On our last day we had packed our suitcases up and Ding carried them down all those 5 flights to the bicycle storage area. Thank goodness!! We had bought some treats in a box to give to Lily (when she stopped by on her way to work at 8:30 a.m.) and for Qin Hong. Lily had had 6 classes on Monday so we hadn’t seen her the day before. She is planning to visit New York this summer when Cecily is working at an internship there and then next summer when she is finished at Harvard Law and studying for the New York bar! (I’m remembering it took John Kennedy, Jr., at least twice to pass it!). Lily’s husband will also come and she said they will travel maybe to Michigan and Texas to visit friends on that trip. Cecily will then work in NY for a year and hopes to stay if she can get a work visa. If not, this law firm has a branch in Hong Kong for her to work in. If it were my daughter, I would be hoping for that - as it’s much closer for visits!
Qin Hong arrived just as Betty and I brought the rest of our things downstairs, with the school driver and a very comfortable car to take us across the Yangtze River on that new bridge (it was new when I was last here in 2011) to Zhenziang to catch the fast train to Shanghai. Last time I think it took us about 4 hours; this time only 1 hr. Things have sure sped up in China since my last visit.
Qin Hong had ordered our tickets on-line and she waited in the line to pick them up. then she insisted on waiting to see us on the train; literally, the guard let her walk us onto the train to our seats, and we were off!! It was a beautiful train car, packed, and sped through the countryside with only one stop before Shanghai Railway Station on the north. It had completely changed since last time! I remember there was a North Square exit and I used to stay at this cheap hotel called North Square; pretty dingy, no one spoke English! But it was convenient when I was in Shanghai. There was the ubiquitous KFC so we had lunch there before figuring out the subway system and getting to People’s Square, transferring to Line 2 and E. Nanjing Rd. and our Mingtown Nanjing Rd. Hostel. At one point no escalator and no elevator going down a long flight. A young man grabbed Betty’s bag and then mine and without a word ran them down!! Thank goodness!! I’ve already checked out that from our metro stop there is one of the 6 exits with an elevator so, next Tuesday, when we take Line 2 here all the way to Pudong Airport, we can get in, I hope, without carrying my two backpacks and HEAVY suitcase up or down any flights! Once we’re on the metro, there is no change, just a lot of stops to the airport. I had wanted to take the Maglev bullet train (it was new here in 2011, going straight to the airport, the only one in China! Now they are all over! I used to take the 5 hour train from Shanghai to Yangzhou and then on the weekends, the overnight 12 hour lovely sleeper train to Beijing, when I would visit Virginia! Now it’s a 5 hour from Shanghai straight like a bullet to Beijing! Amazing!!
Our hostel gave us a twin private room ensuite!! Hot water, heat, clean, elevator to the 4th floor! All we need! The downstairs eating area is usually freezing and everyone keeps to themselves! No one is particularly friendly (we really miss the great Pickled Tea Hostel in Yangon, myanmar, and the Hanoi Old Town Hotel in Hanoi!! I even got an email from Long in Hanoi saying how much they miss us!! What hotel ever does that?! But the price is right! We’ve decided since we have 7 nights/days here we will spend the last night in the Mingtown Hostel in Hangzhou, where Betty attended an art class for 6 weeks back in the 90s and I’ve been before. We can store our luggage here overnight and go early Monday, spend the night/day sight-seeing there (beautiful West Lake, maybe rent bikes), spend the night and then come back to pick up our bag on the way to the airport Tuesday afternoon. Our Air Canada flight isn’t until 7:40 in the evening.
Betty headed out for a walk (she visited an Urban Planning museum down by People’s Square she said had a lot of info and photos, videos of old Shanghai) while I check out the elevator situation in our station. On the different way home I stopped for a foot and body massage!! Lovely for 90 minutes!! Relaxed I met Betty back here!
DAY ONE IN SHANGHAI
I got up early and Betty joined me to walk down to People’s Square - maybe 1/2 hr walk. This is the area where Joyce, Marilyn, Pat and I stayed in a hostel in 2011 but I couldn’t find it. I know we used one of the big hotels - there was a Marriott there but it wasn’t behind that! - as our skyline marker! We walked all around the square (this used to be where the British/Americans, etc. had a racecourse!). We passed the Shanghai Arts center but the box office was closed. I’ll go there later to get a ticket for Jane Eyre, a ballet, for Friday night, mainly so I can go inside the theater where I’ve never been!
We also passed the Shanghai Museum and we’ll check in later (it’s free!) as I remember it as so interesting! Nanjing Road is a long pedestrian mall from People’s Square several blocks down to the Huangpu River and the Bund, right at the Peace Hotel (formerly Cathay hotel, built by the Sassoon family, Baghdadi Jews who migrated here in the 19th century. We are signed up for a tour Thursday of this area. I never knew anything about Jewish history here and it’s highly recommended in TripAdviser.
After breakfast at the hostel, we walked the other way to the Peace Hotel and looked around inside. There is a very old (95+ year old guys) who play jazz there and we listened a bit, got a map from Harrison the night manager, who thought we were staying there!, and took pictures inside. This, of course, was taken over by the Communist Party in 1949 along with all other private property in China! We walked along the Promenade, a raised very side walkway crowded with people taking photos, along the Huangpu River, looking over at the Pudong side, with its Pearl Tower, Financial center and huge skyline of high-rises! And the Bund, full of very British/German looking concrete buildings was all lit up, with its “Big Ben” chiming every 15 minutes or so! Very colorful! Spotted a Subway shop so will check that out later!
Back at the hostel, we booked tickets for the Shanghai Centre acrobatics show down by the Ritz Carlton (I remember Jack always staying here when he was in Shanghai). After relaxing and having some dinner, we headed on the subway line out for the show. We were in the balcony, great view and it was a wonderful 1.5 hr long show! One guy in front of us was making himself very comfortable taking off his shoes AND HIS SOCKS! and sticking his bare foot next to the head of the guy in front of him! When another tour group came in to sit down in front of him, they made him move back away from people. He seemed to think it was funny!!
These athletes are amazing! spinning plates, piling on top of each other, balancing huge trays of glasses on their heads, feet, hands! One woman was literally folding herself in half, twisting around on a platform while balancing these glass trays on all 4 appendages AND her mouth!! Just amazing! They do this show EVERY evening all year!! I know i’ve seen it at least once before at this theater but it never tires!!
In for another night!
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