Oct. 18

We started rocking and rolling again last night. The barf bags are out in the corridors again as we sail the fringes of Typhoon Maggie, a category 5 hurricane hitting the northern Philippines which I just discovered are near Hong Kong, our port of call tomorrow. The calm blue sea of yesterday morning has been whipped into gray swells and frothing white caps of spray outside my window. I don’t get sea sick, but typing in this motion makes me a bit dizzy so I can’t type for long. Here is a look back at a few days in China with more to come soon.

Oct.14

I decided to walk the outside decks today instead of the treadmill as the weather is finally nice enough to not get rained on or blown about. The problem is I kept losing track of how many times around the boat I’d gone and getting passed up by some very serious walkers who kept lapping me or pumping little barbells in the air and making me look like I was actually enjoying myself, which I was. Until I spied Pieter up ahead and I decided I better look pretty serious or he would want me to stop and talk and I would have to pretend I understood him. So I started huffing and puffing and whisked past him with a cheery ‘Hi Pieter”. I felt like a real jerk. I’ll find time for him soon, I promise myself.

The waters we are sailing through as we travel towards Shanghai are some of the world’s busiest. I see every manner of craft around the ship from very large cargo ships far off in the mist to various shapes and colors of fishing craft which dare to dart quite close occasionally.  Shanghai is the largest city in China with around 22 million people –this is a country that the world and America must learn to reckon with least of all because of her vast population. But that is a whole other political and economic discussion. Shanghai is also the largest cargo port right now and is situated on an estuary of the Chang Jiang River and the approach is incredibly busy. Usually the ship takes on a harbor pilot for the last hour or so of approach to a dock. But here where we are expected to dock at 8:00AM and will take on a Pilot at 2:00AM because the whole estuary is filled with submerged, stranded and dangerous wrecks. I have just finished reading the book Shanghai Sisters about two sisters in pre-WWII Shanghai and their later lives in America, so I am interested to see this “Queen of the Orient”.  It has had had a major facelift for the for the World Expo 2010 so I am anxious to walk down the famous Bund and see some of her Art Deco buildings, buy some designer knock-offs and eat real Chinese.

 As I go to sleep tonight I look out my window to the normally empty ocean and I would swear I am gazing at a city on the shore. So many beautiful, twinkling lights scattered and colorful, as far as I can see; so many boats travelling in so many directions going somewhere, carrying something, seeking who knows what.

Oct. 15

I wake as the ship is negotiating the river waters and sit on my bed to watch Shainghai pass by my cabin. Aside from a very busy river I am awestruck by a huge modernistic and striking skyline. Every single modern building is unique and marvelous to behold. These are not glass boxes like we are used to in the Midwest. Any one of these buildings would be striking in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, but there are so many I can hardly focus on each one. My words cannot do them justice and I urge everyone to look up Shanghai on the internet and see for yourself the immense array of architecture.  Very little of the old Shanghai remains except in their slums and along the Bund. And because we are able to fit under a large suspension bridge we are docking right near all the action and this is a city that is begging to be walked. I am throwing off the shackles of an organized tour today and a few ladies and I are going to walk and shop for bargains. Remember, World Expo 2010 is here and this city, like Beijing for the Olympics, has worked hard to polish and prepare its image for all to see. As we board the shuttle bus the first thing we notice is watery eyes and runny noses – smog. Heavy, dirty smog.  You just can’t put this many people together and produce all those goods for Wal Mart and Cosco and not have heavy smog I guess. Most unpleasant. We are dropped off on the Bund which simply means ‘muddy bank’ and is the main street along the river upon which some of the most beautiful Art Deco buildings still remain. But behind these buildings and across the river in the new financial district are block after block of amazing modern structures. 20 years ago there were no bridges and no tunnels to the other side of the river as it was only farmland and rice paddies. Today there is something like 12 bridges and 6 tunnels and Shanghai is 15 times larger than it was then. So we kind of walk down the Bund with our mouths agape – one side history, one side the future unfolding. And around us are masses and masses of humanity almost all of Asian descent.  I asked one of the Chinese if he could tell where people are from and he said usually only when they talk. Because I’m brown hair, average height I never get photographed, but the tall and blonde Caucasians are constantly grabbed, spun around and photographed by a mob of Asians each one posing with big smiles at them. Many have never seen a white person before. All the photos you’ve ever seen of tons of people on a street and packs of bikes and motorbikes stopped at lights --that’s what Shanghai is like. And a red light simply means cars and busses can turn right into people walking with the green light. And bikes, motorcycles and these bike wagon things all get to go where they want when they want and you don’t hear them coming up behind or next to you. I think it’s a form of population control.

We decide to take an unmanned tram car tunnel ride beneath the river and it is hysterically hokey and filled with neon lights and flashes and projected images and screens that slide in and out of place – sort of like the first Disneyland ride. This has not been updated like the rest of the city, but it’s a great pedestrian way to get across the river. We elect to go back so we can walk down the famous Nanjing shopping street. The other women are afraid we won’t be able to find the good bargains without someone to show us the way. I tell them not to worry, they will find us.  I want to go to the illegal hole-in-the wall shops we were assured on the ship the government has closed down. But first we need to find a bathroom, of course. So we decide to go to the famous Peace Hotel which is right at the beginning of Nanjing road. We took about 10 steps down the road and had our first approach by a young Chinese boy with slick photos of all the designer bags and watches, etc. He dogs our every step and I tell him we have to go to the bathroom and he say ‘yes, yes, I wait’. And I figure whether he does or doesn’t, won’t matter as more will take his place. We wander into the ritzy and hushed Peace Hotel looking like schleppy Americans, even though the other 3 are Australians. And once again wander around with our mouths wide open. Stupendous silver plate friezes cover four walls of the main rotunda and every expensive boutique is represented in their shops. We couldn’t  find the bathrooms even though I was trying really hard to look like I knew what I was doing, but I kept backtracking and these women kept following me like  little ducklings. I finally gave up and just asked someone and we all luxuriated in real, not standing up, toilets. Bliss.

Back on the street Little Guy finds us immediately and fights off about 12 other guys who tried to grab us as soon as we walked out of the hotel. We snake through the crowds trying to follow him while he yells at any other boy who comes near us. Finally he turns off Nanjing road which is a relief because we can breathe and see each other again, but now we are on a side street and it’s a little scary. Then he turns us into a tiny little store with fake junk and pushes us to the side and show us these rickety stair and tells us to ‘climb, climb, good deals’. And I’m really hoping I did the right thing and praying to my Guardian angel as I smile and tell the Aussise’s how much fun this is going to be. At the top of the really dark stairs is a little wooden door that opens when he knocks the secret knock, and voila! We are in the illegal shop the government closed down. It is bright and hot and stuffy, long and narrow – basically an attic filled with Chinese women telling us we are beautiful and everything ‘really good, really cheap’. I think it’s the same place I was in in New York! Anyway, I overpaid for three purses, but part of the money was just for the adventure.  Then Little Guy leads us back to Nanjing road to fight off the rest of the little boys. But this time we got to a market that is just a trinket store upstairs and a market downstairs. After haggling for 10 minutes over some mirrors it occurs to me I’m arguing over 50 cents. So I buy the silly things and wander over to the other side and realize it’s more of the illegal designer shops.  I get all the women over there and these smart people actually give us stools to sit on and bring junk to us, we say no, then they get new junk, we buy it and after about 45 minutes the four of us have used all our Yuan and all our dollars and they are still bringing us stuff. And only then do we stop. Thank God the shuttle back to the ship is free.

That night I go to dinner with the Ugly American, his wife and their friend. He has hired a driver, a guide and van for two days. As we meet at the gangway he comes down in real pants, untucked plaid shirt and real shoes – it’s an improvement. He will later take off the shirt at the restaurant to reveal a red t-shirt and suspenders. What can I say? To see Shanghai at night is to release your inner child and just enjoy. I think the Chinese love of fireworks has been channeled into creative and colorful lighting. Every building, the streets and trees all have magnificent, amazing, corny and just plain fun lighting. The river is plied by neon filled party and excursion boats. Again, my words cannot do justice to the spectacle of Shanghai nights. From highly technical to just silly, the fun goes on and on. You can probably see it on the internet also. We toured the city and then went to a beautiful restaurant our guide had picked out for us. It was luxuriously decorated and filled with all Asians. We had a private glassed in room and ordered all sorts of interesting dishes and truly enjoyed them while Ugly burped away. I’m used to it now. He is a very nice, intelligent and successful man and I should re-name him, but all the names have been changed here and this one sort of fits so…… Anyway this wonderful dinner cost us each $20 dollars. I had brought about $120 not having any idea what it would cost, so I was really surprised to dine in luxury for practically nothing.

My first day in Shanghai had been a real experience and true sensory overload, but in the best possible way.