Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 12:34 PM
Subject: Day 9-10 - Sunday & Monday
I am combining the last two days into one email, mostly to save time
I spent the majority of both Sunday and Monday exploring Shanghai. It is a great city to walk around – no real violent crime issues to be concerned with but you should nonetheless be cautious as you would anywhere. It is also helpful to read up on the local scams ahead of time. In Shanghai, you need to watch out for the “tea ceremony”. I read about this on line; a tourist is approached by 2-3 young people, usually a guy and 1-2 girls. They strike up a conversation, and after building some rapport they explain that they are on their way to a traditional tea ceremony and invite the tourist along. I am not sure how this scam ends but I imagine it involves separating the sucker from his money in one way or another. I have a pretty good radar for scams and I would never accept such an offer, but while walking through Peoples Park in central Shanghai a group of three young adults, 1 guy and 2 girls started talking to me, asked where I was from, and after a minute or so, invited me to go with them to the ceremony. I politely declined the offer and went on my way.
 |
| People's Park |
One curious note, There are almost no bars in Shanghai. Even the hotels don’t have them. They have a lounge where you can sit and enjoy a cocktail or a beer, but not an actual bar with barstools. I did manage to run across one, “The House of Blues and Jazz” – not affiliated with the “House of Blues” chain seen elsewhere. This was just a local dive which has live music nightly, mostly American jazz or blues groups. Kevin and I went there on our last night before returning home. They have an actual bar, Guinness on tap, and played videos of jazz musicians from the 30’s and 40’s when the band was not playing. These videos were short films that I suspect played in theaters along with news reels and cartoons before the feature film began, as was the practice before television. Artists in these videos included Fats Waller, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, etc… The band came on at 9:30 PM. I can see why they were headlining in Shanghai – they wouldn’t stand a chance back home.
 |
| Shanghai |
Shanghai is most impressive at night. This city has more skyscrapers than anywhere in the world, most of them less than 20 years old so they do not feature the minimalist style so popular in America during our big building boom of the 60’s and 70’s, and most have some LED lighting built in to the exterior. These lights come on at sunset and create a really impressive display.
 |
| Shanghai at night |
On Monday night, Kevin and I walked way off the beaten path, going through back streets and alleys (only the well lit and crowded ones) and found a great restaurant where they spoke no English but had some English subtitles on their menu. I strongly doubt many westerners venture into this place, but I am glad we did. We kept the dinner selection pretty conservative, although I did insist on ordering one new item which turned out to be “spicy bullfrog” – highly recommended. After a few trips here, I have really learned to enjoy the different foods (most of them anyway – pig ears are just nasty) and I have learned you can get by in the restaurants in China without speaking the language – just make sure you have enough cash on hand…
I’m afraid that is all for this trip. I have attached one of my favorite pictures from this trip – anyone want to hire this electrician?
I am not sure when I will be returning; probably not until spring or summer at the earliest. Until then, does anyone have recipe for Cantonese-style fish lips?
No comments:
Post a Comment