We caught the train to Shanghai today. Huanshan railway station was like the others - departure gates which you line up in-front of 20 minutes before your train is due, the 'special assistance' queue for non-Chinese ID card holders and food shops. McDonalds was the only coffee shop around and it was served, as our coffees often were, in individual plastic bags.
It was a 3 hour 15 train journey. About 90 minutes in, the landscape changed from hills, towns and tunnels to a plain full of high rise flats. The horizon was obscured by a permanent haze (smog). All you could see was the metropolis of Shanghai - tall grey buildings. We took the metro to our hotel. I like the pretty metro cards.
We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening exploring. First up was the Old Slaughter House of 1933. This was Shanghai’s abattoir designed to herd the animals up slip-free ramps to their death. In its heyday, around 1200 pigs, sheep and cattle would be killed daily. Apparently the pigs were kept on the ground floor because they couldn’t walk up the ramps fast enough.
It has a circular interior surrounded by 26 'air bridges', walkways and steps to manage the huge operation. The air bridges were of different widths to control the flow of the animals. Once operations stopped it fell into disrepair and only, in the last few years, has been revitalised as a shopping/eating area. This hasn’t taken off and the building is full of potential but empty/closed establishments.
It was eerie and beautiful, in a brutalist concrete fashion. Its major client nowadays being similarly minded photographers.
We headed down to a main tourist centre of Shanghai, the Bund. It is the waterfront on the Huangpu river and both sides are fronted by iconic buildings. At night the light show is full on and brings out the tourists in hordes. On the east side is the central business district with tall glizty skyscrapers. The west side has the older government buildings, including one based on Big Ben.
It was very popular and the police herded us across the roads in a highly controlled manner. Wherever there were people, there were security/police monitoring them. Security cameras were everywhere in droves (apparently half of the world’s CCTV cameras are in China). In Shanghai there were tourist police stationed on pretty much every corner: kiosks in the shopping centres, vans along the roads and security personnel patrol public buildings.
Tuesday 29 October 2024
We had breakfast on the hotel’s 4th floor terrace planning our day. Somehow we’d managed to pick up a Korean map of Shanghai, instead of Chinese, so we ended up variously translating from both Korean and Chinese to help with the planning!
We headed across the Huangpu river. It's not easy to cross as there are no bridges, and the tunnels are only for vehicles, so it was either a circuitous metro trip or ferry. We found the ferry one minute too late and had to wait 29 minutes for the next one - lucky JC got to spend it with an impatient Ruth! But the ferry view was lovely, and I spotted a lighthouse.
The Aurora museum is a collection by Yung Tai Chen
who gathered pottery, porcelain, Buddhist
statues and jade artefacts of great historical significance. There were pottery figurines from the Han (206 BCE to 220 CE) through to Tang dynasties (618 - 906 CE). Pottery figures first appeared in the Eastern Zhou period (1046 - 256 BCE) buried to accompany the person in the after life. By the Han dynasty these had become a serious status symbol - think Terracotta Army. I liked the Tang breastfeeding lady on a camel and an Eastern Han (25-220 CE) two storey house.
Some of the exhibits were quite interesting, particularly the burial artefacts from the Han dynasties. This burial suit is apparently made from 2903 pieces of jade sewn with gold wire.
There was also a jade floor, one devoted to blue and white porcelain and a Buddha floor.
We stopped for what turned out to be one of the best meals I’d had in China. It was aubergine, Thai basil and rice. Strangely, considering where we are, whenever we ordered rice it took ages to come. Dishes of meat and vegetables appeared swiftly but rice was always last. I think it was because they cook it to order, but it does mean your other dishes got cold waiting for the rice to appear.
We took the ferry back and I had a quick peep of the Gutzlaff signal tower which is on the west side of the Huangpu River. Sadly you couldn't go in. An observation station was established around here in 1865 with the signal tower added in 1883. The sign said was it was one of the only two known Alonobo style buildings in the world, but a google doesn't enlighten me further.
Next up was the much recommended Yuyuan gardens. These were designed in 1559 and were once the epitome of peace and quiet in Shanghai. No more. The gardens are on the tourist trail - pretty much every "tour of Shanghai in 4 hours" group swings by here and a Buddhist temple a short drive away. Needless to say it was heaving and we didn’t enjoy.
Some of the carvings were beautiful.
We stayed to get our money’s worth (!) but were grateful to leave.
We walked towards an allegedly independent shopping area only to find it hijacked by global brands. However we walked to another similar area, Tianzifang, and found this a lot more genuine. Small alley ways with trinket shops. Again, aimed at tourists - my theory is the likelihood of western tourists is predicted by the amount of signage in English - but a nice change from corporate merchandise.
On the metro back to the hotel our train was very yellow which amused me. I also realised I'd been breaking the first rule of metro escalators which is "no walking". I ignored this and continued to march up and down them when I could.
We went and stood on the hotel's terrace and realised we could see the snazzy Bund.
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