We took the metro to the 2010 world expo. We just wanted to see the china pavilion in person. We were greeted outside the metro station by hordes of ticket scalpers, who all claimed we did not have to wait in line. The line started snaking back and forth over the wide boulevard at least a block before the building. I saw someone change the wait time sign to 2:30 hrs. I read the inside of the pavilion was not worth the hours of waiting. On the other hand, the building from the outside was an impressively tall and massive structure. I liked the traditional elements, but was surprised how little detail over the flat surfaces of the roofing rafters there was compared to the traditional wooden Chinese roof. Maybe that's the modern twist they wanted to express, but then why add the decal design on the end of the rafters? It made me think they took the blueprint of the plastic souvenir of the building, and used it as the blueprint of the pavilion with a new scale factor. On the plus side, I didn't see any evidence of a snaking exit path lined with souvenir vendors. I remember that being a mainstay in many other Chinese tourist traps. On the other hand, my dad couldn't escape without purchasing a set of overpriced postcards from some solicitor.
After some mistakes on the uncrowded metro, I finally got us to xintiandi, where we strolled the stone mouth soirée houses (I forget the pinyin of this famous 1800's architecture at this moment). I heard this shanghai architecture is compared to the hutong of Beijing. I think that means they have equal pull for tourists. Xintiandi seems to have upgraded their hoity toity-ness a few notches since the lat time I visited in 2006. It was packed with the well heeled. Oh, and just like our family trip to Italy last summer, whee we ran into Fashion Week in Florence, It's Fashion Week in Shanghai! If I actually cared to spend money on the superficial, I could enjoy dressing the way I see some Chinese men do. I might actually find fashionable clothes that fit me too! Then again I was watching a show at the hotel where some fashion expert was telling the young ladies to wear bright aqua leg warmers over their high heels; and that the single rhinestone shoulder strap/brouche should be worn without any earrings, which would be like putting x on a y (x and y being some funny reference in pop chinese culture apparently).
I dragged dad to "ye shanghai", an excellent restaurant that I wish I discovered on our last visit here. We had the medium brunch deal for 125 RMB each that gave us all you can eat dim sum, a choice of duck dish, and some bubbly. Yeah, normally I would stay away from any all you can eat Chinese, never mind dim sum, but I was already planning to splurge on a lunch meal at this restaurant. It was not a mistake. The service was top notch, we ordered at least ten dim sum dishes off their regular menu. Dad decided we should have the bejing duck. YUM! We got our first reference sample of Shenzhen boa. I thought it was going to have really thin wonton wrappers like shiaolongbao, but the skins were more like the steamed bread that wraps tsasao boa. Hmmm.. Dad really liked the sweet pork ribs, I thought mom's are better. The cold poached chicken, Spicy shrimp dumplings, shanghai spring roll (fresh baby romaine wraps with a spiced pork filling) and even the mango creme pudding were wonderful preparations.
We decided to walk off our excessive brunch on the Bund. We quickly found a taxi an I sat in the front passenger seat to command the driver. I tell him we want to go to nanjing dong Lu, next to the hu. I look back at dad to make sure I got that all right, he nods. The taxi driver looks at me like i have the weirdest accent for a Chinese looking guy, and repeats the location back to me, which I understand perfectly since it's exactly what I requested. So he then proceeds to make to left turns. Uh oh. We were going the wrong way. Maybe he knows a freeway to get us there faster, and taxis are cheap enough I don't want to complain right away. He asks me a different question about my destination that I don't quite get. So I look back at dad to help out. He's just relaxed and enjoying the now and nods his head at me. Well, eventually I get a tourist map out, and point to my intended destination. This confuses the driver greatly. And after a series of twenty-one questions, he finally figures out that I have been saying the word dong for east instead of the opposite word xi. In other words, I mixed up west for east. We share a good laugh, and he gets us there for less than three bucks.
We were strolling along the Bund, taking in the view along with thousands of other tourists (no exaggeration). When a little old lady comes up to us asking for some help. By this time I have been lecturing dad for talking to all those solicitors, and beggars. So I am refusing to acknowledge the existence of this person. She has a sd card and says she has run out of batteries, and would I please take some photos for her. I think this is a new scam, that presents all sorts of risks. In particular I remembered how the postcard salesman forced a sale with dad by getting him to hold the package of postcards. So again I am refusing to play her game. She goes away. Uh oh. She goes back to her husband and another friend. Err... they don't look too much like beggars on closer examination. Ok. I seem to have made a mistake -- and a very, rude one at that. So, I may as well offer my apologies and make up for it. They are very kind, and seem to enjoy letting me take several pictures of all three of them with their sd card.
I am still not sure what I should be learning from this experience. I mean appearances matter here. How people treat you, can depend on your dress. I think there are a lot of attention getting wardrobes and hair styles here for men and women. And I guess that is a key difference between American culture and Chinese. Maybe the huge number of people combined with the limited hair color and facial bone structure screams for them to declare some individuality. They are begging people to take notice of them. In america, it's easier to feel or at least look unique, so there is a smaller number of folks that need to declare their individuality. Maybe it is also a rebellion from the rigid uniformity of the earlier communist days. Maybe I like the fashion here because it so often looks so ridiculous that I think I could pull it off, and get susan to laugh at the same time. I can definitely say the fashion watching here on nanjing lu is rather more interesting compared to Bellevue square.
Jia jia shyaolongbao street food restaurant was closed for dinner, and after an hour searching around, we finally ended up at some neighborhood restaurant. At least it felt like only Chinese would go there. We ordered more shengzhenbao (not nearly as delicate as ye shanghai), and a local whole fish. It was surprisingly tasty, but I thought dad ate too much. He seems to be enjoying the food part of the trip. When we ordered dinner I asked for the best beer. The waitress named some beer. I asked for the price, and probably made a face with her response. In hindsight probably because I didn't understand the reason for the number of numbers she responded with. Any way she then said I would be happy with another beer, and off she went. She came back with a big 650ml bottle of room temp suntory premium, it tasted like a wheat pilsner. Well, not like home, but it went well with the fish.
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