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Shanghai, China

Shanghai Travel Blog › entry 225 of 245 › view all entries

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World › Asia › China › Shanghai

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Shanghai, China

October 6, 2008

Shanghai, China - Papa John's Pizza!!

So, as we’re part of those with smaller budgets and more importantly those having a bit more time on our hands for traveling, the means of travel was quite easy to choose for us . . . we’d be taking another LONG train ride to our destination. This time, however we wouldn’t be riding as “comfortably” as before.

Again, being that we were visiting right at the moment when China celebrates its “Golden Week” holiday, things were super busy everywhere. Thus explaining the rather large crowds of Chinese all over the place, well, larger than usual!! :) And let’s not forget, the reason we ended up having to ride on a sold-out trip to Shanghai!!

The good news is that by the end of the journey, it turned out to be a free ride for us!! Totally lucked out too!! At first, we were just dreading having to stay on the train for another long 24 hours, but by the end when we realized the journey was gonna be on-the-house, didn’t hear any fussing out of us any longer!! Ok so the ride wasn’t the best, nor most comfy for us, but hey, when it’s free, can’t ask for much more.

Shanghai, China - The Chinese are lovin' McD's too!!

It was another never-ending journey for me, but for Arnaud, it flew by rather fast, considering he spent the entire trip, playing cards with the other passengers. Still, I was rather thrilled about getting a free ride, even though I had to spend another sleepless night on an over-crowded train, not to mention, have to once again eat instant cup-o-noodles for every meal during the entire ride.

Yes, the train was yet again, packed to the limits, but I guess that’s normal here. Thinking back now at the experience, can’t help but smile at the fact that even though communication was quite difficult, Arnaud and I were able to make ourselves understood through basic body language and simple human comprehension. Hope that makes sense! It’s just really beautiful to know that communication barriers can indeed be brought down, with some basic understanding as well as a willingness to remain open-minded and eager to comprehend.

Shanghai, China - Swoosh!!

Anyway, again an incredible feeling of relief was felt once we arrived in Shanghai and once we could finally get off that bloody train!! :) Upon arrival to Shanghai, along with our pleasant surprise of having gotten out of paying for the trip, we also had another little surprise in store for us . . . But, that one was less pleasant! :(

We found ourselves in front of the train station, in a bit of a jam at that moment, because we’d just learned that our host-to-be wouldn't be our host at all!! He wasn’t in Shanghai upon our arrival, so consequently unable to host us!! Uh oh!! Bad news for us!! So, now what?!

Well, thank goodness for our life-savers and new-found friends, Xinhue and Hue. We made an emergency call to them, and despite the last-minute request, they were willing to help us out in our time of need.

Shanghai, China - The toilet in the Shanghai World Financial Center, aka SWFC

So, a HUGE thank you to them!! Xie xie, friends!! Thanks for the hospitality shown, for the great food shared, and for the memorable talks!!

As for Shanghai, it’s quite a dynamic city. Very pleasantly surprised, I must say. Didn’t have too many high expectations, which is probably a good thing!! But, in any case, sure glad we made it here. Shanghai’s a lot less polluted than Beijing, and seemingly has more English-speakers too! Phew, just what we needed at that point!! No more charades!! Yeah!! Don't get me wrong, though it was fun at times, frustration got the best of us too.

Shanghai, China - The Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center

So obviously, by then we were ready and could use a good normal conversation!!

And was that a blue sky we could actually see in Shanghai?!! Yep!! Quite nice! Our stroll around the city was an enjoyable one. Old Shanghai was amongst my favorite, because there was a very interesting and authentic feel to the place. We had dumplings and fried noodles in this little family-run place, which was just perfect. Great experience, having fun with the locals!!

Only drawback was communication, once again. Yep, had to go back to good old-fashioned pointing and all!! And as always, worked as a charm! Well, with the help of an English-speaker. Reallly, this chap didn’t speak the language all that well, but hey, had a great willingness to want to understand and come to our rescue!!

Anyway thanks to our game of charades and the help of this young man, Arnaud even somehow managed to ask this little old couple if he could try a bit of their dish!! Yes, yes, only Arnaud would dare do that!! Funny thing is that, as they didn’t speak English, this young man who was also eating there, ended up playing interpreter for Arnaud, and thus help him make his unusual request to the couple.

Shanghai, China - Le SWFC, l’autre perle de Shanghaï

Long story short, Arnaud succeeded in trying a bite of this couple’s dish after all!! Crazy Arnaud!!

In addition to Old Shanghai, the rest of the city was also quite interesting. The fascinating thing about this city is that one can find a nice mixture of old and modern. In fact, the area around the Yuyuan Garden was a perfect example of this. And the architecture was beautiful. Simply stunning!! Some may say that Shanghai is just another big city. But I’d say, it’s so much more. You’ve got a nice combo here, so also a must-see in China. And now with time winding down, we’ve got to head for the border .

Shanghai, China - The Shanghai World Financial Center, from another angle

. . Hong Kong here we come!

Apres ces journees decouvertes a Pekin, notre prochaine etape allait passer par Shanghai. Il fallait de nouveau repasser par la gare, cette fois, la chance allait etre avec nous, tout les billets de train avaient vendu, il restait une option, au lieu d acheter un billet de train il fallait acheter un billet d acces au quai.

Cela coute comme 50 centimes, c etait parfait. Comme il y avait trop de gens qui voyageaient, les compagnies laisserent l opportunite aux passagers de voyager debout. On prit le risque, car rester debout 2 heures c est une chose mais 24 heures ca n est une autre. Shanghai-Pekin s est 24 heures de train. Le pari etait risque.

La Chine est un grand pays, quand on regarde sur la carte, cela n a pas l air si loin, il faut dire aussi qu il n y a pas le TGV.

Shanghai, China - Jin Mao Tower from the base

On resta quand meme quelques heures debout, je trouvais une petite astuce pour m assoir, faire des parties de carte.

On avait un sentiment de deja vu, soupe matin midi et soir, nuit sur le matela et sous les sieges,des gens partout, assis, debout, c est a dire que pour traverser un wagon, il fallait 5 minutes.

Enfin a Shanghai, on s apercoit que notre contact n est pas sur place, il arrivera dans 3 jours. On decida donc de chercher une autre personne voir meme un hotel, cela restait quand meme la deuxieme ville de Chine et donc les prix des chambres etaient assez elevees. On trouva un couple de couchsurfing en urgence qui accepterent de nous heberger 2 nuits.

Ce couple de Chinois etait de classe moyenne, ils avaient une particularite qui merite d etre notifie. Ils travaillaient tout les 2 avec des occidentaux, et ils s etaient trouver un deuxieme prenom , juste pour faciliter la memoire de ces occidentaux qui ne peuvent pas prononcer les noms chinois.

Shanghai, China - La Torre Jin Mao, un rascacielos distintivo de 88 niveles ubicado en el area de Lujiazui en el distrito Pudong de Shangai

Je trouvais cela completement fou et le pire c est que tout le monde trouvait cela normal la-bas. Pour eux c etait un signe d integrite mais pour qui?

La visite de la ville fut realise en 2 jours, tout etait concentre dans le centre avec ces grattes-ciel d un cote et la vieille ville de l autre. D un cote des immeubles modernes avec des toilettes qui vous nettoient vos petites fesses en appuyant sur 2 ou 3 boutons: reglage du jet d eau, la temperature, le souffle qui vous seche tout cela. C est sur maintenant quand j aurais les moyens, j en aurais un!!

De l autre cote de la riviere, une ville plus traditionnelle, l architecture chinoise dans toute sa splendeur. Quel bonheur de voir des dragons sculptes ou dessines un peu partout, ces toitures chinoises en forme d eventail deplie, ces jardins fabuleux, par contre la foule etait toujours aussi dense.

Shanghai, China - Arnaud at the Jin Mao tower, in the Lujiazui district

On prit le temps de gouter quelques plats, tel que des raviolis frits et cuits a la vapeur, des nouilles, des beignets, tous ce que je voyais dans la rue de toute facon je l essayais.