Hong Kong and Shanghai

Saturday:
We walked to a coffee shop and met Lisa’s friend Wayne for coffee. His boyfriend is Chinese, and so he has been learning the language and I was able to practise conversational Chinese with him. After that Aunty and I took a taxi to yuyuan gardens. There we had a misunderstanding about the price of something and so we attracted a crowd as we haggled backwards and forward half in Chinese, half in English. After looking around the markets, peeking through to the gardens via cracks in the walls and having lunch, we met Lisa and walked to the Bund and then the Shanghai World Financial Centre. To get across to the other side of the Huangpu River we went through a tunnel on an enclosed, moving platform. It reminded me of infinity, as there was lots of flashing lights following various themes.

The Shanghai World Financial Centre is the tallest building in China and has the tallest observation deck in the world. The higher of the two decks that the building hosts, has windows on the floor so you can see right down to the cars on the roads below. Lisa and I were holding onto each other for dear life as Aunty took a photo from every angle possible. It was a great view but a sign said up to three people could jump on a windowpane and it wouldn’t fall through. Personally, I didn’t find that very comforting.

After that we had to rush back home to get ready to go to the circus. I’m pretty sure you have to see this to believe it, but there was a cage and two people were riding motorcycles in it… then another one entered, and another… until there were eight motorbikes zooming around in this moderately small cage. By the time the third one had entered Aunty was gripping my knee lol

Sunday:
Lisa had to go to work today *tear* so we helped load her luggage into a minivan in the morning. After that, we first zipped around the fabric market to pick up everyone’s new clothes and then we caught a taxi out to the Jade Buddha Temple.

The Temple was quite interesting and there were many people there because of the upcoming New Year. At the fabric market a lady had said they would be getting in all new fabrics next year (aka next week), which sounded strange to me. At the Temple there was a room full of 1000 mini Buddha’s, the famous jade Buddha, a reclining jade Buddha and large marble copy. The detail was amazing.

In the afternoon we went to Zhong Shan park, a place that had been recommended by one of my classmates. There was much dancing, karaoke, kite-flying, badminton and roller-skating. The gardens were beautiful, especially the trees. We had lunch at a gigantic shopping centre that had 9 levels. Pac Fair just became so much less exciting!

And Today:
School of course. I’m now finishing at 4pm rather that 3.30 to make up for the missed lessons on Friday when I fly home. After school I went to the hairdressers and got a perm :S lol Hopefully it will settle down but if it stays as it is it will take some getting used to!

After school we were meant to go to the Jade Buddha Temple. I was to catch the line two subway from Peoples Square to West Nanjing Road but my phone died before I could find out which exit to take out of the station. I remembered that Aunty and Lisa had been talking about looking in Marx and Spencer while they waited for me that afternoon, so I went to the service centre and asked which exit would take me there. Of course, they didn’t speak any English :S When I got out onto the street there was no sign of them, and I thought that perhaps the plans had changed. With my phone dead I had no way of knowing though.

I saw a phone booth but then realised that all the numbers were saved on my phone. Luckily I had the number of my school, but the next problem was the phone booth wouldn’t accept coins. I entered Marx and Spencers and asked if I could use their phone but they said they didn’t have one *raises eyebrows*. Then I went a few stores along to another flash looking place, and asked to use their phone. Again I was refused but this time directed outside to another phone booth. I got one of the ladies to come with me as *shame* I didn’t know how to use it and she said I needed a phone card. I said I didn’t have one and would it be all right if I used their phone. She went and asked the manager and I explained that it was just a local call and so I was able to ring school. Although I didn’t know it at the time, the emergency number I was given was actually my own number (when I called it, a recorded message said that the battery of the phone I was trying to call was dead) so I was still unable to contact Aunty or Lisa.

Not knowing where they were, I felt the most important thing was to contact them and the only way to do this was to recharge my phone to get the numbers. So I raced back to the station, and took the subway back to Peoples Square and then caught line one to our nearest station. I ran home and could hear the phone ringing as I fiddled around trying to open the door. Got in, plugged my phone in and turned it on only to find there were no new messages. At that point the main phone was ringing again and that was Lisa. The messages came through a bit after that.

Needless to say we didn’t get to the Jade Buddha Temple as it was past 5pm when Lisa and Aunty got back. I’ve now written everyone’s numbers in three different places just in case.

After a good sleep in, we went to the fake markets before having dinner at a Chinese restaurant and then going across to a dvd and music shop. Business has been very bad for everyone so it is much easier to get a good price. You have to be ruthless because I’ve found the shop attendants to be very sneaky. At one shop I was looking at earrings and the lady got down to 50RMB and she said it was the best price, especially for me, so so cheap etc. then Lisa came in and introduced me as her friend and all of a sudden the price was down to 30RMB.

Outside the markets a lady guided a blind man to us asking for money. One of the ladies gave him a few coins and the next second another man had come and taken the money off the blind man. Some of the group started saying a few things to the money-taker and so he took the notes for himself and dropped a some coins into the blind mans backpack. The lady then guided him back to us to try and get some more money! It was really sad to see him being taken advantage of, and just proves that you have to be wary about who you give money to.

Today was absolutely fabulous. We went to Zhou Zhuang water village, and were lucky enough to have blue skies after a week of smog. For waterfront living, it’s the place to be! Water laps onto the steps of the backdoors behind houses as you can see below.

I thought it was most amazing that the villagers continue with their day to day living whilst tourists flock to the ancient community. People were washing their clothes in the canals, preparing meals, making furniture… just going about their daily chores. All the while tourists were taking photos of them and their houses etc. I suppose this is their way of life, but I wouldn’t like to have people watching me sleep etc.

Many of the people make a living from selling things to the tourists. They are all so talented at their craft whether it be sketching, painting, building or cooking. As there are so many shops selling similar things the pricing was quite competitive too. We were lucky to go on a day where there was not much business so it was easier to bargain.

Go to the photo gallery to view more pictures and to read the captions.

Yesterday I was mobbed by 7 or so Shanghainese. Thankfully that overfriendly accommodation tout was not present, but word has spread around the touting circles and they were all keen to meet a foreigner. My teacher walked by as I was talking to them and so I was able to get away as they were getting a little fresh. Today I was telling her about that random hugging tout, and she said if a Chinese woman were to be hugged, she’d call the police. Clearly “Free Hug” proposals would not be taken advantage of here.