Part II - Shanghai

Hey kids,

I apologize heavily for my slacking on writing, per usual. That said, here goes.

So, after Beijing, we bought a pair of tickets for Soft Sleeper beds to Shanghai. You might ask yourself - what the hell is a soft sleeper? I'll tell you. It's a single compartment in a very chic looking train set up for 4 people, basically two sets of bunk beds. The beds are rather comfortable, the furnishings a bit up scale, and all the employee's in the train are quite fashionably dressed (when it comes to Chinese taste, I guess). For the record, we took off on January 17 at around 6pm.
After about 10 minutes of milling around on the train, waiting for it to leave, Steve and I supposed that we were going to be the only two people in our quarters, since the other two didn't quite show up. However, things changed swiftly once two fella's basically flew into the room and jumped up into their bunks. They were two middle aged guys - an uncle and a nephew, we later discovered. The Newphew's name was Elton, a Chinese engineer who lived in Shanghai but had to commute often to Beijing for work... Whereas the uncle was named Robert - which aptly and quickly got changed into 'Uncle Robbie' for all intensive purposes. The guy was an absolute riot. Elton's English was broken, but quite understandable. A nice guy. Uncle Robbie knew very little English, but what he did know, he wasn't afraid to belt out as loud as possible so that we could 'clearly understand him. As for the rest of the ride, it was wonderfully comfortable, and we made solid friends with the train waitresses, Uncle Robbie and Elton. The culmination of the ride was Steve telling Uncle Robbie he had a friend that was a girl living in Shanghai (as he understand as 'girlfriend', of course), and that I had no friends like that in Shanghai. He thought about this for awhile, then asked where I was sleeping. I supposed that I would be on the floor at the apartment. I believe Uncle Robbie took this as I was on the floor, and Steve was in a bed with a lady partner. After letting this sink in for a bit, Uncle Robbie unexpectedly leaned over his bedpost, pointing at me incredulously saying, "Tomorrow.. you.. you.. you, SUFFER!".. "You sleep alone.. SUFFER!". It was easily one of the funniest things I've heard a Chinese person say to me, to date. God Bless that wild old Uncle Robbie.
Once we arrived in Shanghai the next morning, we were greeted outside the train station by Steve's good friend Lu Xuan, who promptly took us to the subway station that would eventually lead us to her apartment. She was gracious enough to let us crash at her place for the few days that we were going to spend in Shanghai, although she also needed to work during our stay. That in mind, she forewent being to work on time in order to make sure we were comfortable and situated at her apartment first. The Chinese level of hospitality is something I've never experienced before coming to this country and meeting the unbelievable people that live here. It's really a humbling thing to be catered to, just because you're a friend of a friend.
Although Shanghai is a hustling, bustling metropolis (and a really neat city), it isn't exactly all glitz and glamor. Lu Xuan's apartment was a bit outside the city proper, and more in a sort of 'chinese suburb'. The best way I can explain this is that, it was like living in a place that seemed like it was in a constant state of construction and re-construction, dust, people, and concrete. Not really too flattering a state of affairs. However, a short subway ride brought you back into the sophistication of Shanghai high rises and business architecture. It was a strange dichotomy to observe. Steve, considering his hate for New Jersey, refused to call the area that Lu Xuan lived near anything else but 'The Hoboken of Shanghai', which I guess is apt enough. Either way, it was gracious of her to give us a place to stay. Thanks again, Lu Xuan!
The time we spent in Shanghai was divided between Lu Xuan's apartment and 'Jin'an si', which is Jin'an temple, the subway stop that Lu Xuan and Tina (her best friend) worked near. One night we visited the famous 'Bund' of Shanghai with it's beautiful flashing lights of the city, and the reflection of said lights into the river running straight through Shanghai. We also managed to get ourselves to 'Window Too', a really fun bar that was extravagantly western. It felt a little like home. Oh, and on that note - Shanghai itself is extremely western feeling. Aside from the usual hordes of Chinese people around, the city has an overwhelming amount of western chains, western style, english language, and foreigners teeming inside of it. It was nice for a bit, but afterwards a little off-putting. I really enjoy Chinese culture, and it certainly exists in Shanghai, but something has been lost there, I think. Alas, it is still China!
To disprove myself a little, we also managed to find ourselves a temple (near Jin'an si, the name escapes me) to visit in Shanghai. It was thoroughly interesting at night - lit up like a giant, Chinese Christmas light decoration, and surrounded by throngs of people visiting the shops surrounding it, or just there for a stroll. By this time too, the Chinese Spring Festival was creeping up closer day by day, and each day more and more people were out being festive at night! It made for an excellent environment for a few young kids like ourselves to be exploring a beautiful city like Shanghai, and proved to make things more interesting basically everywhere we went.
As a note, Tina, Lu Xuan's good friend, was a huge help in Shanghai. She didn't speak a whole lot of English, but her friendly attitude, and helpful demeanor were awesome for the time that we were there. She taught me a ton of useful things to know in Chinese while we were there (for example, xiaoxin means 'be careful!' - an indispensable phrase to know when crossing the street in China) and was generally just a lovely person to be around!
After a few days of fun and excitement in China's largest metropolis, we said our goodbyes to the girls, and made way for the bus station early in the morning on that following Tuesday. It was sad to leave the unending possibilities of Shanghai, alas, we were heading into more cultural and beautiful places! Our next stop - Nanjing, to meet back up with Mr. Dirk Chilcote, and basically to plan out the rest of our vacation together, since nothing else (at that time) had been actually set in concrete.

Next Episode: NANJING.