Shanghai World Expo

Our last touristy stop on our touristy trip. Last year the World Expo was held in Shanghai and became the World's largest Expo to date. It was opened in May 2010 and closed in October 2010 and I really regret not visiting. 

Anyway- the building is known in polite circles as the "Oriental Crown," but us commoners call it the "Upside-Down Devo Hat." Who knew Chinese people loved Devo so much? The design looks slightly reminiscent of an Emperors Crown in over all shape. It also is based off of a special type of clay vessel (which is where the four legs comes from.) The last piece of inspiration came from wooden brackets often seen in Chinese architecture. The outside has 7 different shades of red used to emphasize a theme of "different but working in harmony." It was overcast that day and it is hard to see the different shades of red. 

You enter into the building through one of the legs. At the bottom they show you the construction of the pavilion. Then you take a high speed elevator up to the top floor- although it is themed as if you are riding a train. Then you enter in the to first area: The Footprints. The footprint area had all these long cubes hanging from the ceiling at different hates and terminated in a television screen. It showed news clips from the past 30 years of everyday Chinese life. Many of them seemed familiar to me- as some of these are things that I experience on daily bases. Here you cued up to watch a movie. The movie was projected on 3 GIANT screens that spanned 180 degrees of this round room. The projections even continued on to the ceiling which added a really cool element. There are two movies but we saw one that based around this family. It showed them beginning in a peasant village, and then the next generation moved to the cities to become migrant workers. Then the next generation grew up in the city and was witness to some national tragedy and triumphs. While it definitely was a propaganda filled film showing the progress that China has made in the last 30 years: it totally suckered me in. When they showed clips of the horrible earthquake that wrecked parts of China I got choked up. It really is amazing to see what progress China has made since the "Great Leap Forward" failed and left so many Chinese people starving, uneducated and many dead. 

After the film you want into this crazy room that had a laser projected river that looked real. Then it had a traditional chinese scroll painting on the wall that stretched maybe 75 yards. At first glance it was just a traditional painting. BUT- watch for a moment and you realized the scroll was ALIVE. The people, trees, rivers, all were alive and moving. It was a very dramatic effect.

This led into the crazy BAMBOO forest that was GORGEOUS! THey were these long bamboo tubes that stretch from floor to ceiling and were filled with LED elements and they changed colors, glimmered, and sparkled depending on the mood of the music/film in the background. This section was talking about how IMPORTANT natural resources are and we must respect nature.

Then you entered the 'Children's Hope' area that had pictures created by "children" across China showing what they hope for the future of the country. I say "children" because China must have 1,000,000 budding savant artists because some of these drawing were too good. Like 8 years olds who drew perfectly shaded figures. Or a 7 year old who is a master at a linoleum block print….as an art teacher I felt MORE then a little dubious about these "children." Then every so often they threw in a real child's piece of art to keep it sort of in reality.

Then it was on to an Epcot-esque ride that made absolutely no fricken sense. It was 10 minutes of riding around in what I think may have been a Surrealist Nightmare…. there were these large abstract color changing trees, then an ice world filled with pagodas, then this awful tunnel that showed city progress and made you wanna barf. As soon as I get blogger to post my video's all of you will see what I mean. Seriously…this ride made no sense- what so ever.

Then it was on to the section about China going green….it was a bit laughable. As the world's #1 Polluter you felt like saying to the Chinese Expo designer, "seriously?" It did offer tips about going green. So many tips in fact they contradicted themselves. ("Save gasoline by having business teleconferences rather then traveling!" "Save electricity by turning off your cellphone and talking in person!") It just seemed so hypocritical to talk about how China's going green- when 3 months ago they said they didn't need to because they were a developing power and all the other countries had time to develop before they went green. It's a very Chinese thing to talk about it and not do it.

Outside was a creepy Dr. Suess-esque creature and I have included a picture. Again- I was not sure the significance….maybe to show all of god's living creatures united and working together? I don't know.

After reading a little more on the subject I learned that Shanghai had in fact forced their people to go see the expo to create the feeling that it was busy. If they did not attend they might lose their jobs or their wages. It really sucks that they felt the need to distort the results on what I'm sure was an amazing Expo.

It was our last stop on what was an awesome trip to Shanghai. Our next day was Chinese New Years Eve…..and boy are you guys in for some awesome pictures!!!!!

Yu Garden & Bazaar

This day was our last full day in Shanghai. BTW- little factoid you don't say it Shang (rhymes with pang) but actually more like 'Shung' (rhymes with dung.)

Anyway- the day began LATE. Jill and I slept in and I was feeling rough- so we started slow. On our journey to the garden Jill and I stumbled upon a FRENCH bakery that actually baked FRENCH pastries. This is a HUGE step up from the normal Chinese style bakeries. They are OK- but something about it just isn't real. But this one: magnifique! The croissant tasted like it was straight from Paris and the elephant ear was flakey and sweet and delicious. We loaded up on the pastries and ambled on to the garden.

One thing I loved about this garden and shops was that it finally looked the way I imagined China to look. The hook shapes eaves on the buildings was EXACTLY how I had pictured China…but had yet to see. The shops themselves were tourist traps- but it was all decorated up for Spring Festival. 

The gardens were built in the 1500's by a son for his father. Since then they have changed hands many times- but is now owned by the merchants who's shops surround the garden. This garden is considered the BEST example of Chinese gardens. I do feel it is one of the prettiest I have seen here.

It has a huge rock collection- called a rockery. They are seen all over China- but this one you got to climb through and under you explore the garden.

My favorite feature is the dragon wall. The wall winds through and around the entire garden, undulating up and down, and then at each end is a GORGEOUS dragon head. Really impressive! 

One other great thing- is that it isn't that big but it FEELS massive. You get lost in it. It also feels centuries away from the bustling city that surrounds it. You feel as if any moment somebody may step out of the Ming dynasty and walk right by you.

Pearl Building

The Oriental Pearl Tower was next on our list of tourism spots. We went up to the booth and payed over 100 kuai (again! We're starting to realize how expensive Shanghai is….) for the 'full experience.' The experience started out as most things do in this modern age- with a security check. 

After that it was on to a super fast elevator and into the first large sphere.

The building was built in 1994 and became the first real building in the Pudong area. Before this building Pudong was mostly known as a shanty town. Somebody brilliantly decided to develop this ultra modern financial port right across from the historical financial center. Since then….and as you can see from many of the other pictures from afar…the Pearl Tower has now been joined by half a dozen other sky scrapers. And being built right next to it is the Shanghai tower which will become the 4th tallest tower in the world- the second in China. I recommend Googling to see a picture of the incoming Shanghai tower- it is a cool, swirling design.

Anyway. The first large sphere gives you great panoramas and has arrows pointing to other major Chinese cities. I got a picture of home sweet home! Jill and I hung out there for a bit…and then took a trip up into the SPACE MODULE. The Space Module is the tallest of the towers. It offers slightly better views on less smoggy days- but unfortunately we did not get to go on a 'blue sky' day. Around this time we met two westerners who work for a communication company developing 3G & 4G networks abroad. They had 2 days left before they got to go home. They told us about the glass floor---which we had been previously unaware of. So- back down to the first sphere and sure enough…down a flight of twisty stair cases is the glass bottom deck. It is such a mind trip. It really becomes a battle of your Id & your Ego. The animal-instinct part of your brain says "YOU ARE GOING TO FALL TO YOUR DEATH! DON'T DO IT! YOU WILL GO SQUISH!" And the more developed part of your brains says, "hey man- its cool! Its strong glass- it can hold people!" Even though I don't really have a fear of heights it was a little nerve wracking. A few sweet boyfriends would help their scared girlfriends by literally TOSSING them on to the glass floor. 

Jill and I took…ummmm about 1,000,000 pictures up here and I got a great video of walking around. It messes with your head.

Then we took another elevator from the sphere into another sphere….I think…which is where the ROLLER COASTER was hidden. Now- calling it a Roller Coaster might be a bit kind. It is a step above those little caterpillar rides you see for kids at carnivals. But it did have some hills and some speed. It wrapped around the interior of the sphere and if I remember correctly- was space themed.

Then we took the elevator down to the bottom and went to the Shanghai Museum. This museum was put together with help from Madame Tussouds and showed the development and history of Shanghai. It gave you many little vignettes from different time periods- really giving you sense of how the city has transformed in the past 400 years. It also was filled with creepy wax figures- and one random Indian wax figure that showed up in far too many vignettes. I know it was just being historically accurate showing foreigners from other British colonies but he looked slightly out of place and if he had been put there just to make it more politically correct. Then for Jill and I it became "Where's Waldo" of this Indian guy…. (I guess "Where's Raj?"). It turned out to be the LONGEST MUSEUM EVER….it took us 2 hours to get through it. I know a little too much about Shanghai history. 

All and all we left feeling like we had TRULY gotten the full price of our ticket. 

 

Shanghai Aquarium

Jill has been wanting to go to the aquarium for months and months and months…. and we even attempted to go to the 'Blue Zoo' here in Beijing. But bad directions interfered and we never made it back.

After riding in the most RIDICULOUS tunnel ride ever… Jill and I trekked over to the Shanghai Aquarium. I think we both we're feeling a little dubious when we saw this teeny tiny little inverted pyramid-esque building. Especially when the entrance fee was over 100 kuai! 

But we proceeded and boy are we glad! It turned out to be a labyrinth of excellent exhibits- just tank after tank after tank of the most interesting aquatic animals. 

The aquarium began with a traveling exhibit of 'deadly creatures of the deep.' That is where I got the LOVELY picture of the dragon head eel- that thing is creepy!

It then went into a section of animals form the Yangtze river- many of which are  very endangered. The Yangtze river dolphin is suspected to actually be extinct since none have been seen in years. :(

The rest of the aquarium was divided up by continent. It started in South America with a rain forest room. Then on to Australia and Africa. Our favorite continent was Antarctica because of the seal tank and the penguin tank. This one seal was such a flirt and would come and make eye contact with Jill and myself. It was awesome! He would swim around and then stop and bat his big eyes at us. We were swooning!

The penguins were not super bright- and so they just continually tried to swim through the glass…. but adorable none the less. I was just bummed to not be able to see the little buggers waddling!

Somewhere in there was also a jelly fish room filled with tank after tank of beautiful and scary jelly fish. They are just so beautiful, elegant and graceful. But they scare me so bad! I guess what I should say is….I appreciate them being on the other side of the glass. They also had the exhibit really exquisitely lit- so you could see every detail of the jellies. 

The last part of the aquarium was an underwater tram ride that weaved underneath 5 HUGE aquariums. It made you feel very much a part of the exhibit and also gave you a good sense of scale. Fish are big! haha

Overall a really great aquarium! I would say that it might be just about as good as the Baltimore aquarium- even if it is smaller. 

The pictures show a few of the highlights of the exhibits. 

Views of The Bund & Pudong

The Bund…as I said in the previous post is a collection of buildings along the river. Bund is a German word meaning bank or embankment. It is the only location in the world which is known as "The  Bund" whilst there are many bunds.

Each building was built by a different business/countries who occupied and traded in Shanghai. This is what gives each building it's distinct style and architecture. After China became the People's Republic many of these buildings were shut down and many of the financial institutions left or relocated. It is only within the past 20 years that many of those financial firms have returned to occupy these buildings. Some are now used for retail space and most of them have the upper floors dedicated to restaurants and bars.

Directly across the river is the Pudong district. This has been built up in the last twenty years. Literally the Pearl Building began a trend. Now- as you can see from the pictures there are many sky scrapers! In fact- they are building what will be the 4th tallest sky scraper in the world: The Shanghai Tower. Jill's favorite building is the World Financial building which looks suspiciously like a bottle opener. 

At night those areas are a glow- and it is lovely to see the classic buildings facing the new, modern style buildings. I think it is a perfect way to sum up the city of Shanghai. Modern meets classic. 

Shanghai! Overview!

Finally- Jill and I have sprung this old popsicle stand! On Sunday we jumped on a plane and flew south about 600 miles and 10 degrees warmer to Shanghai.

A little background on Shanghai: It is the MOST populous city in China (which is really an accomplishment!) and has a long history. It was originally a small textile town, but being on the water it became really popular with shipping. It was a port town and with Western trade and colonization in the nineteen hundreds became a major world player. Since then it has remained a important city for trade and finance. Because this city was opened to Westerners it has a wonderful mixed history- which gives the city real character. It really reminds you of a blend of Washington D.C. and New York City with history and modern progress pleasantly blended together.

We stayed at the Captain's Hostel and at $20 a night was a real deal! It was ON THE BUND which is the important financial street. All the architecture is of Western influence and each building was built with distinct personality and style. We spent our first day with a brief nap, and walking the Bund. The Bund offers beautiful view of Pudong which is directly across the river. This  is wear in the past 20 years a few dozen sky scrapers have been built. The most distinct space bubble looking one is the Oriental Pearl Building. It is 1535 ft tall…but we'll get back to that later.

We then walked the streets, heading towards Renmin Park. Inside the park is the small but charming Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA.) And the current show was all about Coco Chanel. It had original Haute Couture, personal videos, pictures, news articles, jewelery, fragrances and her incredible art collection. She had TONS of original sketches done by Picasso, Giacometti, and Dali's. She also has some amazing late Renaissance pieces that were great. We went back to our hostel and then headed out to New Heights on the Bund. We get an amazing meal (and paid for it…) then went home and crashed.

We woke up the next morning and were off. Off across the Tourist Tunnel which goes under the river to Pudong. It is like a bad version of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride….but worse. But almost so awesomely bad- you love it.

We ate breakfast in the shadow of the Pearl Building and off to the AMAZING aquarium (I have included a picture of the crabs.) It was a great aquarium with many many many exhibits. I was impressed with the number and variety of species they have….including penguins and seals.

We then grabbed lunch at a yummy noodle bar. I got a dish that came with- no joke- two ceramic stoneware cups. 

It was then up into the Pearl Building. We bought the 'full experience' which included trips to all the viewing decks, a ticket to  the museum, and a ride on the roller coaster.

FOUR HOURS LATER (no joke) we emerged from the Pearl Building and watched the sun set as we walked around taking pictures of the Bund. We grabbed the ferry across and at 2RMB was 1/20th of the cost of the Tourist Tunnel.) We got food at this delicious Indian restaurant over in the French Concession. We tried to go to a bar….and by "try to go" I mean we went and fell asleep in our drinks. So back to the hostel.

Whatever cold/flu I caught last week has lingered on. I have literally taken Dayquil everyday for 7 days now AND antibiotics.  I can't seem to kick it and I wake up every morning questioning how I am going to feel.  I have to carry large amounts of tissues everywhere with me. It's been pretty miserable. The last day was a pretty rough start. But with ONLY 3 nights in Shanghai  we had to press on. We went to the Yu Garden and Bazaar which was not even a 10 minute walk from our hostel. We wandered around all morning into afternoon. Ate some not so good bun/dumplings. Got some Starbucks and powered through to the Shanghai Expo.

We went back to the French Concession and ate at Vegetarian Lifestyle. That was some VERY YUMMY fake Lamb in a curry soup! Yum. Then we did actually manage to go out to a few bars. We mostly drank at a Scottish (for realz) Pub and talked with some other westerners for a long time. We checked out the Apartment which was a scenester bar that was overly crowded and the people there deft thought they were way cooler then they were. Then back to the Bund for Club Rouge which was on the top of another of the Bund buildings. We walked home from there and went to sleep.

The last morning we got some delicious french croissants and pastries. We walked around the neighborhoods and snacked while. We considered purchasing fireworks…decided that they were not approved materials for 'carry-on' and went to the airport. 

We flew back in last night: Chinese New Years Eve. It has been a blast and I will update you on that shortly. But there is the quick Shanghai overview. Now- hopefully, I will break down all the different parts of the Shanghai trip- and include MANY more pictures-  and MANY more details.

So- Happy Chinese New Year!!!

Black Plague

So. Flu season has descended upon Romp n' Roll.

Last week Herby was out Friday, Saturday & Sunday with a NASTY flu. Claire has been out. So what that meant is that the ONLY translator at Romp n' Roll Beijing for Saturday/Sunday was Ms. Nana. And what the meant for us English speakers is that Jill and I had to share a translator: AKA we were running classes SOLO. On Saturdays we typically run 6 classes in the morning, 3 in the afternoon and one night class. The morning classes overlap by at least 15 minutes so Nana was having to do the first half of an art class, then dashing across the facility to start Jill's babies class. Then back to my art class then back to Jill's music class THEN to my Runners class and then to Jill's construction class. It was a little hectic. And poor Nana came down with a stomach flu. Which more or less meant that in addition to the laps to the class rooms she was making laps to the bathroom.  Finally, we had to do the UNTHINKABLE: we twisted Luyin's arm and made him be a translator. Things ACTUALLY worked out. Although occasionally I had to ELBOW Luyin in the arm to remind him to be translating.

By the end of the day Nana was in the hospital….because of the flu and Luyin was our one and only. We actually had one parent complain- but for not being a translator- he did a great job. He was even a little self conscious.

Jill and I had a lazy ish weekend. A little bit of the gym, a huge grocery shop in anticipation for spring festival. We hung out with a really nice guy from cali- had dinner and drinks. By Tuesday night we settled into what is to be really short work week.

Cut to Wednesday morning- and I wake up with the worst sore throat in recent memory. I don't remember the last time I felt like this. So I decided to stay home- rest it off and head into work for Thursday. Well…cut to Thursday….and I've gotten worse. No fever. But now my sore throat is accompanied by a runny nose, and cough. Luckily- I have enough DayQuil/Nyquil to keep off about 5 of these infections so I'm managing. In all honesty- it's been a long time since I have just had two days of laying around and doing nothing. It's been really nice. Even over my vacation in December I was never fortunate enough to get two days to myself. I have officially OD'd on bad TV, eaten enough ritz crackers to keep them in business for another decade, and I even believe there may be an imprint of my butt permanently on this couch. But- I think I'm going to brave work tomorrow.

Even better news is that Luyin has come to his senses and is letting Jill and I stay in our apartment for the remainder of our trip. Which- is a huge relief. I don't know what got into his head. But- he wasn't going to be able to drag Jill and I out of here easily. I guess what was most frustrating about the situation was the idea that even though we said we didn't like the idea he was pushing so hard. Especially to two of your most loyal, hard-working employees. 

But here are the countdowns:

5 more days until Chinese New Year.

26 more days until I move to Wuhan.

80 more days until the Parents come!

87 days until I fly back to the USA for a visit.

157 more days till I fly home for good.

Crazy. :)