Ken in Shanghai - page 2

SOCIALIZING:
"I made it to People’s Square. My image had been a large parade ground like Red Square in Russia, but it is just a large park in the middle of downtown. Pretty nice, but overly spectacular. There were some kiddy rides, some ponds and small grassy areas. Not much open space. When I was there, three locals came up to me and started talking and asking where I was from. My first thought was they were trying to sell something or rip off a tourist, but they just wanted to talk to someone and practice their English. I relaxed after talking for 10 or 15 minutes, keeping close track of my wallet. Once I warmed up, we had a pretty good time. They guy (I couldn’t even begin to try and spell his name) is from Shanghai, and the girls are from Xian and somewhere in Canton. They were on their way to a place next to the square that does tea tasting and asked me to come along. A girl served us 6 different kinds of tea, explaining the background and meaning of each (no, I can’t remember them all). They translated for me, so it was a pretty good time.

"After tea, I meandered over to the French Concession (another picture). There really wasn’t much to it. The only part that stands out is a two block area with French style buildings and paving stones for the street. Most of the shops were high end clothing stores, and I saw more Italian than French names. There was also a Belgian Pub and the first place I saw when I got there was a Pizza Hut. I’ve avoided the American places so far, but will try one of them just to compare. There seem to be plenty of KFCs, Dairy Queens, and Hagen Daas restaurants everywhere. Less common, but still plentiful downtown are McDonalds and Pizza Hut."

TRANSPORTATION:
"The scooter seems to be the Chinese family car. There are herds of them everywhere. The last picture is from the front of the local subway stop. They look like large (but not very) mopeds without pedals. When I say they look like the family car, it is normally to see mom, dad, and the child piled on to these things. I rarely see helmets except on the normal size motorcycles, which are not very common."

"You might also work on your agility. Pedestrians are at the bottom of the pecking order in the streets around here. If that walk sign come on, you still have to dodge anyone making a turn across the cross walk. Taxis are exceptionally aggressive here, but also watch for the scooters and bicycles."

"Two signs jumped out at me. There were a bunch of Cosmo posters. Something about that Chinese girl with that hair struck me kind of funny. The sign about “English Perfects Your Life” was also pretty good." 

VISIT TO A WATER VILLAGE:
"Leaving the subway, Qibao looks like your basic built-up city in China with malls and such. A few blocks south was an obviously older street lined with touristy shops.  It even had one of the gateway arches typical of the older towns. About halfway down was a small park and historic area. It had a few of the older, classical Chinese style buildings. Nice, but  no big deal. From there to the river is by this little “road” about 10 feet wide. It was lined with these tiny shops and felt like trying to leave at the end of a Gamecock football game. See the other picture. I probably could have pulled my feet up and been held up and carried through by the masses. With all these little trinket shops along the way, it was like the Jockey Lot on steroids. That mess lasted around 150 yards and ended at the river. The riverfront had those neat little arch bridges and boat rides (10 Yuan if I wanted one). Of course, the historic portion of the river was about 100 yards long at best."