Sunday, May 16.
Whoops-- didn't get a chance to write in the journal the past couple of days. Continuing from the last entry, the plane ride to Shanghai was stuffy-- air was hot and humid-- just plain awful. Anna (the only person on our tour that was my age-- she's a Waterloo- educated engineer now working in Silicon Valley making the big bucks.) waited 4 hours with our tour guide at the airport because our flight was late.
Once we picked up our luggage and cleared customs, we went straight to the hotel-- the Rainbow Hotel. The lower floors had a club and we saw some interstingly dressed people. (I couldn't believe even the mainlanders dressed up like FOBs-- guess certain Asian things are universal...) The only difference between Shanghai and Toronto clubs-- the women, in general, are much better looking. Shanghai girls have that fresh cosmopolitan look in comparison. (or maybe I have a preference for "non-traditional Cantonese-looking" girls?)
Anyway, I was much too exhausted to even consider venturing down to the club (what could I do? I can't speak Mandarin so the thought of picking up would be a pipe-dream), so I went upstairs, took a badly-needed shower (to get that airplane stink out of my hair) and went to bed. At this point I was wondering how I fast I would adjust to the 12 hour time difference... it was hurting me already.
It was an early morning for us. Since Shanghai was 12 hours ahead of eastern Canada, I theoretically lost a day travelling to the Orient. We got up at 5:30am local time-- still not adjusted to the time. Went downstairs for buffet breakfast. After eating, we boarded the bus to tour "the sights" of Shanghai. A couple of repeats from 1992: the garden used by one of the emperors of the Ching dynasty and the Buddhist temple in the older parts of Shanghai. (Shanghai was divided up into quarters after the Opium Wars (1840's) with the West. A bunch of western nations wanted a piece of the action (trade)-- the Americans, Germans, and Russians. The Chinese were then left with the remainder. I didn't get a picture of it but there were signs after the Opium Wars that said: "No dogs or Chinese allowed"-- Bruce Lee immortalized this insult to the Chinese in one of his movies...)
We did see some new things (at least to me): the Soong Ching Ling residence in the French Quarter. Soong Ching Ling was one of the famous Soong sisters (too bad they weren't close relatives to me)-- Soong Ching Ling was the second daughter of Charles Soong. She married Dr. Sun Yet Sen, freeing China from Imperialism. Soong Ching Ling's older sister married the Finance minster and the youngest sister married Gen. Chang Kai Shek (The youngest sister currently lives outside of New York City at the tender age of 102.) Each sister attended American universities (Wellesley College, the sister school of Harvard.)
After the visit to the Soong residence and Soong Ching Ling masoleum, we visited the waterfront (called bund since the Germans occupied this portion of Shanghai.) The waterfront was really nice. It was just like the time we went in 1992-- my dad changed a few hundred dollars US on the Black Market since tourists were supposed to purchase special currency at a fixed rate (called FEC at the time). To reduce corruption, the government removed this currency and allowed foreigners to exchange currency at local banks. (There still is a black market for US currency but not the 50% premium my dad got 7 years ago...) Once thing I noticed in particular about the Waterfront is that it was much cleaner-- it was so dusty due to construction last time. Now it looks very modern with a nice skyline.
That evening's dinner was a joke-- food was bad and we had a waitress with the worst attitude. That's the problem with government jobs in a communist country-- they know they can get away with hell because they can find a better job elsewhere so the gov't doesn't fire people in the service industry...
After dinner we left Shanghai by plane into the interior of China. In the airport, I purchased a copy of Chinese Cosmopolitan. The flight out of Shanghai to Huangshang (Mandarin spelling) was amazing-- first of all, we were relieved to see we were flying a new Airbus plane. (China is infamous for buying old planes from developed nations). The second we found our seats, the plane door closed and the plane was immediately taxied to the runway. We were flying in less than 5 minutes. They next started serving snacks and drinks. Talk about efficiency! Before we got comfortable, we were about to land.
Our tourguide for the trip, Mr. Tang, was waiting there as well as the local guide, Ms. Wu at the airport. We got our baggage, boarded the bus and went up to the mountains (Huangshang). The whole bus ride took 90 minutes. The room we got was okay-- just enough room for us (my parents and I) got move around. Most importantly, it was clean. I was starting to get used to the time differential much better.