Back from Shanghai
Well folks, I’m back from Shanghai and ready to start updating Japan Probe as usual. Before I go back to fully japan-related posts, just a few observations on Shanghai:
The Good:
Food – Really great restaurants and low, low prices for food (one benefit of China’s artificially currency exchange rate). Eat meat dumplings rock.
Lots of big buildings – Shanghai’s many skyscrapers, combined with the old style western buildings along the Bund make for a really cool view, especially at night
Historical sites – The Bund, French Concession, Museums, Temples & Gardens.
Taxis – Fast, Cheap, and full of advertisments for Korean plastic surgery!
Acrobatics – Nobody can deny the coolness of Chinese acrobatics shows that end with the Ball of Death(5 motocyclists wilding riding through the inside of a ball to the Star Wars theme).
The Bad:
Horrible Pollution – Ride up to the top of the Oriental Pearl Tower for a fantastic view of toxic haze covering the entire city.
Beggars – A pretty sad sight, near almost every place tourists would go
Spitting, littering, and dumping trash on the street – Not exactly a cool thing to do, especially when some foreign tourists are walking right into the path of your spit/litter. I had a few narrow misses.
Sprite Icy Mint – Sprite + a minty after taste = a drink that kills your thrist instead of satisfying it.
The Ugly:
Staring – My girlfriend (who is Japanese) and I decided to enjoy part of the evening walking along the riverfront park near the Bund. It is a very crowded area, full of many Chinese people and foreign tourists enjoying the night view. It seems that quite a lot of Chinese men walking by us saw something that was stare worthy. When we sat down, Chinese guys walking by would slow down as they passed, turn their heads, and just stare. It didn’t seem like the “wow, I’ve never seen a white person before” stare that one might sometimes encounter in less urban areas. After all, there were groups of white tourists all over the park. For about five minutes we sat in one spot, and over 20 chinese men who passed by did similar staring things. I got the distinct impression that their stares were hostile, perhaps fueled by a perception that my girlfriend was Chinese? Did they not like the sight of an Asian woman with a white guy? My girlfriend also noticed their stares and told me she wanted to leave, so we did. I can’t say I’ve experienced anything remotely similar in Japan, aside from the occasional astonished stare from a small child who obviously hasn’t seen many foreigners before.
Despite air pollution, urine/feces smells, and creepy staring, the trip was very enjoyable. If you’re living in Japan, I recommend you visit China before rising fuel costs and currency exchange corrections make the visit too expensive.
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