SHANGHAI- ARRIVALS AND IMPRESSIONS

I am writing this on our second day in Shanghai… jet-lag  fatigue still haunts us, but not as fiercely as day 1, when we both collapsed into deep sleep by mid-afternoon- something I rarely am able to do easily at home.  For those who are curious, it was a long-- long – long – long flight. We had a brief stop in Seattle, where we were able to greet Mt. Rainier from the plane window and the Olympic mountains from the airport. The flight was not fully packed and passengers were friendly and seemed to be either Chinese nationals or Chinese Americans traveling with small children to visit surviving parents living in Shanghai. We arrived at night, got to the hotel and after briefly unpacking, we fell into bed, and then woke up about 3 am. Ah the familiar joys of time zone adjustments. 

Snapdragons, bikes, cars and hi pedestrian bridge

The next day was spent recuperating, exploring our ‘neighborhood’ and sorting out basic details that included replenishing our local phone cards and Metro cards (subway), locating food and coffee options, and buying bottled water.  Our hotel this time is a newer, basic but chic 26 story hotel near the small but newly ‘cleaned’ Suzou Creek. This is a less familiar area of town for us, although the last time we were here, we actually went to some galleries across the creek. Through our wanderings we reoriented to Shanghai, which felt both different and also extremely familiar. 

Jasmine in bloom- the real thing

Here are some first impressions  from that first day: As with so much of China, the pace has more intense energy here- people walk faster, pushing the close buttons in elevators instead of waiting for the doors to eventually close, risking injury by crossing the street against the light (despite cars, bikes and motorcycles randomly turning in seemingly random order and direction).  The streets are large with multiple lanes. Often, at the busiest corners there are elevated bridges that allow pedestrians to cross relatively easily (but it is about 50 steps up and then 50 steps down) in all directions. And buildings are being constructed in all directions, all the time (apparently, there are no weekend off in Shanghai)

Pop up farmer's market outside our hotel

Walking is still a great means for exploring the everchanging street level neighborhoods. It is spring as well as May Day weekend, so streets are dotted with colorful flowers. This also means that photo opportunities are endless and occur frequently- whether as a basic selfie or poses that we see snapped by a friend, relative or grandmother. Storefront shops offer neighborhood commerce and provide a barrier between the street traffic and the various communities living inside this commercial barrier. In some neighborhoods families live in tall gated high-rises, with flag-like  laundry draping balconies filled with plants in pots; in other areas two story shikomen clusters (older French Concession style buildings) greet walkers with brick walls and thick wooden doors, that are occasionally open revealing small alleys filled with trash cans, bicycles, plants and laundry hanging outside of second floor windows to dry. 

In the newer and more upscale parts of the neighborhoods, there are ubiquitous car washes which are crowded next to banks, drug stores and recycle collection yards. Large multi-story shopping centers sit next to small one or two story brick and concrete structures with small independent shops selling food, fruit, or other items.  We haven’t found a food market yet (beyond a few fruit sellers).  This might be because we are very near the Shanghai Railroad station (one of many railroad stations in the city). On the other hand, many of the buildings nearby also appear to be residences (called ‘mansions’) so we are not sure where those folks get their food.

Bruce and breakfast noodles, egg sandwich and a dims

Our neighborhood has several coffee shops,  a few large fancy restaurants (often located on second or third floors) with huge windows and and filled with draped tables and chairs.  We found an amazing western bakery (for Bruce).  A local cafeteria is open from 6:30 in the moring to 10:30 at night, with breakfast choices including many different types of dumplings, several different flavors of congee, as well as eggs, Chinese breakfast sandwiches and rice noodles. Dinners there include items like soups, vegetables, main courses, and other mysterious dishes we have not been able to completely identify- but its fun to guess and try some of them.  As we adjust to arriving here, cafeteria-style places to eat are easy- we can see what we are ordering and also they come in single person size portions so we can try more dishes than would be typical for 2 people eating together. (Chinese food traditions tend to involve families or groups sharing dishes together.) Demographically, folks at breakfast were often single men, but at dinner often saw a broader clientele including single women, couples on dates and multi-generational families with kids. We look forward to further food explorations, since Shanghai supposedly has zillions of places to eat (or at least over 33,000, accordingly to city statistics). 

In general, my first impressions of Shangai are of a city that is filled with exciting possibilities. Entrepreneurs are everywhere- everything seems possible. Of course, because I can't speak or understand Mandarin, I am not sure of the accuracy of this impression, nor can I even begin to understand the impact of the government’s heavy hand on its citizens. But for us, people are friendly and helpful, even though Bruce and I tend to wander a bit off the touristic track and English is often minimal. But, we also have some delightful connections with people this way, so that wil continue to be our travel tradition for a long time... I hope. 

 To be continued and signing off for now.