Hello all,
Today I slept in for a bit which was lovely. My air conditioner did a fabulous job overnight while it was 27 degrees!!
This morning I set off on the bus to the French Concession Area. Though I had visited it on Tuesday, I wanted to explore the area more in depth. I did so with the help of a blog post (blogception!) called 'Two Suitcases and a Tin Pot' that Dad had directed me towards. It was a carefully laid out route with lots of interesting stops along the way.
First of all I walked to Xintiandi, the area Howard took us to on Tuesday. This is part of the 'New World' area that popped up after all the foreign concessions etc finished in Shanghai. Not too much was open at this time (9.30am-ish) so I just meandered around. Then I went back again to the Communist Party of China Museum. This time I had no time constraints so I took my time. With the help of Brenton's explanations the other day, I was able to piece together the information there.
I'm not going to type out the entire history, but basically post opium war many parts of China (and subsequently Shanghai) were controlled by foreign powers and westernisation was massive here from the 1860s to 1890s. In 1911 a man named Sun Yat-Sen orchestrated the abdication of the Qing emperor (Puyi who was a child at the time) and was named interim president of the republic of China.
In the 1920s the communist party was formed (he was a big part, as was Mao) and on the 23rd of July 1921 this museum was the site of the first meeting of the party. Sun Yat-Sen died in 1925 which put a bit of a spanner in the works, but over time other members and events led to the eventual communist revolution in 1949. Obviously there's a lot more to it than that but that's a very small nutshell.
This is seriously embarrassing, but until Brenton spelled it out for me the other day it hadn't occurred to me that China is communist still to this day. Obviously I know about the internet controls and other happenings, but for some reason I hadn't connected it all together. I wish we had learned more Chinese history at school because I have felt quite embarrassed of my lack of knowledge of their history the whole time I've been here! The communist part became very apparent to me during my Museum visit today because whilst watching a video, an entire room full of people started bowing and chanting at certain parts. It was pretty intense!
I continued walking and went to a little hole in the wall restaurant the blog suggested. It said to try a radish cake. I was a bit apprehensive at first so I bought one, but once I discovered how delicious it was I bought another one! Yum! The little old lady serving me beamed at me the second time when I gestured to my lips to say it was delicious.
Next was Fuxing Park. This was super cute because there were people ballroom dancing random, men playing cards and people doing tai chi. I stopped and watched all three for a while and managed to escape the dancers trying to get me to join in!!
Then I ventured down some beautiful tree lined streets and went to Sun Yat-Sen's house which is now a museum. My student card that expired two years ago just keeps on giving, I used it and paid half price! The museum didn't have too much English and was just a really general overview of SYS. It was filled with furniture he used and some rooms were furnished as he had left them. I read about his wife, Soong Ching Ling and read some letters Lenin had written to him.
Then it was onto Tianzifang, a huge market complex of bustling alleyways with everything from an English teahouse to a sushi bar to a New York Steakhouse. I bought a delicious cherry ice cream on a stick that had whole cherries inside it. By this point it was just 11am and I had had 2L of water. The thought of anything hot wasn't very appetising to me. I browsed some of the shops with beautiful crafts and souvenirs and then continued on.
I passed a noodle place that usually creates the noodles in front of your eyes, but they weren't today. I wasn't hungry anyway and had seen it in Xi'an! Then I got to the Shanghai Culture Square and saw the theatre that big shows play at.
I continued up a street with lots of tailors as well as a cosmetic surgery place that promised "you can also be beautiful" (no thanks - happy the way I am!!) and then saw the Cathay Theatre which was built in the 1930s, and the Lyceum Theatre built around the same time.
By this time I was extremely hot and the last stop was an art and craft museum that had similar exhibitions to what I saw yesterday. So instead I walked around, taking in the department stores with their ice cold air conditioning and the tree lined streets. In my way home I walked through some really I resting alleyways where people lived as opposed to the main road as I had the other times.
The walk was fantastic and I'm really glad I took the time to explore the area more in depth! I caught the metro back and had a three hour rest at my hostel. I was exhausted and even had a nap! Those who know me well know that's a big deal for me!!
I got the bus to near the Bund and somehow stumbled across the river cruise terminal. I managed to buy a ticket for 7.45pm once it would be dark and the buildings lit up. I was 1.5 hours early so decided to find some food but had no luck. I couldn't find anything nearby!! I'm missing Howard's direction already haha. So after a little while I just went back to the boat terminal. This turned out to be beneficial anyway as I queued up really early and was the first of hundreds of people to board my boat. As a result I scored a spot in the corner on the back with an unobstructed view.
The boat ride went for 50 minutes and was absolutely stunning. The lights here are so clever and many of them are animations that change constantly. I love watching them! I was next to a girl from Kunming who started talking to me and told me she thought I was beautiful. I'm going to miss these compliments!!! I told her she was too and she laughed. I explained to her that in Australia people want tanned skinned and she wouldn't believe me. She said Shanghai is very hot and Kunming isn't as bad. She was so lovely and even though her parents couldn't speak English, I could tell they were too.
After taking some photos I took mental photos of the view as well and soaked it all in. Once the boat returned I decided to walk home as the terminal was just 25 minutes from my hostel. By this time I was famished. I tried Yuyuan Markets but everything was closing as I arrived. I had just started to accept my fate of eating bananas and hydralite tablets in my room when the Golden Arches appeared - my saviour! I smashed a double cheeseburger and some fries. It was so good to have bread that wasn't sweet. I'm not much of a Maccas fan usually but it's a good emergency food when travelling.
Tomorrow I'm planning on sleeping in then wandering the Bund for a while and then heading to the airport. I'll post once I'm at the airport!!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
PS: They just said on the news the current hot weather is breaking records and that air conditioners are making up 55% of electricity usage at the moment. There was a huge storm in Chengdu today though - I looked terrifying!
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