the time I am writing this
post.) I have to say the pronunciation is so odd to my mouth and throat. It
feels like I am chocking when I try forming the words.
Everyone was satisfied with their simcards so Sabrina’s
colleague led them back to the apartment building. Sabrina took Dayana,
Natalie, and I to a cheap cell phone shop to buy phones. She ordered phones for
us that cost 200RMB (about 35USD) and got them working on our simcards.
“It is a good international phone,” she said. “If you travel
more, you can pop different simcards in and out and it will work most places.”
We were surprised that iPhones were about 4200RMB (700USD.)
“Most Apple products are cheaper in US,” Sabrina said. That
is where most people order them from.
Sabrina led us to the subway but said that she had to run
home so we would have to navigate it on our own. She took us down the escalator
and attempted to buy Natalie another ticket. When the machine ate her money,
she got into a very perisistent fight with the man working the booth. He
eventually returned her money and she bought a ticket from a different machine.
Leading us back to escalator, I was shocked at how massive
the station was. It really looked more like a mall than a subway station, with
clothing stores, souvenir shops, and even hair salons, all under the streets
of Shanghai.
When we got to the turnstiles, Sabrina left us. “it is just
three stops,” She told us, “on line two. Then take exit 4.”
We thanked her and headed inside.
The crowd we were travelling with now was the crowd I’d
expected. Pressed up against a billion of our closest friends, we shuffled
along through security and down the escalator. At the platform, I looked at the
sign. I saw Jiansung road on the right so I turned to the right side of the
platform.
“How do you know?” Dayana said.
“I don’t,” I said. “But I have a good feeling.” I was just going
off of how the signs worked in the Subway system in Prague.
When the train came, we were slammed on board along with
everyone else. Our bodies were in constant contact with everyone around us, and
there was barely space to breath. Breathing probably wasn’t a desirable option
anyway, as the whole thing kind of smelled like body odor.
But in an odd and kind of stressful way, it was so much fun!
When the train started moving, no one lurched at all. We
were packed so tightly, there wasn’t room to shift or fall. At the first stop,
as people got off, we adjusted until more people got on to fill their space. I
wound up pinned between a businessman, and one of the hand poles, not able to
move much in either direction.
At stop two, people shifted again until we were repacked on
board. I tried to watch how the exchange went (how did people indicate they wanted
to get off) but I was a little too occupied with keeping track of my pockets—specifically
my new phone—to really notice.
As we approached stop three—which should be our stop—I saw a
man starting to tap people and move towards the door. I started doing the same
and people got out of my way. Dayana did it too and it worked for her. Natalie
followed in my trail. When the doors opened, we got out. Sure enough it was our
stop!
One direction of the platform was a dead end. I turned the
other way and started shuffling along with the crowd. At the top of the escalator,
there was a big 4 over an exit. Unfortunately, there was a railing between us
and that exit, so we kept shuffling along with the group. When we got to exit
6, I saw a turnstile to get out.
“Are you sure we can go that way?” Dayana asked.
“No,” I said.
“But I can’t get back in if it doesn’t work,” Natalie said
holding her temporary ticket.
“Worst case scenario, it becomes a longer walk then,” I
said.
The girls looked at each other and shrugged. “Trust me,” I
said. “I have a good feeling.”
We went through the turnstile and up the escalator.
“There's exit four,” Natalie said, pointing across the
street.
“Awesome!” I said. “So if we had come up there, we would
have turned right, so we just need to get across the street…” that was the
scary part…”and then go that way.”
“How do you know that?” Dayana asked.
“I don’t,” I said.
“But you have a good feeling?”
I smiled. “Yep!”
We crossed the street, which in fact was becoming a much
less frightening experience. Nothing
really looked familiar, but to use my own words, it felt right. After walking a
few blocks, it turned out it was right…there was the bridge to cross the busy
intersection. Off the left, we could see our building.
There was barely enough time to drop off our things in our
rooms before racing back downstairs to join the group for dinner. A guy from New
Zealand joined us for the evening. His name was Cam and he was in town to take
three months of intensive Chinese language courses. Sabrina welcomed him into
our group after he talked about being alone in his room all day.
Dinner was at a restaurant just a block or two away, down by
the tea shop we’d been in earlier. We again had a private room on the third
floor of the restaurant. The chairs were covered in red silk and there was hot
tea when we sat down. This food was traditional from Northern China and it was
by far the most recognizable of the trip. There was sweet and sour pork,
dumplings, and spicy fried chicken. It was all familiar tasting, but all so
much better than anything I’d had in the US.
There were a few dishes I didn’t recognize.
One was sort of a jelly which didn’t taste that good. Sabrina thought it was
made from either rice or potatoes, but I’m not sure I’d eat it again. There was
also a lamb dish, and it was pretty good.
“I’ve never eaten so much meat,” Dayana
said. This is going to be the unofficial Atkins diet I think.
While we were eating, a woman
wearing a red silk dress came in to preform for us. She sang some sort of Chinese
chant and juggled while we clapped our hands and laughed along.
After we finished eating, we went back to the
hotel. Cam came over to our room while Nate went to someone elses room.
“You have an awesome view,” he
said.
“We do,” I said. “But the real
awesome view is upstairs.”
I took him to the elevator and we
road it back up to the penthouse. I had my camera in hand so I asked the
hostess if we could take photos. She nodded and motioned to the patio.
“Wow, that is an awesome view,” Cam
said.
Just a few minutes later, Ally and
Natalie came out with a bottle of wine and four glasses. “You guys want to join
us?” they asked. We said sure.
Sitting around a table, we each
poured a glass of wine. I poured just a mouthful into my glass, but it tasted
pretty good. It was some sort of Chinese rice wine (Nate taught us that while
Sake is a rice wine it is not the only variety.) I liked it, so I poured more
into my glass.
Soon after, everyone came to join
us. We sat around for about half an hour enjoying the view and telling stories.
I couldn’t stop staring at the view, it was just awesome.
In the end, I didn’t actually finish
my entire glass of wine. A few sips was enough. I said good night to everyone
and headed to bed. Natalie followed me and went to her room. Within a few
minutes, it sounded like everyone else went to sleep too.
Once I got logged into my VPN and
saw that I could access Facebook, I checked my blog. It was still locked, so I
texted a friend back home to see if he could get onto Google’s server to change
my settings.
I took a shower. Nate was already
asleep (after thankfully warming up the hot water again.) It felt good to get
clean and I was so tired. In fact, I was exhausted and I actually fell asleep
sitting on bed with my towel still around my waist. 
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