Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 9:41 AM
Subject: Day 5
It never seems to stop raining, at least while I am here anyway. This is supposed to be the dry season in southern China but I could not testify to that. We had to check out at 6:30 AM to catch a taxi for the Shenzhen airport. One last breakfast in the hotel buffet – not the best I’ve had. I did manage to avoid the pickled seaweed this year.
Interesting note, the hotel is decorated for Christmas. The small army of girls who man the restaurant are all dressed in tiny Ms. Claus outfits (oddly sexy I must admit). There is a large Christmas tree in the lobby and other decorations throughout. Hong Kong was also heavily decorated – more understandable there with the British colonial heritage, but I don’t get the over the top Christmas stuff in what is a largely non-Christian country. Probably just more consumerism creeping in.
The Shenzhen airport looks to be fairly new but is dirty and overcrowded; probably understandable in light of the growth of this city. 25 years age this was a small fishing village until the Chinese government decided to establish their first Special Economic Zone here where outside companies could invest, giving China much needed foreign currency and starting their road to economic development. Today Shenzhen has a population of over 4 million and growing. Imagine the Twin Cities and all surrounding counties being built from nothing but prairie starting in 1985. No city in the history of the world has ever grown so fast – none even come close. The city has outgrown its airport – they should probably just keep building...
We arrived in Shanghai via Shenzhen airlines around 10:30 AM. Shanghai, a city of 18 million had two airports: Pu Dong International – a large and modern facility; and Hongqiao International – much older and also outgrown. Our plane parked on the tarmac and stairs led us to shuttle busses which took us to the terminal. There appeared to be more than a dozen planes unloading in the same manner – I guess they have more flights than gates. Everything moved very slowly
We had a driver from our office in Shanghai drive us to Larry’s apartment where we were to get his car. The air pollution in Shanghai has not improved since my last visit. After about 30 minutes of sitting in stop and go traffic, looking around seeing thick smog in all directions (visibility maybe 2 miles), I leaned to Kevin and said “Have you figured out yet that this is not fog?” He looked at me strangely and then looked outside at the haze – His eyes opened wider. “Are you serious?”, he said. “Just keep looking, fog usually burns off when the sun comes up”. It didn’t take him long to realize I was right.
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| That isn't fog! |
Larry’s apartment is on the fifth floor of an apartment building which looks like most every other apartment building in this part of Shanghai, far from the city center. In fact, this neighborhood is row after row of 6 story buildings as far as you can see. The building has around 50 units and no elevator. The apartment, typical of middle class Shanghaiese has 2 bedrooms, one bath with washing machine, a very small kitchen and a living room. Larry lives here with his wife and daughter. I imagine the whole unit is probably 700 square feet. According to Larry, current market price is close to $200K US. The majority of apartments in this city appear to be much smaller and shabbier. His place was far from pristine, but it was clean and livable. Many buildings in Shanghai look like absolute tenements.
I know I have written about Chinese drivers before, but after watching them again and again, I am beginning to at least comprehend slightly their rules.
o Rule #1 – The solid yellow line that divides oncoming lanes in a no passing zone indicates you should cross into the oncoming lanes and floor it
o Rule #2 – the dashed white line, presumably to divide lanes on the expressways mean nothing whatsoever – not sure why they bother painting them. All drivers appear to ignore them and simply aim their cars, trucks, buses, or scooters toward whatever void in the traffic may appear ahead, regardless of whether their vehicle will even fit in said space
o You should drive your vehicle with complete disregard for everything around you except for bicycles – they always have the right of way. The government will punish you severely for hurting a bicyclist – even if you are not technically at fault.
Still working on the rest of the rules
Kevin and I were on our own for dinner, and after walking the neighborhood around the hotel we decided on a Japanese place called Ichibanya. The food was good – typical Japanese steakhouse with the food cooked in front of you. We had several dishes and some sake. Toward the end, the hostess came over and said, with some difficulty “Shoop?” Kevin and I looked at each other puzzled. She composed herself, and said again with much determination “Shoop?” We gave her the universal shrug which says “I have no idea what the #&( you are talking about”, at which point she left and returned with an empty bowl, pointed to it and said “Shoop?” Then it dawned on us, soup! She was offering us some soup. We explained she was pronouncing it incorrectly and after 6-8 tries with our expert instruction helping, she was correctly pronouncing soup, maybe for good. Our work here was done.
Tomorrow we travel to Wuxi, about 90 miles inland from Shanghai.
Preview for day 6 – I add yet another chapter in the weird and somewhat disgusting food saga that is my China trip
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