Discovering Shanghai

Sunday was our “Shanghai Orientation” day. To get us started, we made a stop by the hotel giftshop to purchase the Lonely Planet Shanghai book. We have to say this is the best Lonely Planet book we’ve ever seen, and definitely more useful than the Shanghai Frommers book that was forgotten at home. Tom (my new boss) arranged for Stone, his driver, to take us around today. He is THE BEST driver in all of China. Qualifications: perfect English, great tour guide, excellent food orderer, Mandarin teacher, and a big gossip. The day started at the Bund, the financial district along the Yangtze river. The river divides Pudong (east) and Puxi (west) side of Shanghai. The highlights were the Pearl TV tower (a gigantic pink tripod with a pearl on the top), construction of the world’s tallest building, and a mix of collonial-style buildings which reflect the port city’s foreign influence over the centuries. Parking for ~2 hours in the prime location: $1.25. Gotta love Shanghai parking costs! Next stop: Old Town in the city center. This area reminded us of an old Japanese style country village – large wooden buildings with ornate rooftops. The surrounding market was crowded with shoppers. We learned an important phrase in the market here: bu yao (“not interested in your cheaper, cheaper rolex watches”). There was a long line outside the best dumpling place in town for take-out. We didn’t have patience to wait, but peeked in the window to see the dozens of workers hand making dumplings. It looked like people had been feeding the koi in the pond outside – they were perhaps the fattest we’ve ever seen. The area also boasts a Ming-style garden from the 1500s. It was gorgeous – and surprisingly large and complex. Yes, we got lost! On to the People’s Square for a short stop. Need to come back in the future, as it appears to be the equivalent of San Diego’s Balboa Park with museums, green lawns, and lots of flowers. We continued on to the French Concession part of town. There were a lot of “concessions” by the Chinese in their history – but no one seems to remember why (hint: anything for opium). We really liked the tree-lined streets, 1930s style buildings, and the fact that Shanghai Tang (our favorite store) was next to Ye Shanghai (yummy restaurant). We stopped by “Richgate” – a beautiful apartment building which looks as pretenious as its name. A mere $10-12k/mth for a 300 square meter flat. Not sure that’s in our budget. We departed French Concession for our first Shanghai meal in the People’s Square area. Our driver/guide/menu expert ordered an assortment of fabulous Shanghai food including pepper pickled veggies, crab and tofu, sweet & sour whole fish, another tofu mushroom dish, peppered pork, and a few other samplings. Total cost: $25. Final stop was an English bookstore. We both picked up flash cards and books. By the end of the evening, Karl had already learned to read 15 Chinese characters and say 7 Chinese words. We returned to the hotel for a 90minute tuina traditional chinese massage – much needed after our long adventure the day before. For dinner, we met up with Michael and Lilly, who studied and worked in the US before returning to Shanghai ~3 years ago. Michael runs the engineering and product development team that I’m inheriting. We went for spicy sichuan food, but soon realized no one has a spicier taste for food than Karl. By 10pm, we were back home at the Renaissance Yangtze, room 2611. I passed out due to jetlag approximately 26 seconds later. All in all, a good first day.