Shanghai Trip - Day 8 - Part 1
Day 8 was a really really long day. Our first stop was at another noodle shop. This place was really cool, and it was the Shanghainese version of a Japanese sushi bar, minus the sushi. Plus noodles. Basically you could sit at the bar, order a bowl of noodles, and then grab whatever plate of side dishes you wanted off this moving conveyer belt. Sort of like getting your luggage from the baggage claim carousel. Anyway, I'm the kind of girl who loves a gimmick, so this was one of my favorite places. Plus the food was good.
Here's a pic of the place.
I know I've talked a lot about the Shanghainese, but I'm not sure if I've mentioned that they're rather ill-mannered. A generalization I know, and I'm sure there are plenty of Shanghainese who aren't but that's just what I noticed. People will run into you without saying excuse me, they'll cut you off, they won't hold the door for you, and it's still a common practice to spit loogies on the floor. Inside or outside. Generally there's a warning when a loogie is coming up. Aunt Marilyn and I called it the "haaaaaccccccccchhhh-TOO" (the "TOO" part being the actually launch of the loogie, and the "haaaaaccccccccchhhh" being the warning.) Every single time we heard a "haaaaaccccccccchhhh" I'd let out a whimper or a yelp, depending on the volume and length of the "haaaaaccccccccchhhh" and Aunt Marilyn would scurry around, looking left and right nervously, trying to dodge the "TOO" of the loogie bomb.
Anyway, back to the Shanghainese rudeness. I have to tell a pefect example of it. No one was sitting to the left of me at the noodle bar so the people who weren't sitting at the bar would come up and grab the food they wanted at that spot. The food was passing in front of me from right to left. You'd think that it wouldn't be that difficult to wait an extra five seconds for the plate to revolve in front of Rude Guy, but all of sudden, while I was happily eating my noodles, he reached over me with his Rude Guy Gigantic Arm, nearly hitting me on the head, and grabbed a plate of food off the conveyer...a plate of food that would have passed by me and been directly in front of him, in a matter of seconds. I mentally "haaaaaccccccccchhhh-TOO-ed" on him.
Anyway, after lunch we headed to the busiest shopping area in all of Shanghai, Nanjing Road. I guess it used to a bit like the Champs Elysee in Paris in the 1920's. Nearly 1.5 million walk through down street a day. They've closed it off to cars and bicycles and only pedestrians are allowed.
We had the driver let us out nearby, and we were actually right in front of a very famous hair salon. Grandpa said that when he was a teenager it was the premiere hair salon, and he longed to get his hair cut there, but it very very expensive, and he couldn't afford it, so he never did. He left Shanghai for Hong Kong in 1948, at the age of 21. A few years ago, when he finally returned (I'm not sure how often he went back from 1948 until recently) he did, decades later, go in and get his dream hair cut. I asked him what it was like and he said it was very good and that the second he walked in, they gave him a hot towel and nice cup of tea. This pic was not taken on Day 8, but I thought I'd include it anyway.
We took some short cuts and came out of a subway entrance right onto Nanjing road. The view made me gasp. I had NEVER seen so many Chinese people in one given place before. Ever. It's not very clear from the pic, but there was seriously a sea of dark haired people all the way down the street, as far as the eye could see, and even farther. In the very distance, you'd only see tiny flecks of black. It was amazing. I, of course, immediately thought about bird flu.
Anyway, we immediately made emergency if-you-get-lost-plans. As I had mentioned before, when I was little, the if-you-get-lost-plan was always just to stay in one place until my mom found me. We had to modify the plan somewhat here, and while talking about it, we passed a rather ridiculous looking woman standing on top of a sidewalk bench looking for someone, so we decided the new if-you-get-lost-plan was to climb up somewhere high and stand there until you were found.
After our plan was made, we went into a super packed store that sold all sorts of snacks. We had decided to meet each other in front of the store in 20 mins, but my mom and I lost track of time and were apparently in there for 45 mins. When we came outside, we saw this:
Aunt Marilyn and Aunt Christina executing if-you-get-lost plans
We continued to walk down the promenade, rather nervously, as there was a lot of haaaaaccccccccchhhh-TOO-ing going on. And we had been warned of purse snatchers. I can't say I was really fond of this street -it was just way too packed and crazy. With the people swarming around, I found myself just feeling rather wound up. And sometimes when I'm wound up, I make an ass of myself. Really. It just happens.
And now I will tell the short story of "Sareet Makes an Ass of Herself on Nanjing Road."
I was crossing a side street. It was, obviously, packed. Aunt Marilyn was about a half a foot ahead of me. She turned back and told me to check out the freak with the bad hair in front of us. And yes, there was a freak with REALLY bad hair about 4 feet away from me. When I finally dragged my eyes away from him, I noticed suddenly that there was a COLUMN, AS TALL AS ME, OF ABOUT 10 CAGED RATS no less than 5 inches away from me! I was seriously face to face with one of them.
And I screamed. Screamed Screamed Screamed. Like roller coaster ride screamed. Like being chased by a slasher screamed.
And then there was silence, as all 1.5 million people on Nanjing Road stopped to stare at me.
Turns out, they were not rats but bunnies. Or maybe chinchilas. I don't know. This man had two columns of cages dangling from opposite ends of long rod that he propped up on his shoulders. He had made the mistake of trying to squeeze between me and Aunt Marilyn.
Good lord, I almost died of fright that day. And Aunt Marilyn nearly died from laughing too hard, once she figured out what had happened.
Anyway, Nanjing Road ends at an areacalled The Bund. It was basically the Wallstreet of Shanghai in the 1920's, and is famous for the architecture of the builldings. 52 various buildings of different architectural styles including Gothic, Baroque, Romanesque, Classicism and the Renaissance. (I cut and pasted that from a website, can you tell?? :) ) I guess there were a lot of consulates from different countries so the buildings all represent different styles.
The best part of being on the Bund is going up to the roof of one of the buildings and checking out the view. We stopped at "18 on the Bund" (the buildings are numbered) and headed straight to a restaurant on the rooftop. Here is a photo of Pudong, which is on the opposite side of the river that Shanghai is next to.
Our plan was to enjoy the view, have afternoon tea, and recover from the screaming incident but then we realized that the coffee cost $6 US per cup!!! That's crazy. $6 US can buy about two days worth of meals in Shanghai for one person. So we decided to leave. Luckily, the service was so poor there that no one had noticed we sat down, so no one noticed us getting up.
We decided to try another building that looked like a much older, less fancy hotel. While it was not as pricey as 18 on the Bund, the prices were still jacked up. If there's one thing my family can't stand, it's a bad deal. It's not like we couldn't afford the drinks, it's just that they were so ridiculously overpriced. Anyway, while we rested, mom and Aunt Marilyn took out their cameras and decided to shoot away. Upon seeing the pics, I figured they must have secretly been competing to see who could take the most boring/inane/bad picture of us.
But first, a picture of the most over-priced meal we had in Shanghai:
We had originally ordered two iced coffees, but when we discovered they were $5 US a piece, we cancelled one of the orders. The total for these three drinks came out about $12 US. Mom was so irritated she insisted on taking a pic of it. One iced coffee, two Cokes.
I call the following series "What Happens to Sareet's Family When They are Bored": The first 5 are taken by my mom, I think I took one, and the remaining ones are published courtesy of Aunt Marilyn.
Afterwards we headed back to the hotel to change and freshen up for the banquet. Grandma and Grandpa were taking the relatives out for dinner, and any time a dinner requires more than one big round table, it's called a banquet. At least that's what I've noticed. I'm not sure what the official definition of a banquet is. Banquets are always described by the number of tables - "Suzy and Chan's wedding banquet was a 40 table ..." "Cousin So-and-So had a 5 table for his 70th birthday..." etc. This one was a 2 table.
When I first walked into the restaurant, I thought it was the most overly ornate and gilded and frankly, gaudy restaurant I've ever been to. The whole place was gold plated and had ridiculous chandeliers and furniture. We had a private room. Here are a few pics of our relatives at our two table banquet.
During the meal, the non-Shanghai based relatives (me, mom, Aunt Christina, Aunt Marilyn, and Grandparents) kept swapping seats at the two tables, so that we could meet everyone and chat with everyone. The worst and most hilarious combo was when Aunt Marilyn and I sat together by ourselves at the table with our most extended relatives. Neither of us really speak Mandarin, and they didn't speak Cantonese or English, so it soon became a loud game of charades. But, we made it through the meal. Speaking of the meal, it was quite possibly the worst meal I had in Shanghai. The food was very strange, not authentic at all. Here are some pics:
The above are hot and cold appetizers. I can't really remember the specifics of them. They were for the most part okay, except for the Raw Clams in Wine Sauce, which I smartly avoided. Aunt Marilyn, who did not realize what they were, tried one and said it was pretty nasty. What a surprise, huh?
Cold crab claw meat in Chinese wine
Weirdest dish of the night. Baked scallops with some butter/mayonaise/cheese topping, with a sprinkle of corn kernels.
Tempura fried corn kernels and lightly stir-fried shrimp
Chinese deep fried matzo ball thing in hoisin sauce
At this point, my photopublishing thing seems to have crashed so that's all I got for now. More of Day 8 to come as soon I figure out what I accidentally clicked shut...
Here's a pic of the place.
I know I've talked a lot about the Shanghainese, but I'm not sure if I've mentioned that they're rather ill-mannered. A generalization I know, and I'm sure there are plenty of Shanghainese who aren't but that's just what I noticed. People will run into you without saying excuse me, they'll cut you off, they won't hold the door for you, and it's still a common practice to spit loogies on the floor. Inside or outside. Generally there's a warning when a loogie is coming up. Aunt Marilyn and I called it the "haaaaaccccccccchhhh-TOO" (the "TOO" part being the actually launch of the loogie, and the "haaaaaccccccccchhhh" being the warning.) Every single time we heard a "haaaaaccccccccchhhh" I'd let out a whimper or a yelp, depending on the volume and length of the "haaaaaccccccccchhhh" and Aunt Marilyn would scurry around, looking left and right nervously, trying to dodge the "TOO" of the loogie bomb.
Anyway, back to the Shanghainese rudeness. I have to tell a pefect example of it. No one was sitting to the left of me at the noodle bar so the people who weren't sitting at the bar would come up and grab the food they wanted at that spot. The food was passing in front of me from right to left. You'd think that it wouldn't be that difficult to wait an extra five seconds for the plate to revolve in front of Rude Guy, but all of sudden, while I was happily eating my noodles, he reached over me with his Rude Guy Gigantic Arm, nearly hitting me on the head, and grabbed a plate of food off the conveyer...a plate of food that would have passed by me and been directly in front of him, in a matter of seconds. I mentally "haaaaaccccccccchhhh-TOO-ed" on him.
Anyway, after lunch we headed to the busiest shopping area in all of Shanghai, Nanjing Road. I guess it used to a bit like the Champs Elysee in Paris in the 1920's. Nearly 1.5 million walk through down street a day. They've closed it off to cars and bicycles and only pedestrians are allowed.
We had the driver let us out nearby, and we were actually right in front of a very famous hair salon. Grandpa said that when he was a teenager it was the premiere hair salon, and he longed to get his hair cut there, but it very very expensive, and he couldn't afford it, so he never did. He left Shanghai for Hong Kong in 1948, at the age of 21. A few years ago, when he finally returned (I'm not sure how often he went back from 1948 until recently) he did, decades later, go in and get his dream hair cut. I asked him what it was like and he said it was very good and that the second he walked in, they gave him a hot towel and nice cup of tea. This pic was not taken on Day 8, but I thought I'd include it anyway.
We took some short cuts and came out of a subway entrance right onto Nanjing road. The view made me gasp. I had NEVER seen so many Chinese people in one given place before. Ever. It's not very clear from the pic, but there was seriously a sea of dark haired people all the way down the street, as far as the eye could see, and even farther. In the very distance, you'd only see tiny flecks of black. It was amazing. I, of course, immediately thought about bird flu.
Anyway, we immediately made emergency if-you-get-lost-plans. As I had mentioned before, when I was little, the if-you-get-lost-plan was always just to stay in one place until my mom found me. We had to modify the plan somewhat here, and while talking about it, we passed a rather ridiculous looking woman standing on top of a sidewalk bench looking for someone, so we decided the new if-you-get-lost-plan was to climb up somewhere high and stand there until you were found.
After our plan was made, we went into a super packed store that sold all sorts of snacks. We had decided to meet each other in front of the store in 20 mins, but my mom and I lost track of time and were apparently in there for 45 mins. When we came outside, we saw this:
Aunt Marilyn and Aunt Christina executing if-you-get-lost plans
We continued to walk down the promenade, rather nervously, as there was a lot of haaaaaccccccccchhhh-TOO-ing going on. And we had been warned of purse snatchers. I can't say I was really fond of this street -it was just way too packed and crazy. With the people swarming around, I found myself just feeling rather wound up. And sometimes when I'm wound up, I make an ass of myself. Really. It just happens.
And now I will tell the short story of "Sareet Makes an Ass of Herself on Nanjing Road."
I was crossing a side street. It was, obviously, packed. Aunt Marilyn was about a half a foot ahead of me. She turned back and told me to check out the freak with the bad hair in front of us. And yes, there was a freak with REALLY bad hair about 4 feet away from me. When I finally dragged my eyes away from him, I noticed suddenly that there was a COLUMN, AS TALL AS ME, OF ABOUT 10 CAGED RATS no less than 5 inches away from me! I was seriously face to face with one of them.
And I screamed. Screamed Screamed Screamed. Like roller coaster ride screamed. Like being chased by a slasher screamed.
And then there was silence, as all 1.5 million people on Nanjing Road stopped to stare at me.
Turns out, they were not rats but bunnies. Or maybe chinchilas. I don't know. This man had two columns of cages dangling from opposite ends of long rod that he propped up on his shoulders. He had made the mistake of trying to squeeze between me and Aunt Marilyn.
Good lord, I almost died of fright that day. And Aunt Marilyn nearly died from laughing too hard, once she figured out what had happened.
Anyway, Nanjing Road ends at an areacalled The Bund. It was basically the Wallstreet of Shanghai in the 1920's, and is famous for the architecture of the builldings. 52 various buildings of different architectural styles including Gothic, Baroque, Romanesque, Classicism and the Renaissance. (I cut and pasted that from a website, can you tell?? :) ) I guess there were a lot of consulates from different countries so the buildings all represent different styles.
The best part of being on the Bund is going up to the roof of one of the buildings and checking out the view. We stopped at "18 on the Bund" (the buildings are numbered) and headed straight to a restaurant on the rooftop. Here is a photo of Pudong, which is on the opposite side of the river that Shanghai is next to.
Our plan was to enjoy the view, have afternoon tea, and recover from the screaming incident but then we realized that the coffee cost $6 US per cup!!! That's crazy. $6 US can buy about two days worth of meals in Shanghai for one person. So we decided to leave. Luckily, the service was so poor there that no one had noticed we sat down, so no one noticed us getting up.
We decided to try another building that looked like a much older, less fancy hotel. While it was not as pricey as 18 on the Bund, the prices were still jacked up. If there's one thing my family can't stand, it's a bad deal. It's not like we couldn't afford the drinks, it's just that they were so ridiculously overpriced. Anyway, while we rested, mom and Aunt Marilyn took out their cameras and decided to shoot away. Upon seeing the pics, I figured they must have secretly been competing to see who could take the most boring/inane/bad picture of us.
But first, a picture of the most over-priced meal we had in Shanghai:
We had originally ordered two iced coffees, but when we discovered they were $5 US a piece, we cancelled one of the orders. The total for these three drinks came out about $12 US. Mom was so irritated she insisted on taking a pic of it. One iced coffee, two Cokes.
I call the following series "What Happens to Sareet's Family When They are Bored": The first 5 are taken by my mom, I think I took one, and the remaining ones are published courtesy of Aunt Marilyn.
Afterwards we headed back to the hotel to change and freshen up for the banquet. Grandma and Grandpa were taking the relatives out for dinner, and any time a dinner requires more than one big round table, it's called a banquet. At least that's what I've noticed. I'm not sure what the official definition of a banquet is. Banquets are always described by the number of tables - "Suzy and Chan's wedding banquet was a 40 table ..." "Cousin So-and-So had a 5 table for his 70th birthday..." etc. This one was a 2 table.
When I first walked into the restaurant, I thought it was the most overly ornate and gilded and frankly, gaudy restaurant I've ever been to. The whole place was gold plated and had ridiculous chandeliers and furniture. We had a private room. Here are a few pics of our relatives at our two table banquet.
During the meal, the non-Shanghai based relatives (me, mom, Aunt Christina, Aunt Marilyn, and Grandparents) kept swapping seats at the two tables, so that we could meet everyone and chat with everyone. The worst and most hilarious combo was when Aunt Marilyn and I sat together by ourselves at the table with our most extended relatives. Neither of us really speak Mandarin, and they didn't speak Cantonese or English, so it soon became a loud game of charades. But, we made it through the meal. Speaking of the meal, it was quite possibly the worst meal I had in Shanghai. The food was very strange, not authentic at all. Here are some pics:
The above are hot and cold appetizers. I can't really remember the specifics of them. They were for the most part okay, except for the Raw Clams in Wine Sauce, which I smartly avoided. Aunt Marilyn, who did not realize what they were, tried one and said it was pretty nasty. What a surprise, huh?
Cold crab claw meat in Chinese wine
Weirdest dish of the night. Baked scallops with some butter/mayonaise/cheese topping, with a sprinkle of corn kernels.
Tempura fried corn kernels and lightly stir-fried shrimp
Chinese deep fried matzo ball thing in hoisin sauce
At this point, my photopublishing thing seems to have crashed so that's all I got for now. More of Day 8 to come as soon I figure out what I accidentally clicked shut...
posted by S at 12:22 PM
5 Comments:
I love the lobster soup bowl!
yum...
i don't think you look old, nearly so much as ALL OF your family looks REALLY young. seriously. Grandpa could be my dad, except for the chinese thing. i would take it as a good thing- you have the genetics to age well, not the look of an old person.
lypstykgirl - actually it's a crab soup bowl - I love it too! They're very popular in Shanghai and come in all different sizes. The smallest one I saw was about the size of an actual crab.
Melissa - thanks. hopefully i've inherited those genes!
good genes seconded elsewhere!
Thanks for commenting Justin!
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