Trevor & Jonathans Cruise & Trip to the Far East and Australia 2016

Day 54 - Saturday July 2nd 2016 - Shanghai, China

So it’s true to say that as we headed down to breakfast this morning that we had still not really decided what we were going to do today. Do we go to Disney or do we just have a day around the malls and look around some of the other areas that we have not seen yet in our time on Shanghai?

Well that decision dragged on and on to be honest but it was the weather that clinched the decision on the end. The sky was as grey as a stormy day can be and there really would be no fun walking around Disney in the wet, with and umbrella. We already have nose colds and a day in the wet was never going to help that so the Disney plan was jettisoned out of the window a mall day it was going to be.

As we had finally made that decision we decided there was no need to rush straight off so we actually sat up in the room for a little over half an hour and I caught up on some blog stuff (I was two days behind) and Trev sorted out all the paperwork for our ongoing trip. We also needed to get some laundry done as pants and socks were too low to last the rest of the trip but this time we had no choice but to pay the exuberant hotel prices for washing our smalls. They would be back with us by six tonight so at least there was no panic and no stress in organising it but this washing alone for a few bits would cost us more than when we got virtually our whole suitcases washed in Vietnam.

Leaving the blogs behind still a day in arrears we headed off on foot again for The Bund.

Our plan was to pass under the Bund via a tunnel that was created just for tourist transit between the two sides. It was meant to be some kind of 3D/4D attraction and to be honest we did not really know what we were letting ourselves in for as there seemed to be pages about it written in Chinese characters but a single sentence in English, we would soon be enlightened.

The other thing that hit home was how lucky we had been with the weather the first day we had come down to The Bund and our first since arriving in Shanghai. Ever since that day there had been a real mist and smog in the air that really changed the look and feel of the city and its fabulous skyline. Our photos had all been taking in blue skies with no fog at all and on top of that it had not even been the planned day to visit the Bund so fate must have shown her cards and arranged it for us, well fate we thank you as again today we walked amongst the mist and a grey grey sky.

So the tunnel experience. Um, well we paid our 50 yen each fee for a one way transfer under The Bund. Now consider that if we had taken the journey on the Metro underground system it would have cost us the grand total of 6 yen for both of us this is a significant difference. We were still really none the wiser whet this experience was going to bring as we went down a long escalator into the depths of the river bed. What greeted us was a small silver underground carriage, standing only that probably held about sixteen people and lots of families waiting to get on, we started to realise we were certainly on something that had been designed with kids at its heart.

We boarded our silver car, the only westerners on board and stared out into the length of tunnel that we could see before us. Lights started to flash, colours started to change and to be honest that was the story of the next five minutes as we moved along the track and across the bund. Even the kids in the carriage did not look or sound that impressed to be honest and there were none of the coo or ahh noises you would expect to hear. It had certainly been a very expensive five minute journey but thank god we had not booked the return ticket!

We were on the other side of the river, somewhere new and that was the point and once again it was like walking into a new Shanghai. Our exit was virtually right underneath the TV tower, the iconic building and it was great to get up close and personal even on this grey day.

The streets were all immaculate, groomed almost with tidy hedges and smart streetlamps with very new looking jet washed pavements underfoot. Having cruised the river and walked the river on the other side and the weather still looking dodgy there was no point doing it again form this side so instead we headed off into the flow of people heading to the Super Brands Mall, yes that it was it was called.

Before getting there though there was another significant piece of architecture or urban planning to navigate. A raised pedestrian roundabout and we’ve never seen one like this before in our lives, it was inspiring.

So beneath us at street level is a huge roundabout with great planting and topiary setting it off whilst above the roads in exactly the same shape is the elevated pedestrian walkway, a giant circle like a halo connecting offices and malls and convention centres. Its finish is all glass and polished stainless steel and it’s actually a really joyful thing to walk along, being raised up with the buildings rather than looking up at them.

We took the Disney exit first. As we were not going to Disney after all that deliberating we thought that we had better at least stop by the shop to see what they had on offer, was Mickey still the same or had he had a Chinese makeover?

Outside the shop stood a tall clock tower with mickey mouse hands going around telling the time, it blew bubbles at the same time and was just like something that you might find at Disney World itself, just of main street. The other significant thing was that yes Mickey was different, or at least there were two versions of him. Now we really don’t know if he had gone through the Chinese modelling system or that this was an older style Mickey as he had changed over the years but yes you could buy a mickey mouse cuddly toy in the shop that looked quite significantly different from the Mickey we all know, so know you know.

We left the Disney experience behind and headed for the Superbrand Mall. This was everything that you would expect it to be, eight floors of high fashion and toys, you name it but surprisingly where we had expected it to be filled with high end designer brands it wasn’t, it was all relatively high street which was quite surprising.

Jonathan tried on a shirt in G-Star but the medium too big and the small too tight across his chest (he loved it when his belly looked fine in a small) so that was no purchases for him in China, most unusual indeed. I know what you’re thinking, what about your maxed out luggage weight? Well we’re sure we could have sneaked a small shirt on board but it was not to be.

We mooched around in the mall for around an hour, not visiting every floor, not really looking for anything to be honest but at least it was dry. Bored of that mall we headed back to the pedestrian roundabout and headed off to the IFC Mall with a big bold and beautiful Apple store right at the front. This was just like the one at the top of 5th avenue in New York in that it is totally underground. It was just a huge high all glass oval that gives it any presence and this oval was also surrounded by a really shallow water feature. Now Apple stores are famed by their beautiful glass staircases and this one was no exception, a spiral glass staircase cascading down two floors but this one had then been covered in carpet…. sacrilege!!!! My guess is that some kids had been splashing around in the water feature then gone into the store with wet feet onto a glass stair and boom…. it’s an accident waiting to happen, a design over function fail in every sense.

The IFC mall was displaying its favour for American brands strongly from the outside as there was an Abercrombie and Fitch (again we went in but bought nothing, Jonathan thinks he’s leaving A&F behind as a brand). There was a Converse shop, Starbucks, Costa Coffee and a huge Pizza Express. Now the IFC mall should really have swapped names with the SuperBrand Mall as this is where we found all the high end labels from Gucci to Vivien Westwood and Dior to Tom Ford. We could not afford anything on three floors of this mall (ok we could but we certainly wouldn’t want to). The only floor that anything remotely affordable on was on the basement level, hidden away out of sight like a poor relation.

Trev was really suffering today with a cold and a constant nose run so as they say feed a cold he had a real taste for Pizza since we had seen the Pizza Express outside so in we went and as per usual we both ordered exactly the same, The American Hottest One. Normally these things tend to actually not be that hot but this Pizza was a real exception to the rule, put it this way we really could not have gone for much hotter, it was right on the edge.

After lunch we really did not know what to do with ourselves, the weather was still overcast and we talked about maybe going to the Shanghai Zoo to see the Pandas but Zoos are not really not our thing and as Trev said “if it’s bad and horrible cages I just want to free them all” so instead we mooched the mall a bit longer before heading on the Subway to try again and find the French quarter.

On closer inspection of the underground map we found that there is actually a station in the area known as Xintiandi so that was where we were heading hoping that this time it would reveal itself to us.

Sure enough as we exited the station there it was. Again it was not an immediate find but walking up the street a little we realised that we were this time in the right place. So what is Xintiandi? Well it was an area that originally housed all the French expatriates that lived and worked here in Shanghai and the architecture of the area has a Chinese/ European feel being more low rise with little Juliette balconies and being built of red brick. The area was now a home to the quirky fashion stores, Chinese designers, European antiques form the 60’s and 70’s and a whole host of restaurants and bars from Wolfgang Puck to Godiva chocolates and German Beer Keller type bars. It was a Beer Keller that we frequented as Trev had worked up a thirst with all the walking. Shanghai is generally a very expensive city and those two beers are a great example of just how expensive, our bill £16 for two half litres!

Refreshed (but light of pocket) we walked up and down and round and around the area, it really is again another complete curve ball that Shanghai can throw at you. The city really does wear many clothes in terms of the areas and the contrasts that you find and today and probably been the most extreme in terms of their euro/american feel.

The sad thing is that it almost felt like the Chinese were perhaps running away from their own cultures in areas like these, striving for western styles and western ways of doing things. There were no chopsticks in the restaurants, no tea being drunk, not a single Chinese restaurant in sight yet the place was buzzing with a real street pavement café atmosphere. Maybe you need to be western to see the loss of the eastern flavour in these parts I really don’t know but it certainly was not to be found.

We left Xintiandi behind and the rain and got back on the underground to take us back to the hotel. Although the day might sound as though we just spent it shopping we really didn’t. What we saw was another side to the city and actually that turned into a good day, good memories and another perspective on the city as a whole.

Getting off the tube we walked back into the rain and after making a quick stop for takeaway coffee we were back in the room drying off and checking our laundry that was back and had even been ironed.

Neither of us was really feeling hungry after the big pizza we had both eaten at lunch time so instead with an umbrella up we just headed out the door to the local Family Mart to buy some munchies then we both settled in the room for the night sorting out stuff ready for another travel day tomorrow.

That was our Shanghai over, the guides from Beijing and Xi’an had been right, we probably could have done all the good stuff with a day less here but that’s the sort of thing that you don’t know until you have actually been here.

There is no real reason to come back here, it’s a very expensive city and we said before we even set foot in China that this would probably be our one and only time here. Time will tell if that omen comes true.