Shanghai nights

It took me 15 minutes of attempting to decipher the Chinese characters on Shanghai's metro map before seeing the large and clearly labelled "ENGLISH" button. Jumping onto the tube I alighted at the central People's square where I was promptly hijacked by a couple of "students" also "visiting" Shanghai.Why so many bunny ears? I was sceptical all along, but as always when being scammed I like to see things through to the end. So these students claimed they were on their way to a Traditional tea ceremony and insisted I join them. I went along, the company was charming and the tea delicious, the price extortionate... I think. Was it infact a big con and a reasonable price even for Chinese to pay? The price could be compared to some other teas I have sampled from perfectly decent tea houses, but being a novice I couldn't really tell the quality.


My doubts were confirmed the following day when I recieved a few identical offers from different groups to join them for tea ceremonies. Of course they were pretending to be customers, pretending also to buy the pricey teas, probably then getting a refund and no doubt a commision for lurring fools like me through their doors. Ah well, I was happy with my tea.
So later in the day, determined not to be conned or pressured into buying unwanted junk, I marched down the main shopping street just to absorb a bit of modern atmosphere. Soon enough I was being led down a back alley, into a shop, through a concealed door in a shelf and shown a vast range on Genuine copy designer handbags. "But I don't have a girlfriend!" I exclaimed, that didn't matter and I was shown several more rooms stacked with Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada etc. Eventual I escaped the handbag show room and managed to leave with just 2 genuine copy Polo t-shirts, for a fiver so I wasn't too fussed.

My next scam was the classic. Reported in all guide books, "the student art gallery", I was ready for this one. Two rather attractive young Chinese "students" who seemed pretty genuine started chatting to me and eventually invited me to their gallery. I made it quite clear that I was not going to buy anything, but said I'd go along to have a look anyway (because they were hot). Yes, it was usual mass produced traditional art work found everywhere in China and no amount of persuasion could get me to buy their stuff. Hahahaha....! Chinese scammers 10 - Alastair 1 The consolation goal had arrived.

So I didn't spend my whole time in Shanghai being scammed. In amongst various offers of lady sex, hashish and going to party; I had a swollen head from various compliments: being told I'm so tall and handsome with beautiful blue eyes, and after escaping the grasp of the persistant beggars guilt tripping you into donation by carrying a hungry looking kid with them, I did see some sights.


A large number of delicious skyscrapers puncture the sky around the city, blasting a flourest glow into the clouds at night fall but looking absurdly spectacular. An old french concession, the grand British Bund, Japanese concession and probably a few areas formerly of other foreign claimants make it necessary for this ultra modern Chinese city to have it's very own China town, which was nice. The Shanghai museum provided a very similar experience to most other museums in China, while the tourist Sight seeing tunnel was an all together ridiculous experience. Travelling under the river in a pod on a rail, fairy lights, lasers and inflatable knob men lined the way, whilst various words were stated from a speaker inside the pod... "asteroids, superstella, wonder". Atmospheric I think not.



So yeah, enough about Shanghai. Let's catch the world's fastest train, a 430 kph maglev created by Siemens, to the airport and go to Japan.

The Middle bit of China going east

My next destiation was Wudang Shan, however getting there from Yichang proved rather difficult and amusing. A communication break down at the train station had landed me with an unreserved seat and a change, sure enough this meant no seat and a very crowded carriage. The first leg passed smoothly with the odd curious look at why the westener could not afford to travel more luxuriously. After my change, on the even busier next train I recieved a whole lot more attention.

Shouts of "Hello!" from up and down the carriage rang out, where it is the only English word alot of Chinese people know. Already many people were out of their seats looking in my direction, being such a novelty and all, but when the attendant invited me down to her cabin so that she could practise her English and to show me her rabbit, a whole lot more started looking. Feeling slightly uneasy with this attention, I invited even more looks upon myself when I decided to buy some food... "The westerner can use chopsticks???" At least 100 people in the carriage looked in my direction amazed as I scooped up some rice with my chopsticks, made to put it in my mouth and missed... All over the floor! "Ah, the westerner can't use chopsticks!"

Bidding farewell to almost everyone in the carriage I arrived at Wudang Shan, birthplace of Tai Chi and home to Taoist Kung Fu. For once accomodation was no problem, before I knew it I was ushered into a hotel and given noodle dinner. Intending on climbing Wudang mountain, the following day I was disappointed that know-one knew where the path was and so I was directed to the bus via numerous Kung Fu weaponary shops. The day was spent wandering the various temples and trails on the misty mountain, having my photograph taken numerous times by curious Chinese folk, and then a chance meeting with my cabin-mate from the Yangzi cruise, still communication was impossible so we jus shook hands for a few minutes! Disappointingly there were not any Kung Fu masters or Ninjas jumping from roof to roof fighting for honour.



Getting a ticket to where I wanted to go next was tricky. So I arbritrarily chose a destination heading in the right direction (east), which happened to be another of China's summer furnaces, Wuhan.Yet another cock up in getting tickets meant I had to stay longer than I'd have liked in this hellishly hot city. Two days of sweating as I slowly strolled round the sights; a temple or two and the Yellow crane tower, passed pleasantly enough and then it was to the southern capital, Nanjing.


Cursing loudly at my Rough Guide having just booked "the cheapest" accomodation in Nanjing (according to my out dated book), only to walk arond the corner to find a youth hostel, I slowly surpressed my excess rage levels with the welcome sight of Starbuck's. A venti latte and a chocolate muffin later I delved into the former capitals numerous sights. The old presidential palace, a strange mix of colonial style villas and traditional Chinese architecture decorated with many ornate historical artefacts, featured a delightful exhibiton on Japan's "rape of Nanjing" occupation during the war, where according to the Chinese over 300,000 people were massacred (the Japanese question this figure though). Other sights included a closed Ming dynasty tomb where you still had to pay to find ot it was closed and Dr. Sun Yatsen's mausoleum.

Suzhou, a short train journey from Nanjing was to be the last tranquil stop for a while. Known for it's numerous ornamental gardens, two days were spent exploring a frustrating Buddhist Zen rock garden/maze of Shizi Lin, China's tallest pagoda south of the Yangzi and many other serene little gardens.