Day 1
I left for Shanghai bright and early, though my flight was delayed an hour . Little did I know at the time, that this was the beginning of a transportation theme (worry not, gentle reader, it shall emerge in its own time). I managed to collect my bag and call Olga, my friend from EV (who originally hails from St. Peters burg) , to let her know that I was on the way. Olga lives in Suzhou (soo-joe), a town about 40 miles from Shanghai, and I was told to take the bus and that it would take a while --maybe 3 hours. I found the random bus stop without any trouble and was soon on my way. After the bus made it's first stop, I found myself next to a young Chinese woman who greeted me in excellent English. We talked at length about life and Chinese and American culture. She had lots of questions for me about the accuracy of the portrayal of high school students in American films. I learned that she was from Southern China , that her dream was to travel the world, that she hated Chinese traffic and that she was visiting Suzhou to get away after a breakup that had occurred a few days before. She taught me how to pronounce Olga's address so that the cab driver would understand me. We never exchanged names, and she got off at the stop before mine.
Right as I exited the bus, a man came up to me , showed me some car keys and said, "tak-uh-see?" "Great!" I thought. He was unable to understand the address I gave him, so he took me into the bus station, where they were able to read the pinyin (Chinese transliteration) that I had written. The man then led me to a car that was, in fact, not a taxi. He had some official-looking stickers in the window, so I thought "what the hell" and got into the car. Everything was going well, until we were apparently hit by another car. The impact, mind you, was not big enough for me to feel anything, but my driver rolled down his window to yell at the offending automobile. When chance found us once again stuck next to the offending vehicle in traffic, my driver put his car into park, got out and knocked on the window of the other vehicle while shouting. He then went around to the driver's side and continued his knocking and yelling. It was at this point that I figured it would probably be a good idea to grab my things and run like crazy. However, for some reason, I did not. My driver kicked the other car as it drove off, and then got back into his vehicle, where I sat frozen in terror, and he drove on. I spent the remainder of the ride determining that I would definitely give him however much money he asked for and trying to devise a way to get money out of my wallet without allowing him to see where I kept it. Needless to say I was surprised when he pulled over next to a building and pointed. I gave him a bill which he accepted meekly before pausing to examine the damage to his car. I later learned that I had paid him twice the amount the ride usually costs, but hell $4 to not get kicked in the face is a price I am happily willing to pay. After a little wandering, I found my way to Olga's building and she buzzed me up and greeted me warmly.
I was immediately accosted by Ricky Ricardo Rodriguez Gonzalez Lopez, also known as The Cat of Doom. You know how some cats are really cuddly and some cats are more aloof and then some cats wait under the furniture so that they can attack you for no good reason? Well, Ricky belongs to that third class of vindictive, aggressive cat. I have scabs to prove as much.Olga and I caught up over a bowl of delicious yellow curry and then went back to her place...
Where I was able to share some drinks with some of her friends and roommates. They were all funny, friendly and welcoming. Also, I met the first Finnish person I've ever known (he's on the left)!Day 2
The following morning I set off on my task to get us tickets for the bullet train for that evening (sold out :( a common occurrence, as I would later learn). I then headed for the old part of Suzhou for some exploring. Suzhou is one of the only cities that was not destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. I started off looking for an opera museum where there were rumored to be early afternoon performances of a specific traditional type of music called Pingtan. As it turns out, I never found the museum...
But I did find some really neat, twisting alleyways...
And canals!
Much of Suzhou is very modern, so it was like stepping into another world.
I found something inexplicably very beautiful in the many run-down, small structures as I walked along, getting honked at by bikes and mopeds.
Here I am, keeping warm in my fuzzy hat.
On Olga's recommendation, I tried some cucumber-flavored potato chips. They were delicious (enough so that I brought some back to Korea)!After about 2 hours, I had given up on the opera museum and was ready to take a break inside for a bit, so I headed for the Suzhou Museum. The museum is built around a restored palace.
Here is one of the palace doorways. It was somewhat maze-like with many rooms separated by courtyards and was thus lots of fun to explore.
The museum housed some really nice artifacts and a bit of modern art as well. I was suitably impressed. Above is the beautiful museum garden with part of the building in the background.When I'd seen pretty much everything in the museum, I headed for the Humble Administrator's garden, which came highly recommended and was very close by.
This photo, from the garden, is dedicated to anyone who knows anything about chemistry.
Here's a nice view of a bit of the garden. It was really lovely.
Photos don't really do it justice, and I can only imagine what it looks like in spring and summer when things are green and flowering.After the garden, I decided I'd better head back, as I'd promised Olga I'd meet her at 5:45 so that we could get to Shanghai for a party. Unfortunately, it was IMPOSSIBLE to get a cab. I tried for almost an hour with no luck. It is also worth noting that drivers in China are INSANE. I thought Barcelona was bad and was sure that it did not get any worse than Korea. Let me tell you, China takes the cake. People just basically drive and turn when and wherever they want, constantly narrowly avoiding killing each other. Anyhow, just as I was reaching the depths of despair, a man with a rickshaw that was being pulled by his motorbike approached me and convinced me to let him take me. I warned him that it was very far and we agreed on a price of about $4 U.S.
Above is my driver. We set off, weaving in and out of traffic, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with a VW bus. Sometimes the driver used the lane for bikes and mopeds, sometimes he used the normal, car-congested road. At intervals he would pull over and ask people how to get to Olga's street. After a while, he started saying "oh, long-long." Sadly, I did not know how to say "I told you so" in Mandarin.I made it to Olga's late, and we decided to try for train tickets (standing room) once more. Our mission failed sadly, and we were on the way to the bus station when we found a cab that would take us to Shanghai for quite a bargain. Another cab, a subway ride and bus ride later, we made it to Olga's friend Vivid's apartment for a Wii party. "But Alena," you say "You can play Wii at home in the village." True, I tell you, but can I meet a group of interesting new people from many different (not just English-speaking) countries and secure a free place to stay in Shanghai while doing so? No indeed.
The party was lots of fun. I played bowling, carnival and foot race and ate yummy Chinese food. One of the highlights was watching other people play the racing game. The photo above doesn't really do it justice. Everyone basically makes faces and flails for about a minute at a time.
I got to meet and talk to Vivid, who is from Indonesia/Australia and her boyfriend Regis who is French. Vivid runs a company that makes websites for movies, including their online games. Olga and I stayed over in their spacious guest room. Here is the view from their apartment near Shanghai's French Concession. Urban jungle, yes?Day 3
The next day we mostly bummed around a bit, and then went for a late lunch at a delicious creperie. Here I am with Olga, post gluttony parade.We then took the train back to Suzhou for another party, this time with some of Olga's work friends.
When we got back to the station (the ride took all of 30 minutes, score!) there were no cabs to be found anywhere. We waited for a cab for over an hour, and then just as we were nearing the front of the line, we saw a bus that we could take and ran for it. We then sat in an awful traffic jam for a while. We were finally moving along steadily when our bus hit a person on a bike. Yes, our bus hit a person. We had to wait while things were cleared up, and were about to run for a cab when the bus driver came back to the bus, scolded us for getting off (at least I imagine that is what he was yelling to us about) and drove on. We made it to our stop and eventually found a cab that took us to the wrong subdivision. At long last, we made it on foot to Olga's friend Diego's house.
We were greeted by Olga's roommate, Andrea, who immediately started grilling up some "chips" for us to eat in honor of Australia Day (she's an Aussie, you see).
This party was also full of cool people from all over the globe. I talked to a Mexican guy who works importing tequila and got danced at with a feather duster by a lovely Russian lady.
Diego (who is from Brazil) plays guitar well, so much music and joviality ensued (sing-a-longs are my favorite). Olga checked out early for the night, and I decided to go home when everyone else left for a local bar, because I was afraid that I would never remember the address if I didn't go then. When I left, everything was covered in snow (very unusual for this part of China).Day 4
This day shall henceforth be known as the DAY OF DOOM. It was so bad, in fact, that there are no pictures.
Things started out okay. The plan was for me to take the 1:10pm train to Shanghai, for which I already had a ticket, and do some sight-seeing. Vivid and Regis had invited me to stay with them again, so all I had to do was take the train in and hop over to their place to drop off my things. I packed everything up, said goodbye to Olga, and headed out with plenty of time. Unfortunately, there was a very bad traffic jam on the way to the train station. I as the hour of my departure drew near, I ended up leaving the cab and following the nearby throngs of pedestrians to--somewhere. As I rounded the crest of a hill, I saw a train yard, and began to run. I ran down the hill, through a huge puddle of slush, dodging bicycles and soaking my boots and feet. I had two minutes until my train was set to leave, when I realized, with great frustration, that I was in the bus station.
I figured that I could take a bus to Shanghai, but after waiting in line, the lady at the ticket counter said that there were no tickets, or maybe no buses. In any event, it seemed I was up a creek. I contemplated just going back to Olga's but then thought I would see what was in the other direction. I walked through more slushy cess pools of filth until I came to the train station. There were no train tickets available until 9:30pm, but I found a cab there that was going to Shanghai (with three other random passengers) for a reasonable price, and decided, since my previous experience of "cabbing it to Shanghai" had been good that I'd take it. This experience, however, was the antithesis of good. The driver took roads instead of the freeway, so the ride took almost four hours. To make matters worse, my feet(as I mentioned) were soaked, and the driver kept the windows cracked to keep the windshield from fogging over in the snow.
The driver dropped us off somewhere random near one of the airports and I had to hail another cab to the train station. At this point I wanted to cry because I had no idea where I was or how long things would take and I really had to pee. About 30 min. later I arrived at the train station and felt incredibly relieved to be in familiar territory. In another 30 min. or so, I was at Vivid and Regis' apartment. It was 6:45pm. I took a shower and then went out to eat with them and some of their friends at an awesome gallery/Thai restaurant. It was the kind of dinner that lasts 3 hours, only you don't realize it because the conversation is so good. It was a good end to a very, very rough day.
Day 5
I arose early the next morning, so as to take in as much Shanghai sight-seeing as possible before catching my plane back.
Sadly, it was not the best day for sight-seeing, as the snow continued to fall and it was very cold. My first destination was the Propaganda Poster Art Centre. This little gallery came highly recommended to me by a friend, and is just the sort of thing that's right up my alley. As it turned out, it was rather literally up an alley and was very hard to find...
Here is the entrance, to give you an idea. The gallery is located in the basement of a normal apartment building. It is small, but houses tons of original propaganda posters from China, created and distributed in the years 1945-1979. I really think these posters shed a fascinating light on the Chinese culture, thought and milieu of that time period. The best part? You can actually BUY original propaganda posters at the centre, and many of them are very cheap. It was a total find.
After my propaganda viewing, I grabbed some lunch and headed for the Bund, where there remains much old western architecture, left over from Shanghai's history as a crazy international port-town. Here's a view of East Nanjing Road, a popular area for shopping.
Here are a couple of the buildings of the Bund.
Sadly, the weather was not great for pictures, but I enjoyed my walk, nonetheless.I then did a bit of window shopping and, when my feet got tired, headed to the MagLev train station where I would take a train to the airport.
MagLev stands for magnetic levitation. Basically, this train uses a magnetic field rather than wheels.
As you can see, it reaches some pretty high speeds. I made it to the airport in good time, only to have my flight delayed due to weather, for what ended up being 3.5 hours. Ugh. Luckily I made a new Chinese friend on the plane, who had never been to Korea. We talked about Shanghai and I told her about Seoul and taught her how to say "hello," and "thanks," and to count in Korean.In spite of all of the transportation woes, the trip was amazing. Shanghai is a very interesting city from what I saw, and though I wish I'd had more time there, I'm incredibly glad to have visited. Suzhou was like nothing I'd ever seen. The trip was relaxed when I wanted it to be, and while sometimes stressful, I think it gave me a better feel for life in China than it would have, had things been different. And that is what I tend to strive for when I travel, some kind of idea of what the life and people are like in a country.
Chinese people are so vivacious and kind and and yet so loud and tough. It really seems like they don't take life or themselves too seriously. Being in China reminded me a little of living in Germany, since I was constantly surrounded by people from so many different countries with different mother tongues. The whole experience wreaked of cosmopolitanism, and that is something that I missed here in Korea, without really noticing that I was missing it. I had a good adventure and hope to be able to visit again someday (perhaps with a jaunt to Beijing and the wall next time). For now I bid ziajian to China and say a quick xiexie to Olga and her friends.
