Mama ended up booking plane tickets yesterday for me to go to Shanghai today.
So Shanghai here I come!
The flight was with China Eastern Airlines from Beijing to the new Shanghai Airport at Pudong. The airport code for Pudong is PVG for some reason.
At the airport, one of the shops had a heap of different Western foods, including Goldfish, the snacks that CJ on the West Wing liked, but I'd never even heard of otherwise, let alone tried.
When I got to the gate, I ended up talking to an American tour group. They were a group of students from Texas, including their Chinese teacher, who was originally from Australia.
The boarding was a bit odd, with it moving gates, and then us having to board a shuttle bus from the gate to the plane, only to be waiting on the tarmac outside the gate for 15 minutes before going anywhere.
Then the plane sat there for another 15 minutes waiting for permission to take off.
On the plane I spoke to a guy from Oklahoma named Roy. He was from the chamber of commerce.
When I got to the airport, I decided I had to take the maglev (magnetic levitation) train from the airport to the city.
50 Yuan and a bit of a confusing wait later, and I was on my way.
I'd never travelled on a maglev. The fastest I'd been on previously was one of the InterCity Express (ICE) trains in Germany, which I think travelled up to 300 km/h.
This one claimed to have a top speed of 500 km/h.
When it started out, it sounded moderately loud. For some reason, I'd assumed it was going to be nearly silent.
We got up to 430 km/h before slowing back down again.
Not quite the advertised 500 km/h, but still pretty fast!
Then I got to the metro subway.
Unlike Beijing, all the signs were in Chinese only. Even the map at the service counter was only Chinese. Still, it was only fair that I learn some Chinese. Perhaps Shanghai would force me?
When I got out and up to Nanjing Street, took out my Lonely Planet, and tried to get my bearings. (A map is all well and good, provided you know where North is.)
A man came up and pointed me in the right direction. In English.
He said he was an English teacher, and wanted to have a chat.
Seemed harmless, and I was happy to help, particularly since he had been helpful.
We went to a nearby cafe. He ordered a platter of fruit, some nuts, and two coffees.
We had a chat about Melbourne and Shanghai. He said he was a teacher at a local primary school and had 35 students.
All well and good.
Talked a bit more.
Then he said we should have a whiskey in the spirit of friendship.
Well, probably shouldn't, but a nice Jack Daniel's does sound quite nice.
Finished the drink, then told him I should get going, since I was expected at the hotel, and I didn't want them to cancel the room.
And then he asked the waiter to give me (and only me) the bill.
580 RMB (120 AUD)!!
I told him I didn't mind paying half, but I didn't think I should pay it all. ("A" because he had invited me, "B" because most of the items weren't discussed, he had just ordered them.)
He responded with "thank you for the invitation".
What the!?
I guess I should have disputed it, but I didn't, so I ended up with an empty wallet and a bruised ego.
Chalk one up for life experience: Never trust an English teacher!
Then I made my way towards the hotel.
A girl from Germany was having problems finding her way to Citibank, so I took out the Lonely Planet and showed her the way.
Walked towards the hotel.
And walked.
It was a good five-minute walk along dusty side alleys with no room on the footpath for my suit case.
Chalk two up to experience: Take a taxi or bring a big backpack instead.
Went looking for lunch.
Found a Chinese restaurant. Asked if they had dim sum dumplings. They didn't!
So I went to the next restaurant.
They had heap of options, but the first thing I saw that appealed was a BLT sandwich, so I went in and ordered that.
Except they didn't have the BLT sandwich. Or any sandwiches.
Hummed and hahed. Only wanted a light lunch, and not much else that I wanted.
Chose a potato, bacon, anchovy, and mayonnaise pizza.
Yeah, I know. :-)
Ordered a beer. The waitress asked if I wanted with ice or no ice. I said no ice.
Apparently that was the wrong decision. "Ice" meant cold. No ice meant warm.
Mmm, warm beer.
Still, at least it was Tsing Tao, which is drinkable even when warm.
The waitress also pronounced Tsing Tao as "Ching Dow", they way I would have expected in Hong Kong.
I'll have to double check the typical pronunciation in Beijing, but I think the "ts" = "ch" is a Southern thing.
(Update: Apparently it's named after Qingdao, a city in Shandong, meaning that Ching Dow is the correct pronunciation. Tsing Tao is an older spelling. More about Tsing Tao beer.)
Ended up getting the waitress to write down "cold" and "hot" in Chinese for me. :-)
Again, there was smoking in the restaurant. And the hotel smells like cigarette smoke too.
Walked back towards Nanjing Street to try to find the main tourist area called "The Bund".
Wow. Very picturesque. Also very, very dirty and dusty.
And again, a map with an English title, and then no English descriptions or Pinyin versions of place names.
Started differentiating places by coming up with names for the characters (little house, little window, TV, three-legged thing, etc.), or just by the number of characters. It also helps to know the characters for north, central, east, west, and south.
At the Northern end of the Bund, just before the Suzhou Creek, there is a park called Huangpu Park. It used to be a park where only foreigners were allowed, and you weren't allowed to bring pets or bicycles, leading to the humiliating saying "no dogs and Chinese". Now, the main feature is the Monument to the People's Heroes, which is in part a monument to those who fought to free China from foreign occupation.
It made me want to go and see the Pearl Tower and the museum at its base tomorrow. I'm also planning on checking out the French Concession, if for no other reason than it sounds like it has some good food.
Was also reflecting: before I came on this trip, the largest city I'd been to was Sydney, with 4 million people. In the past two weeks, I've been to Hong Kong (7 million), Beijing (13 million), and Shanghai (17 million).
Certainly a trip of firsts. :-)
So Shanghai here I come!
The flight was with China Eastern Airlines from Beijing to the new Shanghai Airport at Pudong. The airport code for Pudong is PVG for some reason.
At the airport, one of the shops had a heap of different Western foods, including Goldfish, the snacks that CJ on the West Wing liked, but I'd never even heard of otherwise, let alone tried.
When I got to the gate, I ended up talking to an American tour group. They were a group of students from Texas, including their Chinese teacher, who was originally from Australia.
The boarding was a bit odd, with it moving gates, and then us having to board a shuttle bus from the gate to the plane, only to be waiting on the tarmac outside the gate for 15 minutes before going anywhere.
Then the plane sat there for another 15 minutes waiting for permission to take off.
On the plane I spoke to a guy from Oklahoma named Roy. He was from the chamber of commerce.
Chinese style toll gate
Goldfish, made famous by the West Wing
Shuttle bus from the gate to the plane
When I got to the airport, I decided I had to take the maglev (magnetic levitation) train from the airport to the city.
50 Yuan and a bit of a confusing wait later, and I was on my way.
I'd never travelled on a maglev. The fastest I'd been on previously was one of the InterCity Express (ICE) trains in Germany, which I think travelled up to 300 km/h.
This one claimed to have a top speed of 500 km/h.
When it started out, it sounded moderately loud. For some reason, I'd assumed it was going to be nearly silent.
We got up to 430 km/h before slowing back down again.
Not quite the advertised 500 km/h, but still pretty fast!
430 km/h on the maglev train
Then I got to the metro subway.
Unlike Beijing, all the signs were in Chinese only. Even the map at the service counter was only Chinese. Still, it was only fair that I learn some Chinese. Perhaps Shanghai would force me?
When I got out and up to Nanjing Street, took out my Lonely Planet, and tried to get my bearings. (A map is all well and good, provided you know where North is.)
A man came up and pointed me in the right direction. In English.
He said he was an English teacher, and wanted to have a chat.
Seemed harmless, and I was happy to help, particularly since he had been helpful.
We went to a nearby cafe. He ordered a platter of fruit, some nuts, and two coffees.
We had a chat about Melbourne and Shanghai. He said he was a teacher at a local primary school and had 35 students.
All well and good.
Talked a bit more.
Then he said we should have a whiskey in the spirit of friendship.
Well, probably shouldn't, but a nice Jack Daniel's does sound quite nice.
Finished the drink, then told him I should get going, since I was expected at the hotel, and I didn't want them to cancel the room.
And then he asked the waiter to give me (and only me) the bill.
580 RMB (120 AUD)!!
I told him I didn't mind paying half, but I didn't think I should pay it all. ("A" because he had invited me, "B" because most of the items weren't discussed, he had just ordered them.)
He responded with "thank you for the invitation".
What the!?
I guess I should have disputed it, but I didn't, so I ended up with an empty wallet and a bruised ego.
Chalk one up for life experience: Never trust an English teacher!
Then I made my way towards the hotel.
A girl from Germany was having problems finding her way to Citibank, so I took out the Lonely Planet and showed her the way.
Walked towards the hotel.
And walked.
It was a good five-minute walk along dusty side alleys with no room on the footpath for my suit case.
Chalk two up to experience: Take a taxi or bring a big backpack instead.
Nanjing Street exit from the subway
Which direction has the green light?
The hotel - not quite what I was expecting
More motorbikes here than in Beijing
Big roadworks nearby, the whole area smells of diesel fumes
Went looking for lunch.
Found a Chinese restaurant. Asked if they had dim sum dumplings. They didn't!
So I went to the next restaurant.
They had heap of options, but the first thing I saw that appealed was a BLT sandwich, so I went in and ordered that.
Except they didn't have the BLT sandwich. Or any sandwiches.
Hummed and hahed. Only wanted a light lunch, and not much else that I wanted.
Chose a potato, bacon, anchovy, and mayonnaise pizza.
Yeah, I know. :-)
Ordered a beer. The waitress asked if I wanted with ice or no ice. I said no ice.
Apparently that was the wrong decision. "Ice" meant cold. No ice meant warm.
Mmm, warm beer.
Still, at least it was Tsing Tao, which is drinkable even when warm.
The waitress also pronounced Tsing Tao as "Ching Dow", they way I would have expected in Hong Kong.
I'll have to double check the typical pronunciation in Beijing, but I think the "ts" = "ch" is a Southern thing.
(Update: Apparently it's named after Qingdao, a city in Shandong, meaning that Ching Dow is the correct pronunciation. Tsing Tao is an older spelling. More about Tsing Tao beer.)
Ended up getting the waitress to write down "cold" and "hot" in Chinese for me. :-)
Again, there was smoking in the restaurant. And the hotel smells like cigarette smoke too.
Walked back towards Nanjing Street to try to find the main tourist area called "The Bund".
Wow. Very picturesque. Also very, very dirty and dusty.
And again, a map with an English title, and then no English descriptions or Pinyin versions of place names.
Started differentiating places by coming up with names for the characters (little house, little window, TV, three-legged thing, etc.), or just by the number of characters. It also helps to know the characters for north, central, east, west, and south.
At the Northern end of the Bund, just before the Suzhou Creek, there is a park called Huangpu Park. It used to be a park where only foreigners were allowed, and you weren't allowed to bring pets or bicycles, leading to the humiliating saying "no dogs and Chinese". Now, the main feature is the Monument to the People's Heroes, which is in part a monument to those who fought to free China from foreign occupation.
The old clock tower, it has some history
An advertising boat, why not?
Apparently the whole city is sinking
Monument to the People's Heroes at Huangpu Park
Major construction on the road back to the hotel
It made me want to go and see the Pearl Tower and the museum at its base tomorrow. I'm also planning on checking out the French Concession, if for no other reason than it sounds like it has some good food.
Was also reflecting: before I came on this trip, the largest city I'd been to was Sydney, with 4 million people. In the past two weeks, I've been to Hong Kong (7 million), Beijing (13 million), and Shanghai (17 million).
Certainly a trip of firsts. :-)
Wish I'd read this first.
Travel Advice for China from SmartTraveller.gov.au.
Foreigners have also been targets of a number of scams when travelling in China. An increasing number of tourists are being approached and invited for a drink at a teahouse, cafe or bar nearby to "practice English". Afterwards the tourist is presented with a vastly inflated bill and is not permitted to leave until they pay the bill by credit card.
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