My first thoughts on Shanghai
After 5 hours non stop, I finally arrived at my destination… Shanghai!
I can't say I know a lot about Shanghai.... except that it is one of the biggest cities of China… plus it was the earliest cities in China that opened its doors to the western world. So it's a big giant city….. commercial hub, blah blah….. I wasn't sure if I was going to see anything you don't normally see in big cities… shopping malls.. sky scrapers, highways, high end designer goods, Mc Donald's and what have you. I did find manage to find out that they have one of the tallest hotel and towers and trade centres in China and in the world in the Jin Mao tower etc… but then, we already have to KLCC in our own back yard, so its kinda hard to get excited over yet another super tall building… just doesn't do it for me. Why didn't my boss choose some suppliers from Beijing instead?
One thing that DID catch my attention was the Yu Yuan Gardens that seems to be very ancient on top of being beautiful… I think I will definitely check that out. But Shanghai really is just supposed to be a port of entry for me. My real destination is another city called Nantong, and another in the south called Jiaxing. I have been sent here alone to the land of my forefathers, to do a visit and inspection with some of my company suppliers. In a way, I am hoping that when I am out of the city, I will get to see some more interesting and cultural things to take pictures of. Who needs to see another Dolce & Gabana and LV shop anyway.
Flight was pretty normal, with the exception of when we landed and these bunch of health officers came on board wearing their full quarantine suit, pointing some thermal laser gun at us, try to see if any of us had got the H1N1 flue… which as of this moment I can confirm was a negative.
Sad to say, within ten minutes of heading into the city.. the rain started to POUR. (pic).. It was only 4pm.. but the clouds were so dark and menacing you would think it is evening. This kind of dampened (pun intended) my spirits somewhat, as I was looking forward to dumping my bags and going out while there was still a bit of sunlight. Along the way, I actually spotted something that really epitomized the joke others like to say about China and their standards of doing work. Take a look at this truck (pic). Of course, this is a bit of a stereotype….. I'm sure China will pick up in a few years. Malaysia isn't any better anyway.. and I think in time the Chinese will supersede us (if not already).
Anyway, the rain spoilt my spirits and even by 8, the rain had not stopped. I grabbed my camera and braved whatever leftover rain there was left and started walking the streets. I headed straight for The Bund (link) to take a snap of the Shanghai skyline. Here's my poor miserable attempt. Camera's like mine aren't really good for night shots, I didn't have a tripod, it was still raining….. and there was road works going on the entire stretch of the bund.. which pretty much ruined the whole scene really…. So I headed for Nanjing Road… supposedly a famous shopping street stretch a couple of miles long.. I walked the entire stretch… looking for dinner and just to get a general feel for the place.
It's kind of hard since not many speak English… so whatever little mandarin I could speak had to do. True to my prediction.. countless countless shopping malls.. it was a bit of déjà vu… like being in BB Plaza or Bukit Bintang again… except its MUCH bigger, and everything is in Chinese. Believe it or not, I just settled for some McD's for dinner and that was it.. Took a few more pictures and headed back to the hotel. Shopping districts aren't really my thing… regardless of wherever you are in the world.
But overall, it does feel a lot livelier that in KL. The streets are bustling with young couples and families, expatriates going about their business. My boss deliberately asked me to come a day earlier for me to 'get a feel of China'…. Well, despite not getting to excited, I must admit there is a certain energy to the place… fast paced big city feel that is… Its not everyone's cup of tea… but it's definitely present here in Shanghai. And to be honest, it easier for me to adapt here in Shanghai than it was when I was I Europe last year or in UK the previous year. Maybe it's the colour of the skin, maybe it's the language. In the UK, I spoke the language.. but even then, their English and our English is totally different.. Plus the culture, way of life and thinking is so different (not in a bad way though).. In Belgium it was worst.. everything was French-y and anti English.. Over here in Shangai.. some thought I was from Beijing.. others thought I was from Japan.. and when I kept absolutely quiet… they used whatever English they could to try to communicate with me. If I opened my mouth and spoke mandarin, they were quite friendly actually.
I'm not much of a mandarin speaker, and can hardly read more that 20% of a Chinese sentence.. but hey, throw me here a year.. I honestly think I could pick it up!
More updates to come……….
P/S: Just in case you were wondering where the pics are.. it turns out Blogger is blocked in China, and I can't access my dashboard. I am posting this blog through email. Will update the blog with pictures when I get back to Malaysia...Turns out China censors A LOT of things on the internet. Luckily, I remembered that I could post through email.
posted by Compulsive Blogger @ 4:15 pm
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