March 27, 2008

Once clear of the station, I began coming to life as old memories sprang to life. I hopped on the subway and rode it to Xujiahue, which is where I once spent a summer studying at Shanghai Jiaotong University. It was still painfully early, so the streets were mostly empty and the shopping malls were still covered with shutters. I walked over to the campus and checked the prices at the Faculty Club hotel, but the best discount they could manage was $25/night, which is out of my price range. Knowing I was from Georgia Tech, the hotel attendant felt bad, but I decided to head over to the tourist haven along Nanjing Lu where cheaper accommodation could surely be found.

By the time we arrived at the station the city was coming to life and people were moving about the pedestrian walkway along Nanjing Lu (shown to the left). I began scouring the side alleys in search of cheap a cheap hostel, and after trying half a dozen places I found what I was looking for: a newly opened hostel on the 6th floor of a building currently undergoing renovation. No one spoke any English, which keeps them from inflating prices, and our room was reached by walking through a scummy pool hall. However, with hot water, clean sheets, and only $6/night, I was more than satisfied.

While we unloaded our gear and cleaned ourselves up, I flipped on the television to catch a game of basketball between the Celtics and Pistons. Strangely, watching a basketball game (something I never do) was the strongest indication I was once more part of the modern world. I was feeling more and more excited to be back in Shanghai - my first Asian city and the one with which I feel the strongest natural connection - so we only stayed in the hostel for about an hour before I dragged Neil on a "walking tour."

I have long-since forgotten most of the street names, but I still remembered the location of all the cities district's, so a map was not necessary. All I had to do was head in a general direction and we would see what was important: a city that is alive, diverse, and unpredictable at every turn. I have friends who are not the biggest fans of the city - especially compared to modern Asian cities like Hong Kong and Tokyo - but these are always the people who go from A to B and care nothing for everything in between. Shanghai is the next big thing (hell, it is already a big thing), and it is the first truly-Chinese city to develop into a globally recognized top-tier metropolis. Even now, typing this and thinking about it, I feel a strange bond with the city.

The walking tour started along the Bund, and headed inward through the modern downtown area. This is the region where many of the museums and ritzy hotels are located, along with a well-known bar named Barbarossa (which we would visit later in the evening). I stopped by the cultural theater to look into watching the Shanghai acrobats, a performance I saw two years ago, but balked at the price: Shanghai is expensive enough and I am nearing the end of my trip. Instead, I looked up the phone number for a popular Sichuan-styled restaurant called Ba Guo Bu Yi (巴国布衣) and made reservations for the evening. Besides the great food, there is a nightly face-changing (変顔)performance that always has hearts racing.

The walk away from the river next turned to the commercial part of the city where high-end shops, restaurants, and skyscrapers dominate the area. This is the kind of place where actual people (beautiful young women, in fact) are used in place of mannequins to attract attention in high-class shop windows - a definite indication of the unique approach typical to the consumer culture of Shanghai.

I will gloss over many of the other districts because they are only interesting when you them for yourself, but another area that is worth mentioning is the French Concession. The tree-lined streets are a far-cry from what one would imagine in a massive city like Shanghai, especially with high walls separating people on the sidewalk from embassies, luxurious homes, and exclusive restaurants. Neil and I had lunch at one of the (relatively) less-expensive restaurants in the area that served Cantonese food amid a mixed crowd of well-to-do foreign expats and Chinese. Naturally, I satiated a craving for char-siew pork served with white rice and green tea.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent in the Xuijahue District as I was intent on reliving the days where I studied in this area. I showed Neil to the fake-DVD shops in the area - he has become a fiend for the deals to be had - while I bought bubble tea and read a book out on the grass of a park for a couple of hours. As the evening rolled in, we searched out an internet cafe so I could get in touch with all my friends currently in Shanghai (four groups in all). Also, as we would be going out later in the night, I needed to find something to wear other than my cargo shorts. While such apparel is fine for backpacking, I would feel awkward walking into a bar dressed that way (although being a foreigner I would easily get away with it). In the end, I settled on an $8 pair of jeans sold on the third floor of a Chinese-styled Wal-Mart. Perhaps it is indicative of the places I have been that I now find Chinese jeans to be pricier than I expect - $8 is not bad at all but I would have preferred $5.