Shanghai and old water town

The day before we were set to arrive in Shanghai, Suti realised the accommodation we’d booked for the duration of our stay was actually a 2 hour bus ride outside of the city center. It’s easy to look at a map and think everything looks so close, when in reality everything in China is so far spread out most of the time. We quickly adjusted our booking plans to spend a few days in the city center, then a few days in Zhujijao (old water town).

I remember back to when we first arrived in the Tokyo airport. I was already impressed with how clean and organized everything was. There was no dirt or rubbish anywhere, and the immigration processing line moved quickly. Obviously I had much lower expectations for China. I suppose due to my low expectations I was neither surprised nor disappointed. When we arrived we had to walk about 20 minutes from the plane to get to processing as it was a massive airport. After finally getting through immigration, we searched for our bags. They should be on this conveyor belt but it was now empty as everyone else had collected their bags and moved on. Where were they? We wandered the area trying to find assistance at 1am. We were grunted at to go to a different window, from here to there, then finally we found them sitting on a trolley in front of one of the closed service desks. I had no idea why, there was no one to ask, so we just enjoyed the relief we felt and moved on.

We made our way to the taxi rank after ignoring various people approaching us to ask if we need a taxi. We saw signs in front of the taxi rank with various hotel names and cost listing, so we thought ok, it must be a set price to our hotel. The prices varied between 60-150 yuan from my brief look and I couldn’t find our hotel listed. We got in a taxi, then he had to drive through a checkpoint where they wrote down where he was going, gave him some sort of paper ticket and checked with us where we were going. None of them spoke any English, but we thought this should be all good, it seems legit, we must have a set price for our hotel but we didn’t think to try to ask what it was.

We had booked a hotel close to the airport for that night as we were getting in late, so it was about a 15 minute drive. After a bit of a struggle to find the place, he finally dropped us off and we got our bags. How much?

200 yuan, he says. We both said that doesn’t sound right, then he lost more and more of his already basic ability to speak English. Suti attempts to communicate but no one is understanding each other, he keeps asking for 200 and it’s getting awkward. We finally get across that we will get someone from the hotel to come translate, so we give him 100 yuan and tell him to wait. As soon as we get to the doors he drives off. Well that’s solved, we thought. We asked the desk how much it should cost and she said 60 yuan. Damn, we got scammed fresh off the plane. It wasn’t that much money, as 100 yuan is only $20AUD, but it still stung.

In the morning I was so nervous to even leave the hotel room. I kept thinking why the hell did we go to China? What the hell are we doing here? Breakfast buffet was provided at the hotel so we dragged ourselves out of bed to go try a Chinese style breakfast.

It was buffet style so you could choose various items to eat. I ate congee (rice porridge), bao (steamed bun, some with filling and some plain), boiled egg, cabbage stir fry, and some kind of sweet fried bread. It was a very plain tasting breakfast and we thought the congee would have more flavour like we make at home, but it was only plain rice cooked in water. Suti usually makes a delicious chicken broth congee which we top with a boiled egg and fried shallots. We miss home cooking a lot!

It was a 40 minute taxi ride in to the city so we got to admire the city landscape. Seeing the amount of high rise apartments gives you a real indication of the high population here. The taxi fortunately turned in his metre and it only cost half of what we paid the scammer. We stayed at a neat little hostel near the People’s Park in Shanghai.

We settled in, had a micro nap then headed out to explore the nearby area.

The People’s Park in Shanghai was surprisingly immaculate and beautiful. Everything was so clean and well cared for. The park was filled with people playing mahjong, cards, and practicing Tai chi. There was an expensive cafe next to the pond that was filled with white people, so we avoided it and searched for more local food.

I’ll tell you briefly about all the food that we ate in Shanghai (from top left to right):

Crab soup dumpling and crispy dumpling (you stick a straw in the dumpling to drink the soup then eat the dumpling), garlic fried gourd (tasted like eggplant) and soy sauce noodle soup and congee (we actually tried to order rice by speaking chinese and they brought us this, we must have spoken wrong), xiao long bao (pork soup dumpling) from Din Tai Fung, yogurt drink (we saw them sold everywhere and thought it was soy milk, so we tried it and were pleasantly surprised), bbq stewed pork belly, steamed greens with poached egg, shallot sesame noodles (I can’t remember the name but this is a Shanghai specialty. Chewy wheat noodles in soy sauce, sesame oil and shallots. It looks like it will taste boring but it was so simple and delicious!), chilli mutton with fried tofu skin and steamed wrap (to make in to a wrap and eat), fried rice with garlic bok choy and mutton stew with plums, chinese breakfast at our water town hostel of congee with pickles and steamed buns.

Chinese food can be delicious, but it’s not my all-time favourite cuisine. I’ve been happy with everything we’ve eaten but nothing has amazed us. We decided after a few attempts that Chinese style breakfast wasn’t for us so we’ve been (guiltily) searching for and eating a lot of western breakfasts. The lowest point was when we ate bagel toasties and coffee at Starbucks for 150 yuan ($30). I always feel so guilty after comforting ourselves with western food when we’re meant to be traveling and enjoying new foods, but sometimes the homesickness and craving for familiarity overtakes you.

There are lots of cats and dogs that are allowed to roam the streets so we’ve been making many furry friends. Also bonus koi fish.

Suti took us to the famous Yuyuan gardens.

The gardens were built like a maze and surprisingly large. You go in to a small section, where there are many doorways to go in to other sections and it is easy to become lost. I love the way that stones are incorporated in to Chinese style gardens. I can definitely see where the Japanese were inspired and how they adapted it to their own style. I’ve also fallen in love with weeping willow trees as they are used frequently here in scenic gardens and beside waterways. It reminds me of the grandmother willow in Pocahontas. It’s a shame but they are considered an invasive weed in Australia.

The Bund is an area in Shanghai that provides an amazing view of the city skyline. The skyline is so distinctive and picturesque.

We also went to the top of Shanghai tower. The view was great and photos don’t do it justice.

Suti has been the talk of the streets in Shanghai and many people want to take photos with him and his impressive beard. I’m often asked to take the photo for them… But I’m not jealous. I’m just a boring beardless white lady. Sometimes I get pity photos.

After a few days we took the bus out to Zhujijao also known as old water town. Suti found this picturesque accommodation for us right beside the water.

Old water town was very scenic and full of Chinese tourists. Where there are tourists there are tourist prices. As it was early days in China we didn’t have an understanding of what meal prices should be and stupidly paid Sydney prices for a meal one night. Rookie error! Everything is significantly cheaper here. You can eat a generous filling meal for two people for 15 yuan ($3), if you eat like a local.

We made a few rookie errors in our first days in China. One day Suti told me he is going to take us to a local lake and it’s about an hour walk there, I didn’t know anything more and said I was up for that. There were quite a few lessons we learned on this little adventure, which I will list below:

Just because you see a body of water on Google maps that looks like a nice big lake, does not mean you should spontaneously and without researching decide to walk to that place
Just because it is a lake does not mean it is public property and might only be accessible within a gated community and luxury resort
Places are not at close as they appear on the map, and the walk that should have taken 1 hour took over 2 hours including walking on the side of the highway
Parks close their gates after 4pm
You should not start a mysterious walking journey in China after 3pm when the sun sets at 5.30pm
When your journey takes you through gates with guards that don’t speak English, walk through confidently and when spoken to say hello, smile, wave, and keep walking
Pretend to know where you’re going and reassure your wife that we won’t get kidnapped and robbed in this empty park as the sun sets perilously
After climbing over construction and walking through random gates, you may be greeted with a beautiful sunset over the lake
If lost after nightfall, act confidently when walking in to expensive resort hotels. Tell them to call you a taxi and offer no explanation
Get back to hotel safely and try not to murder husband for taking us on ridiculous journey

We concluded our Shanghai journey with a 15 hour overnight train ride to Beijing. We treated ourselves to a private car and it was a fun experience. I discovered the simple pleasure of eating a meal on a train. You’re going places while relaxing and eating, what’s not to love?

Next up: Beijing