SHAAN HAI! SHANGHAI!!

Most of us get fascinated by the names of some places in our childhood.  Shanghai was the name of one such place that I always fancied. Some other "names of places" that I liked were London, Bombay, New York, Melbourne, Paris.

IN THE TRAIN

When our China trip included Shanghai in the last leg, I was quite anxious to see what this city was going to offer me. From Xian we took the Express Sleeper train to Shanghai. The train was superb. There were beautiful net curtains as well as light yellow colored silk curtains on the windows. The corridor in the compartment had single seats at intervals where one could sit and watch the countryside go by. The sleepers were comfortable, with soft berths. Every cabin contained a water jug, 4 hangers, bright reading lights, and a dustbin. We were provided with two sheets, a blanket and a pillow, kept neatly stacked on the berth. We were allocated 3 Cabins but all ten of us huddled together in one cabin, as we wanted to chat and spend our evening together, eating all the namkeens that we had carried with us to China.

SEATS IN THE CORRIDOR

Incidentally it was the Wedding Anniversary of one couple, so there was more fun. We heard the interesting story of their marriage, which I will share with you some other time.

This train was a vestibule. There was a dining car too. In every compartment there is a washing area where you can wash your dishes and cups. There was also a very hot water dispenser for endless cups of hot tea.

HOT WATER DISPENSER

The train journey was good, and after a good nights sleep we arrived at Shanghai. It's altogether another story that TNN my husband lost his breathing apparatus....oh sorry...his mobile phone just when we reached Shanghai. No, it was not stolen, he just dropped it somewhere.

THE ERSTWHILE RUSSIAN EMBASSY

Shanghai seemed less high rise as we entered the City. It looked different from Beijing. There was something about the city which was captivating. The place gave an impression of a rich, relaxed well established grand city which has a character of its own.  

A GOLDEN BUDDHIST TEMPLE

The train stations and roads were very beautiful. There were no roses alongside the roads as in Beijing, but they had other plants and roads were clean, traffic was orderly. There were lovely Magnolia trees all over the place. The trees were in full bloom and the white huge flowers amongst the dark green leaves looked very fresh and pretty. There were Peonies too. Peonies are large pink flowers, and I was quite fascinated to see these flowers on trees.

The name of our hotel was "Lotel"! It was an eco friendly hotel so everything was quite green and no plastics were seen around. 

NEON LIT SKYSCRAPER

Shanghai has a  beautiful skyline.  The Pudong district of Shanghai has a wide range of skyscrapers, many of which rank amongst the tallest in the world. No other city in the world has as many free standing buildings which are over 400 meters tall . The third tallest building in the world is the Shanghai World Financial Center which is 492 metres tall. The tallest  building in China is under construction at Shanghai and will be 632 metres when completed and will have 127 floors. Shanghai has been described as the "showpiece" of the booming economy of China.

THE AMAZING SKYLINE BY NIGHT

All these buildings are lit up every night and so every night is Diwali night in Shanghai. The lighting pattern too is different in every building.We had asked our guide if there was any power failure in Shanghai. He said, " I am 27 years old, and I have never seen the lights go off".

When we reached the Bund, we were filled with awe as all around us were fabulously lit up huge sky scrapers.  The roof of each building was different and the beauty of the place was enough to make all of us gasp with amazement. 

ABSOLUTE BEAUTY!

The spectacular  area with the sky scrapers  is near the Huangpo river. A lot of  boats ply on this river taking  tourists around to  enjoy the beauty of the skyline by day as well as by night. The boats too are  well illuminated with decorative lights, and are quite fascinating to watch as they glide past with their passengers.

THE BUND WALL

The walls on the bund around the river have been beautified with an abundance of flowers. The potted plants have been placed on the walls in such a manner that the wall looks as if they are  made of flowers. The place therefore looks beautiful by day as well as by night.

THE YUYUAN MARKET

Shanghai also has an ancient side. There are many buildings maintained as they were traditionally.These are "Shikumen" residences which have a front courtyard protected by a high wall.  Each residence is connected by a straight alley. The entrance to the house is usually through a stylistic stone arch. In fact Shikumen means "stone gate".

THE ZIG ZAG BRIDGE

The Yuyuan Market is one such place where one can see a lot of these typical buildings. This is a shopping complex, but I was quite captivated by the beauty of the whole place and kept gaping at every roof, building and wall. I cannot recall any shop over there. There is a lovely lake in the center of the market and there is a zig zag bridge on it. It is quite fascinating to see these really exotic buildings and get the feel of traditional China as it must have been, once upon a time.

PROUD GRANDFATHER WITH CAKE

Another spectacular and affluent market in the olden style is Xintiandi. Xintiandi means "New Heaven and Earth". This is more modern than Yuyuan. There are traditional buildings which have a modern touch to it. They are less stylized. This is a very posh market with a lot of Western style restaurants with open air seating. It was my grand daughter Aaria's birthday the day we visited this market. So we had a little coffee party with lovely cakes. All the ten people wished Aaria and I recorded it on video.

As the houses here were connected by alleys, so we walked through one such alley. There was a window where the curtain seemed to be made with real egg shells. Flower arrangements and decorations in the windows were quite exotic and different from the Western world.

Xintiandi is the place where the first congress of the Communist Party of China met.

Near this place is the people's park and nearby are the showrooms of Lamborghini as well as Rolls Royce. Quite a see change from Communism to materialism!

NANJING

Nanjing is the posh- posh highest profile market in Shanghai. It is one of the world's busiest shopping street. It is totally a pedestrian area and is beautifully lit with neon lights. We wandered around the place, looking at the people and shops. We found Tea shops, where different types of tea was sold. There was a tea like a bud which when soaked in water opened out into a flower. I bought Jasmine tea as well as the flowering tea, I do not know the name as it was in Chinese.

In spite of the years of Communism, now people have returned to their Gods. There are a number of temples,mosques and Churches too. They follow Mahayana Buddhism, and also Taoism. We  went to see the Jade Buddha temple which was built in 1882. 

LANTERNS

COLOURFUL FISH

 There are two statues of Buddha made of jade, which were brought here from Burma. Besides the jade statues there are other statues made of marble in this temple. Outside the main temple inside the compound, there was a lot of incense being burnt in huge cauldrons. Candles were in the shape of pink lotus. 

WORSHIPPERS IN THE TEMPLE

People were praying very fervently. We entered the temple through a corridor full of red colored lanterns( akashdeep). The temple had a Bonsai garden as well as a pond filled with very beautiful colored fish.  The statues were beautiful and prayers were not carried on inside. It was very tranquil, clean and pretty. 

TEA CEREMONY

There was a tea shop inside the premises of the Temple, where they sold herbal tea which was quite expensive, but is said to bring relief in asthma, arthritis, diabetes and many other long standing illnesses. The tea was made and we were offered the tea. All of us bought one tea or the other trusting that it was a Government shop.

ZHUJIAJIAO ANCIENT VILLAGE

After seeing all this opulence and grandeur in Shanghai, we went to see a very tranquil, peaceful place. This was about 48 kms. away from Shanghai. The place is called Ancient Water Town Zhujiajiao. This village has been in existence for the last 1700 years. It is also called the Venice of China. 

THE CANAL AT ANCIENT VILLAGE

There was a canal in the center, lined with Weeping Willow trees., there were old streets paved with stone and many curved bridges across the canal. On the banks were shops selling curios, traditional toys, hand knitted bootees for babies, traditional clothes and food and tea. 

WEEPING WILLOW & A BOAT

We were told that a lot of buildings were more than 600 years old. There were boats plying in the canal. How beautiful and peaceful old China must have been! There was a lot of beauty, calm and a feeling of time having stopped in its track in the Village.

 

FLOWERS IN A WINDOW

 On our last evening in Shanghai, we went for a river cruise on the famous Bund. The fascinating lights, the lovely breeze made it a delightful evening for all of us.

Shanghai which broken up sounds like Shan hai, actually is a very shaandaar place. It is a majestic, grand, rich, historical metropolis which can give any big metropolis of the Western world a complex!

A JASMINE TREE IN FULL BLOOM

I cannot end what I am telling you without sharing one very interesting aspect that we experienced in China. Amongst the five men in our group there were two men with moustaches and one with a goatee. In Beijing at the Tiananmen Square, one of our group with large Nathulal style Moustache got a lot of attention from girls. The girls would flock around him and one girl even asked if she could comb his moustache! Where ever we went he was the center of attraction. If any of us got lost, we just had to strain our ears for the oohs and aahs of girls and sure enough our hero would be found there surrounded by admiring females.

On the cruise, before disembarking we were taking group photos, and were being watched quite intently by a lot of people. Suddenly one girl asked if she could be included in our picture. We agreed, she quickly came over to the hero with the goatee, pushed his wife away, and almost sat on the lap of our hero. It was a very hilarious sight and we couldn't get over this episode.

HIGHLIGHT OF OUR TRIP!

Now of course everyone knows why all the other men of our group are tending to their moustaches and making sure that they grow nice and beautiful, before we plan another trip to China.