Shanghai, China

Shanghai, China

Shanghai is truly a World Class city, as well as being the largest city in China; its population of 22 million people makes it comparable only to Tokyo and Mexico City. To reach the city by ship, it is necessary to navigate far up the Huangpu River, almost to the mouth of the great Yangtze River; it is a spectacular journey.

Our arrival took place in the early morning hours and when we awoke, we had anchored right in the middle of the main area of town which provided stunning vistas of both the modern and old cities from our cabin deck. Of course, we could go outside only fleetingly because the temperature was a chilly 33 degrees F and the winds were blowing from 30 to 45 mph. Indeed to accommodate the gangway, a small door had to be opened in the side of the ship, and the wind was so strong that it literally stripped heat from throughout the ship. People were wearing their coats simply to have breakfast.

Rather than take a tour offered by the ship, we had made arrangements for a private car and a guide with the intention of getting outside the city, since we had visited Shanghai itself on a previous trip. From my reading, I had selected a trip to Zhujiajiao, which was described as a “lakeside country town” which preserved the buildings and customs of ancient China. According to my information, the drive into the countryside would take about 90 minutes.

Our first challenge was in not freezing to death. We exited the ship at the appropriate time to meet our car, and even standing in a tent erected on the pier to shelter passengers while we waited, we were quickly frozen. We really did not bring very warm clothes, and the winds were going right through our jackets and sweaters. Soon our guide arrived, but not the car. It seems that for security, the car was not allowed onto the pier, so we had to walk quite some distance to where our car would meet us. Sadly, when we arrived at the appointed location, there was no car. We stood for almost 30 minutes waiting for it to arrive, and by then I could not even feel my nose, and Lisa was blue and miserable.

Finally, we set off on our journey to the countryside, and it was an amazing journey at that. Shanghai is one impressive city. The highway system is first class, with electronic signs showing traffic conditions ahead and alternative routings if necessary. We drove for miles, and miles, and miles past high rise office buildings and apartments. It went on and on and on. As we left the city center, I saw numerous examples of single family home and developments, much like we would see in our country. The highways were full of new cars and mass transit was modern and clean.

The city seemed to go forever, until we reached the turnoff for Zhujiajiao. WAIT! I thought we were going to a quaint countryside village – well, not quite. It turns out that Zhujiajiao is still inside the city limits of Shanghai and is one of its twelve administrative districts. Alas, so much for getting into the country. As we pulled into the center of this district, we were greeted with a very large parking area for tour buses. Obviously if I intended to get off the beaten path, I failed.

So we began our walking tour of the old area that dated back over 1,000 years. It was quaint and quite beautiful and intertwined by canals on which a caravan of gondolas slowly wove back and forth providing rides for tourists. It all reminded me of an oriental Venice. According to our guide, the city is home to around 3,000 people; however, it appeared to me that few people actually lived in the city and that most of the buildings had been turned into shops. Our guide then stopped at one of the gondola platforms and bought tickets for us to ride the canal. All I can really remember was the cold. At least nestled among the alleyways, we could find some shelter from the winds, but in the gondola there was no such shelter and very quickly Lisa and I were shivering uncontrollably.

My fingers were so numb that it was very difficult to work my camera. The gondola took us to the far end of the village and let us depart, the idea being that we would “wander” the narrow lanes in returning to our car. This was a great concept, but under the circumstances not very appealing; so we asked our guide to take the shortest route to the car and if possible to find a warm place for coffee. Exiting the narrow streets, we stumbled across a Kentucky Fried Chicken, and thankfully went inside to get warm and to get some coffee.

At this point, the game plan had been for us to spend an hour or so wandering the streets and visiting the quaint shops, but that was not very appealing under the conditions. So, we asked about museums, or Lisa pointed out a very interesting Buddhist temple we had seen on the drive out. We headed back into town and stopped at the temple which was pretty amazing. It was brand new, having only been opened a year. Parts of it were still under construction. Again, we were freezing however.

Now, here comes the most amazing part of our trip to Shanghai – a completely unscheduled stop at a department store! No kidding! I remember when we were in Moscow our guide did not want to waste time at the world famous St. Basils Church in order that he could proudly show us the finest department store in Moscow. One word sums it up – unimpressive. This on the other hand was completely unscripted, and it was mind blowing. As we left the temple, I asked our guide if there was any place where I could buy a Bluetooth headset for my phone.

As it turns out, we were next to one of many department stores we had seen and so she took us inside. Now as travelled as I am, it is difficult to grab my attention by a simple store, but this was unlike anything I had seen. It rivaled the great Mall in Dubai. The store was nine stories high and was full of high end merchandise. You name the brand, and this store had it. We saw brands in this store that we had only seen in magazines at home. This store had it all – designer bags, clothes, jewelry, and electronics. They had an entire department for electronics where you could buy an iPhone 4 or an iPad along with any other brand you could desire. They had the exact headset for which I was looking at a price that was about what I would have paid at home.

At this point, Lisa and I were tired out from the cold morning, and so we elected to skip the museum and to return to the ship early. After a quick lunch onboard a virtually empty ship, we turned in for a long winter’s nap.

And, when we awoke, what to our wondering eyes did appear – the sun was setting over Shanghai which offered some good pictures of the downtown area. By the time we got to dinner, the view out our window was simply breathtaking, and so I ran up to our cabin and captured the scene to share with you. After dinner, we sat in our cabin with the curtains open and enjoyed our sail away back down the river. All in all, it was a wonderful day.

We will now have two days at sea on our way to Hong Kong. Unfortunately this ship was never designed for cold climates and it is freezing onboard. We have very strong winds outside and temperatures around freezing. The doors to the outside do not seal and so the wind is blowing through the cracks in the doors and whirling around the ship. Many of the outside doors have been posted as closed, but they leak so bad it is of little use. Most people have at the least a sweater, and many are wearing their coats. As an example, our room is one of the warmer locations on the ship, and right now my thermometer is showing 64F. They tell us that Hong Kong will be warm again, and I think I can safely say that everyone is ready for that.

Tonight is New Year’s Eve – which we will celebrate before it reaches Kansas City. So we wish everyone a Happy New Year, and hope you are enjoying our travels.

Jim