The Pearl of the Orient

Yu Garden - High Kitsch


Pearl Tower and Skyline of Bund

Some funny lines here...

Well, greetings from Shanghai. There have been no posts since we’ve been here because I haven’t been able to access the blog at all. I think it has something to do with the server at this hotel. I’m hoping I can post this even though I won’t be able to see it. It will therefore be brief.

We got out of Chicago by the skin of our teeth in the sense that there was snow and freezing weather and many backed-up flights, but our flight left almost on time and arrived fourteen hours later in Shanghai ON TIME!

The hotel is a renovated mansion built in the twenties for a famous mob boss. It fell into disrepair for many years and has only recently been restored to its former splendor. It has just thirty rooms and it’s filled with antiques and interesting memorabilia from the past like old cameras and typewriters (the lobby, that is, not the room).

We arrived around seven the first night after the long plane ride and another couple of hours getting through customs, collecting luggage and getting a taxi to the hotel. I have found from previous travels that if you stand there looking confused with a map in your hand, usually someone will offer to help. That’s what happened at the airport. A Chinese gentleman behind the Four Seasons counter asked if I needed help and I told him we were staying at the Mansion and would he write that down for me so we could give it to the taxi driver. He then proceeded to call the hotel (I had the number) and was told that our reservation was to begin tomorrow not tonight! I had changed the reservation two weeks previously when our flight was cancelled and we found out we had to leave a day earlier. I got on the phone, was told by the young lady that the hotel was completely booked (Valentine’s Day!). I then dropped the name of my new best friend Mr. Jin who had taken and then changed the reservation (the confirmation of which I was holding in my hand), she left, came back and informed me that there was in fact a room for us. Disaster averted once again.

As I write this, we have now spent two days exploring Shanghai with one more full day before we leave for Burma. Shanghai is interesting as all big cities are, but not nearly as exotic nor as charming as I thought it would be. Day one we went to Yu Garden, a highly recommended tourist site and a must see in Shanghai. The garden itself is surrounded by block after block of kitschy shops and thousands of red lanterns draped overhead, left over no doubt from Chinese New Year which was a couple of weeks ago. The Chinese celebrate the New Year for a month we hear, and Yu Garden was packed with Chinese tourists who appeared to be in from the provinces on vacation. We wanted to go to a dumpling restaurant there, but the crowds were so thick we abandoned the idea and found another place outside the confines of the garden. Just like last year, we were the object of quite a few stares--I wish I knew whether they were astounded by our beauty or appalled by our ugliness! Beauty of course is in the eye of the beholder.

We walked from there to the famous Bund, a promenade along the riverfront where the skyline that is so well known can be seen on the other side of the water. The Pearl TV Tower, a space ship of a building dominates the new Shanghai east of the river. West of the river, as one walks the Bund, there is block after block of Art Deco buildings, mostly banks today, which call to mind what the old Shanghai must have looked like in the twenties and thirties. Oddly enough, Shanghai as a city is not that old--before 1842 it was a quiet fishing village and only when it was designated a “treaty port” and thus open to foreign commerce did it begin to grow. At that time, the British, French and Americans each carved out an area of the city to establish their own identities. These areas were called Concessions and still exist today with separate characters, architectural styles and personalities, although they are no longer dominated by one nationality. Some of the buildings along the Bund are very beautiful and are designated architectural treasures, but many of them are dilapidated and in serious need of repair. The old Peace Hotel, which I had read about and couldn’t wait to see, was locked up tight and as we peered through the windows we could see that there was much work to be done to restore it. Other buildings were open though and had been preserved, although pictures are not allowed for some unfathomable reason. I have included a picture of the ominous warning signs that are prominently placed at the entry to these buildings. I tried to take a picture inside one of the more beautiful buildings (before noticing the signs) but was immediately pounced upon by tone of the ever-present guards.

I’m going to try to post this now if only to see if I can. More to come, I hope!