The train from Shanghai got us back into smoggy Beijing around 4 o'clock on Sunday afternoon. We're not sure where the clear sky's that we left in Beijing went.
The three days in Shanghai were well spent. On Thursday after we got settled into our hotel near the People's Square the hotel got us a cab down to the river so we could take an evening river cruise of the HuangPu River. Shanghai has a very nice promenade that runs along the Bund. The Bund is the historic side of the river that has maintained it's 19th century charm and stares across the river to the Pudong district where the cities tallest skyscrapers reside. Additionally, the side of the river is home to many of the docks for the river cruises that we sought. Julie and I had taken one of these cruises before but had such a good time we were not hesitant about signing up for another. This boat was only about half full so there were plenty of seats to be had in the temperature controlled viewing area where we enjoyed the first half of the cruise. We gave up our seats and headed topside after we made the turn and got plenty of pictures. We'll have to share them later as the are on Mom and Dad Stiens camera.
After the cruise it had been a long day so we decided to just grab some food by near the hotel instead of venturing across the river. After a couple of failed attempts at hailing a taxi it was decided for us that it was a nice enough evening to stroll back to the hotel. If you don't speak Chinese getting a taxi can be a difficult experience in China. In Beijing and Shanghai the fares far outnumber the taxis so the taxi drivers have no qualms about refusing to pick you up. We scurried back to the hotel along the nearest avenue and missed only one turn before returning to our temporary home. The hotel had a nice restaurant on the second floor and we headed done to try the local cuisine. The meal consisted of several dishes served what we Americans would call family style. One of these dishes was fried noodles with Shanghai style. When in Shanghai, right? Now I could be wrong but it tasted like this dish was the inspiration for my favorite Chinese dish, Lo Mein. I was a fan. We all were a fan of the restaurant and Mom declared that we should come eat here again. This was not he first or last time we would hear her make this declaration.
On Friday, Julie's birthday celebration began. We started the morning with the boys heading out to get Starbucks for the ladies only to find out that in the metropolis that seems to be buzzing all night long the Starbucks didn't open until 7:30. Dad and I settled for McDonald's after the second coffee shop we went into told us they were still brewing and it would be ten more minutes. We're still working on that patience thing. After breakfast we hopped on the Shanghai metro and headed to Qibao. Qibao is a tourist destination as an example of a river town. There are many famous river towns in the greater Shanghai area and the surrounding cities of Suzhou, Wujin, etc. It was a nice view of life in the area in the past. Sometimes it looked like the recent past but that's interesting too. Mom & Dad got to see and smell some of the food they had been warned about before they had left, luckily it wasn't lunch time yet. Pictures are still with Mom & Dad Stiens so we'll pass them along later. After another wrong turn quickly corrected we found a restaurant for lunch which again provided us with a delicious meal and some rest before we headed out on our next exploration.
For the afternoon, I had planned a trip to the Shanghai Propaganda Poster Museum. Per the website the museum is located in the basement of an apartment complex and isn't highly advertised due to the sensitive nature of the displays. The museum contained posters from the beginning of the Communist era (late forties / early fifties) through the late seventies. These posters were one of the main means with which public opinion was shaped in China during this period. The museum housed many of the government produced (high quality posters) but citizens were encouraged to make there own handwritten posters making accusations against anyone and everyone. The accused would often come back in red ink and write responses on the posters. This process was responsible for a lot of the fear and paranoia that existed in the country during the period. In the late seventies the government decided that supporting this kind of behavior was counter productive and destroyed most of the material evidence of what had taken place. It was very interesting to be able to experience (on a small scale) what the average Chinese person must have been bombarded with during that time.
After the museum we had another "stroll" ahead of us so after a few blocks we decided to stop into a French cafe and have a refreshing beverage and relax for a spell before we continued our journey. Our next destination was Sasha's bar and restaurant for Julie's birthday dinner. Sasha's is located in the old Soong family mansion. The Soong family had three daughters who went on to marry the richest man in China, Sun Yat-sen - who was the first president of the Republic of China and Chiang Kai-shek, respectively. (You can follow the links if you want to know more.) This restaurant is now more American than Chinese, which for Julie and I it was nice to get a taste of home.
On Saturday, we continued our Julie birthday celebration by taking a bus tour of the city via the hop-on/hop-off bus. After getting taking the whole route we decided to go visit the Yuyuan garden, the temple to the city gods and less intentionally the Shanghai ancient street. We have many good pictures from the garden and the museum and as you can guess those are still with Mom & Dad Stiens, so we'll get those to you at a later date. Julie and I have learned that the term ancient street on a tourist map just means old style buildings housing souvenir shops. These streets are also very crowded and as they are in China most of the food is tailored to Chinese tourists, therefore it was voted that we would visit the local McDonald's for lunch. We visited the garden after lunch and then it was back to the hotel for a little R&R. To finish off the Julie birthday multi-day extravaganza we jumped back on the Hop-on/Hop-off bus and traveled under the HuangPu river. Don't worry there was a tunnel. Once we reached Pudong we were dropped off at the Oriental Pearl Tower and navigated our way to the Ritz-Carlton for drinks and dinner on the 58th floor. Again, we have some great pictures but they are with Mom and Dad Stiens, so guess what? We'll get them to you later.
Our train departing Shanghai left at eleven, so we had a lazy morning in the hotel. We caught a cab to the train station and waved goodbye to Shanghai.
-Ryan
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