Schell of a Man

We arrived in Shanghai around 4:30 in the afternoon after a two-and-a-half hour bus ride. There isn't much countryside between Shaoxing and Shanghai. There are just a few more streams and rice paddies but still plenty of buildings. After leaving the bus, we made a short hike to the Shanghai train station where we caught the metro into the center of the city. There were tons of people everywhere. I've been to a few large cities but I have never experienced such a mass of humanity. It was crazy. We slowly made our way to the Bund, the European riverfront. It was amazing, 15 million people and every single one of them a slow walker.

We finally made it to Captain's Hostel, which was highly recommended by our guidebooks, but discovered they didn't have any rooms or beds open. It wasn't a surprise; after all, we were just showing up on one of the busiest weekends of the year. So we broke out our books again and started calling hotels. Pretty much everything was booked. We finally found a room at the Education Hotel with a single bed for 380 RMB a night, which we could have if we could get there in an hour (we were in the Bund and it was in the French Concession, a bit of a hike but do-able). We stopped on the way to pick up Krissy's friends who were staying in another hotel, then hopped back onto the metro. After getting slightly lost, we found the hotel and checked in. It ended up costing 480 RMB because they put another bed in the room. We tried to explain that it wasn't necessary, but because Krissy was staying with us they insisted. It worked out well enough, we had three beds in the room, which was much better than just one.

We were pretty tired after all the travel and walking around, but we set out regardless in search of the Badlands, a fabled Mexican restaurant. After twenty minutes or so we found it, but it wasn't much more than a bar with really expensive nachos so we decided to keep moving. We finally settled on a place where we could get club sandwiches, which hit the spot after the long day. We then walked to a bar and had a drink but nobody had much motivation to do more than that. So we said goodbye to Krissy's friends and headed back to the hotel, stopping to pick up a very cheap bottle of wine. We stayed up for a couple of hours in the hotel watching the Chinese version of MTV. The wine wasn't worth drinking but we each had a glass nonetheless. Watching the music videos, drinking the bad wine, and joking around with Krissy and Howie that night was probably the most fun I had in Shanghai. Those two are good travel companions.

The next morning we needed to find a pay phone to start calling other hotels to see if we could get a better deal on rooms. But it was raining, and we didn't have any rain gear. So I ran down the street to grocery store and bought a couple of umbrellas and then we went to make some calls. We had no luck, so we decided to stay at the Education Hotel another night.

We made it back to the People's Square (the city center) by noon and began our hunt for the two restaurants Shanghai was rumored to have, Subway and Taco Bell. We walked for a while without much luck. We finally found the Taco Bell, with the help of Krissy's friends. Unfortunately, it wasn't a Taco Bell; it was a Taco Bell Grande. No relation. It looked like a decent place to eat but the prices were a bit steep for lunch. We couldn't find the Subway so we ended up eating at a Burger King. Now, I know what most of you are thinking, fast food? I don't normally eat much fast food back in the US, but I cannot tell you how good a burger and fries tastes after a month and a half of rice and noodles.

The rain had let up for a short while before lunch, but started again as we finished. So we decided to hit up the Shanghai Art Museum which was on the other side of the square. It was interesting for the most part but I was tired and wet and not in quite the right mood for it. The best part of the museum was probably the sign outside with all the restrictions, the last of which was "No admittance for the psychopaths." I swear I am not making this up. Fortunately, we were able to sneak Howie in.

The rain had stopped by the time we left the museum so we were able to walk down to the Bund and get a good view of the riverside. The Bund is the oldest part of the city. It has a lot of old European looking buildings on one side of the river and on the other side a bunch of futuristic looking skyscrapers. It was a great view and the first defining sight of Shanghai, before seeing the Bund, the city looked like any other in the world. The walkway along the river was packed with people taking pictures. Some asked if they could take pictures with us, and many others would simply edge close enough for their friends to get pictures of them with us in the background. Krissy was pretty much the main attraction since she was a girl with blonde hair.

We walked along the river until the police sealed off both ends and forced everyone to clear out. They had also apparently shut down the large ten-lane highway that ran next to the walkway. So we hopped a couple of barricades and walked down the empty road, a surreal experience, especially in the early evening light. We walked a few blocks back to the Captain's Hostel, where we had a beer on their room-top bar and Howie got some great shots of the city. We had to leave the bar all too soon to run back to the People's Square and meet Krissy's friends for dinner. We went to Taco Bell Grande, which was quite good. I can now say I've eaten at Mexican restaurants not only in the Middle East but also in China. Now I just need to get down to Mexico.

After dinner, the five of us returned to the Captain's for a few more drinks, but, as the theme of the night seemed to be, we had to leave much too early in order to catch the last metro back to the French Concession. Howie and I made an exhaustive search of the French Concession's main strip looking for a bottle of wine, which we finally found, but the effort of the search pretty much knocked us out. So it was an early night for us, much to Krissy's chagrin.

The next morning it was raining again. We checked out of the hotel and with our bags in tow we set off to explore the "Fashion and Art Market" just down the street. After I had been in the market for no more than three minutes and the fiftieth person approached me saying, "Hello! DVDs? Watch? Shoes?" and grabbing my arm, I decided it was time to leave. So we retreated across the street to the safety of a "Mister Donut" and the comfort of a glazed donut. We then wandered in a confused daze around People's Square for a while before heading to the Shanghai railway station where we said a tired goodbye to Krissy.

A light-rail ride, one wrong bus station, and a slighly expensive taxi ride later, we were at the long-distance bus station with tickets in hand. It was in the bathroom at the bus station when a man budged in front of me in the line for the urinal by literally pushing over the man at the urinal, who was in the process of zipping up his pants, that I realized I was sick of Shanghai.

I was never so happy to be back in Shaoxing. It has a wonderful small town feel, you can see the sky (almost), and cars stop for you when you are on bike or foot. I never realized how good we have it here.

P.S. Here are a few more photos from the trip. Enjoy.