Egg tarts and dragon dumplings could be the new crème brulee

Food is the perfect focus for a traveller. Normally easy to access and very portable. Quality can vary widely, but that is part of what makes it interesting, and the styles and the actual things are such good mirrors for a culture. On our 2010 trip I had a wee bit of a focus on crème brulée. It was a very worthwhile and enjoyable focus and set me in good stead for restaurant experiences and memory jogging when we came home. It could be boring to repeat the focus – note I say could be, as I think it would still be a very worthwhile focus, but changing tack could also be good.

We set off to explore Shanghai. It was Saturday late morning and the streets were busy with people looking happy and relaxed. Obviously some were in working mode but many had weekend faces. We crossed the road in front of the hotel in a relaxed way as the lights indicate how many seconds you have before you have to run for it. So long as you do not have really slow people in front most roads can be crossed safely by keen kiwis even with 8 secs to go. 

As we arrived at People’s Square there was a fast food stall. I am a sucker for such things as good ones can be excellent. Just a wee snack was required and this is where the egg tart search began. 

Busy places often have very fresh food and these were gorgeous. Light, flaky, not too sweet and just over a mouthful.  There are numbers of reviews of street food in Shanghai and I am stunned that I had not explored them before we went. What was I thinking!! Lack of dedication.

Feeling slightly   recharged we could start looking at the world we were in. I heard music which seemed to be “Happy Birthday” smiled and looked round and realised it was coming from a street cleaning truck. I was confused and am still not sure if that was the actually sound I could hear but considering where I was I could believe it. We wandered into People’s Square to do some sightseeing and people watching. A large gathering of people sitting round all with umbrellas in front of them protecting their displays. A market, goody? Well it was a market but we were not the market being aimed at. It was a marriage market. Displays of eligible women and some men and their agents or mothers etc. ready to respond to   RFP’s. So many people on offer and looking at the offers and the tiredness of some of the displays possible reflected the state of the market. Not a happy state of affairs for those offering their lives.

The custard tart effect did not last long enough for our kiwi systems so we headed to somewhere close and maybe safe. Safe but horrible was the result. The place was busy, pictures of the food available looked edible and the signs said “natural ingredients”. I should have known. Janice said on our  restaurant hunt in Torla in 2010  - “never go into a place with pictures of the food --- It will not be good.”  She was right. Cheap but not cheerful and Geoff increased the lack of cheer by suggesting that the ice in my tasteless iced coffee may have more to do with natural ingredients than I would wish.

Lesson learned. You do not eat McDonalds at home so why would you go near something  even slightly similar anywhere else even if it is advertised as being a meal for 2 for Y53 including some pretty ugly tasting dumplings. I was on  a dumpling hunt and these were definitely not the prize.

 We needed City information and decided that a bus tour of the hop on hop off style would fit the bill. Sitting up high, watching the world, learning and bit and getting places. We chose the Big Bus option – partly because it was close and about to leave.  The reviews on Trip Advisor are not particularly good but we enjoyed the commentary, the buses were not overcrowded, the fresh air at the top was wonderful and the routes fitted with where we wanted to go. It would have been good to have been able to see the bus stops easily but the distance between places was not so far that we couldn’t walk if we missed one of the 30 minute passes of the buses. It was worth the Y100 each for 24 hours we paid although we did miss out on the boat ride but in hind sight we are not sad about that either.

People watching and listening is fun. At one stage on the bus we had two women in front of us. One young and beautiful and the other older and a bit more worn and weary looking. The older one was talking about her travel experiences in Copacabana in the 70’s. She had just left home in the UK and gone off travelling. She needed a break and no one would go with her so she went alone. The other woman’s response was “I am so impressed Mum, you have done so much travelling in your life.” And the questions followed – in my head as well as from the daughter. I wondered how come the daughter did not know of so much of her mother’s life as she asked where else her mother had been and why and when etc. I wanted to know more!

  Shanghai was a tidy city and aside from the happy street cleaner there were the men removing hoardings from lampposts etc. their bamboo ladders were perfect, incredibly light to move from pole to pole and pick up and carry away to the next work site.

It felt less hassled and cleaner than India but my experience of India was 20 years ago and maybe it has changed as well. Maybe the people in Shanghai or the parts we were in at least are better off than those in India.  There were still beggars on the streets and as always you ponder on what to do in these situations. I vacillate between ignoring them and giving token amounts of money, between feeling concerned for them and wondering where there minder is while still feeling concerned. On this trip there was a man with a very creative wooden leg, a person in a cart being pulled along by another person, and the old man in the wheel chair. I saw one couple, a mother and baby, and some very large sacks of stuff and initially thought they could have been country people come to the big city. I later concluded after seeing similar sacks laid out on the ground displaying a wide range of goods for sale that they may have been from the country but the sacks were not necessarily their entire worldly goods. Still felt uncomfortable for them though.  What happens to people who rely on passers- by having cash in their pockets when more and more trading is done by card? Maybe they need a specific tap and go system.

The character of any city is often reflected in its buildings and how the people in the city use these. Shanghai has a history which has been based on a lot of international trade and diplomacy. The buildings are solid and many of the older buildings have strong European influences even if a lot of the architects were Chinese.

 We travelled on the Big Bus to the French Concession and hopped off for a wander and some lunch. It has been restored and rejuvenated into a mass of small lanes and alleyways. Some were the original passages but some have been created. It is beautiful and quaint and feels European or even a bit like the Lichfield Lanes which for a short time were a feature of Christchurch.  Lovely but just a bit sterile and safe. We  found a very good wee  Vietnamese  café and ordered a drink each. Geoff a beer and I leapt at the sight of Salted lime juice on the card. The waitress assured me it would be too salty so instead I had Fresh lime juice with a small jug of sugar syrup. It was delicious and I used very little of the syrup. So many memories of exotic places and this being the only drink apart from tea which was truly refreshing and restorative. Very good when your system is feeling a wee bit nervous. Geoff enjoyed his beer just as much.



 I found the shops in the area interesting but boring at the same time. I was looking for shoes to walk in and for a bargain at the same time. No luck. I did find a number of stationary shops and one in particular had a café attached, it also had a service where you could register and they would send out cards of your choice to your specified people for important occasions. You would either think was a good idea or a way of passing on responsibility for making the effort to remember which still could be seen as a good idea.

As the day cooled people in the back streets were making the most of their domain and food was being cooked and sold and the deck chairs were coming out. The road was their back garden and it was cooler in the early evening sun.

Our Big Bus ticket included a boat trip on the Huangpu river in the evening. “Be at the quay at 6pm but it will not leave until 6.20pm”. Huh!!! We walked very fast through the back streets from the hotel to get to the place marked on the map by the very young and fast talking Big Bus official. Couldn’t stop and admire things as we had left it a bit late but arrived on the Bund at the supposed place in time. No boat so we wandered again fast, to another alternative place. Still no boat although we could see them on the water. Gave up and decided to just enjoy the evening and people and skyline watching. Thousands of people pouring onto the Bund promenade – a constant flow. The buildings are stunning – on both sides of the river as the sun sets the lights on them come on and the reflections in the water and off each other are better than some movies. It is like a coordinated colour ballet although I expect there is less coordination and more competition especially in the newer buildings. 

What was missing though was a place to sit and have a beer and watch the lights. Those places were probably there but not where we could see them and not in the outside on the walkway the way you may get them in NZ.

Stan and Fe had told us about the Garden Bridge –it is a very old Metal bridge which is used in wedding photos for thousands of Chinese couples. Probably millions when I remember how many people live here.  It is a small bridge leading between two parts of the city and is busy. A bit difficult to rush in in your full regalia but many people do it. Not like us and on the day of the wedding necessarily but it is part of creating the “Wedding book”. As we walked across the bridge there were a couple of groups standing on the sides of the bridge ready to rush to the middle for the perfect shot and posing with the river view and we passed more groups walking towards the bridge along the Bund, long dresses and veils looking slightly the worse for wear bunched up under arms as the groups marched on their mission towards the bridge. Looking busy but not necessarily romantic and happy

We headed back onto East Nanjing Road against the flow of people.  We started to  believe we were missing out on something so I asked a young couple, rationalising that young people would be more likely to speak English,  what was happening. Nothing – just the view and the lights and this happens every night!! It reminded me of when we were young and would be returning from visiting our grandparents in Sumner on a  Sunday evening. We would try to persuade Dad to drive through town so we could see the lights and the coloured fountain in Victoria Square. He preferred the fast trip down Ferry road. This Shanghai experience was similar but about 1,000000000 times bigger.

 The compromise beer and dinner was enjoyed in a café in the middle of East Nanjing road watching people and avoiding shopping and being hounded by street sellers. Toy of the night was a set of rollers with flashing lights you could out on the heels of your shoes. Geoff did buy a spinning noisy thing for Duncan!!

The dumpling hunt could wait.

We retired to the hotel to sleep but this city was not going to sleep for a long time.

Geoff's Shanghai perspective

Sun 15^th June

Well done Wendy for persuading me to go to Shanghai.  I wasn’t in the mood for a hot sweaty Asian City which was chocka with people and noise.  Well as it turns out, Shanghai is moderately hot and sweaty, but nothing like, say, Kuching or Hanoi in mid-summer.  And maybe because we arrived on the weekend, the centre of town has quite a lot of people, but nothing outrageous – I’ll get a better idea on the normal state of affairs tomorrow at 8 a.m I guess.  Sure, the place is smoggy, but the people on the whole seem very positive and smiley.  The stream of them heading down Nanjing Rd to the riverfront (the Bund) at 8 p.m. last night was pretty amazing – I’m not sure what the heck they go there for, but presumably it’s to feel the wind in their face and look at the pretty amazing building façade lights.  And I think the architecture is great. 

So much stuff that is unusual shapes and NOT some crappy curtain wall glass.  It really is as thought the folk here said “So you reckon for an extra 50 % you can do something really cool?  I’ll pay for that.  Do it!”  In comparison, much of the commercial architecture in ChCh in the last 50 years looks to have been done for an owner who kept saying “Can’t we get the cost down another 5 %”.

We went for a long (1 ½ hr) walk down to and along the Bund to go on our free cruise trip (all part of the fairly expensive Big Bus Trip around town - $40 each for 24 hrs all you can ride on the open air double decker).  But we’d been told the wrong place to go, and although we tried hard we never found the right starting place and missed the boat trip.  Actually we didn’t feel too aggrieved because the view of the building lights from the banks was probably about as good as the view from the river.  We made the most of the rest of our Big Bus ticket today by going on all three routes, and also taking the sound and light show on a trip on a small cable car which goes under the main river.  This was described as:

“China’s first cross-river pedestrian sight-seeing tunnel.  The tunnel wall has ever- changing exotic colours created by high- tech means, on which the yellow starfish pink flowers, geometric patterns of various shapes, a variety of vibrant lives on Earth making people get lost in Wild and fanciful thoughts.  The sound system is combined with the immediate landscape changes, engendering an immersive shock.  The Tunnel becomes .....  the underground rainbow connecting beautiful views on both side of Huangpu River”

Well talk it up guys, because the reality is pretty pathetic.  Lights flash and voices tell you about exploding rocks and the ages that have passed and the … well actually I couldn’t hear most of it.  What really happens is that you are dragged in a small cable car for 2 mins in a tunnel under the river.  I’d be seriously pissed if I’d paid the $10 per person 1-way ticket, as opposed to it being part of my tour bus ticket, the pain of whose purchase had long gone.

It was quite hot yesterday (Sat) – in fact a four beer day as it turned out.  Unfortunately most of the brews here seem disgustingly sweet and I didn’t even really enjoy them – in fact I left behind half of the “dark wheat beer”.  It was also around $8-9 per bottle, and a coffee at Starbucks is around $6, so the price for the tourists and well-to-do on the flash streets is at least on a par with ChCh, if not worse.  However, today we walked down the backstreet from the hotel (fantastic choice of hotel by Wend needs to be acknowledged) and had pork dumplings (8 for $1.50) and local beer ($2 for 500 ml), which just proves what we all know - If you walk in the attractive places which are full of tourists, then you pay tourist prices; if you go 100m away you are back to prices that the locals can afford.  That local beer (Tsingtao) was also really nice – in  fact with Wendy drinking the odd glass the 500 ml disappeared just as I was starting to get into the swing of things.

Today we woke at 6:00 and were out walking in the local park at 7:15 watching all the locals doing their tai chi etc.  What fascinates me is they are all out doing their individual weirdo health stuff (the folk with the long plastic sleeves over the top of their ordinary shirt sleeves but hanging 10 cm past their hands; the bloke walking rapidly backwards; the bloke doing the cool smooth walk wearing his suave clothes and white gloves) and completely ignoring (or at least appearing to ignore) what anyone else might think of them.

 I think it must be the only way to survive in a crowded space – ignore what everyone else might think of you.  Elsewhere in the park there were dozens and dozens of small birdcages with their occupants whistling away, and their owners chatting to each other.  [As an aside that is something else which we think seems really great – the way in which there are so many folk on the streets chatting to each other – so much of a community somehow.  Possibly a typical rose-tinted spectacle tourist’s view, but it does seem a very positive place]. 

The traffic is also great.  It seems that bikes, including motor bikes – are entitled to ignore the lights provided they do treat them as the equivalent of a Give-Way-to-the-traffic-which-is-on-green.  And pedestrians and other traffic basically seem very tolerant of each other's idiocy, as opposed to the up-tight Kiwi driver who when he or she has the right of way gets seriously pissed off if someone infringes on it.  Oh, and at least half the push bikes and motor bikes are battery driven.  I’ve noticed with the pedal bikes that there is not much of the “pedal assist” going on.  Mostly the attitude seems to be “Why would I pedal when I have a perfectly reliable twist grip throttle?”

Post-park stroll we walked 100 m down the road and had breakfast in a non-chain coffee shop, but the coffee was “Americano” crap and the breakfast we chose was effectively a filled roll – which was OK but not exciting.  We watched the last 24 hrs world cup highlights while we breakfasted – but couldn’t figure out who to cheer for because the screen showed names and scores in Chinese characters, and several teams seem to be in variations of blue and other in variations on white.  I did see god Rooney at one stage as he set up a great goal, but aside from that all I could do was enjoy the skills.

After breakfast we walked briskly for 20 mins to our tour bus stop – and somehow I got disorientated by 90 degrees for a while.  But then it was on with the programme.  Quite pleasant to just sit rather than walk – and this gave our incipient (well full-fledged for one of Wendy’s) blisters a rest.  

After a long bus ride we got back to the start point and then had a wander around some shops.  I got a bit worried when Wendy went for a pee and took more than 15 minutes to get back – apparently she went up another floor for a quick look and then couldn’t find her way down again.  We had a Haagen Daaz icecream at an outrageous price, but worth it because it was so nice, and then went to the Museum of City planning and I think for the first time was able to present some ID and get in at half price as an “Aged Person”.

Monday 16^th June

We got up at 7:00 and checked the crowds in rush hour (they were absent – at least on the main street where we were drinking coffee ) and at 8:30 got a taxi out to the airport for less than half the price of the one in – but I have to admit the quality was not the same.  I’d have greatly preferred the subway and Mag-lev train, but Wendy has explained elsewhere the problem with over-packing, although she over-states the difference in weight (it was only 5kg).  I refuse to sign on to this idea of taking the family 700 gm of liquorice allsorts, 600 gm of chocolate biscuits, 750gm of honey and the same of marmite, and 1kg of cosmetics etc. etc.  I’m quite convinced that if I agreed to take, say, 3 kg of these goodies (which no doubt the kids love getting), it wouldn’t make Wendy’s bag lighter.  She’d just buy 3 kg more!

In order to avoid travel stress we were checked in and through customs 2.5 hours before the flight left.  The KLM plane was considerably more welcoming than Air NZ, which have been a rather depressing experience on our first leg.  The Air NZ plane was tired (seat head rests which didn’t stay up, handsets with the colours and symbols worn off them and an entertainment system which was technologically several years behind SAS), the food was very ordinary with a strong Asian bent, and the staff were rather dour Asian rather than the smiling kiwis serving lamb chops which is my last memory of Air NZ.  It is clear that Air NZ is not taking Kiwis to China and beyond; it is taking Chinese to NZ and back and has pitched its services accordingly.  In contrast the KLM handsets looked new, the seats worked and were more comfortable, and the hostesses had big Dutch smiles!

And so we departed Shanghai for Amsterdam.  Ten minutes after take-off we were advised that for €180 each we could upgrade to premium economy.  We thought about it seriously, but just couldn’t quite bring ourselves to spend $550 to be more comfortable for 10 hours.  I’m not sure how wealthy we’d have to be to routinely go business class – but it’s obviously quite a bit wealthier than we are now!

Travel foibles – downs and then ups of starting a new adventure.

Shanghai was a risk. Geoff wanted not to be travelling and he wanted even less to be having the trip take any longer than it needed to. On the plane, brief stop, mainly sleeping in Singapore transit hotel and then continue on to wherever when we had to go.  Wendy wanted to make a change. Not go to Singapore or if we did to explore it a bit. Completely out of the question, too hot muggy and full of shops. Alternative tack was obviously required. Suggestions of maybe travelling via Dubai on Emirates and stopping there for a couple of nights --- “What on earth for!!! And I don’t like Emirates.” His only trip on them ever was to Sydney once and that was OK but as you get older you get more set in your ways and so it was that the compromise was a stop for 48 hours in Shanghai.

 We first went to Asia in 1981 for 6 weeks. Travelled to Singapore and then to Sarawak and  Sabah.Then mainland Malaysia and Singapore and home. It was good, although we did cut the trip short by a week and came home as we were sick of the heat and just wanted to eat fish and chips, which we did from the Hataitai fish and chip shop and I was promptly very ill. 5 months pregnant and hadn’t been sick on any of our trip until we got home to kiwi food.

A few visits since then but for me never to real China.   This was it.

 Flew Air New Zealand partly for cost reasons but mainly as we thought it would be better than the alternatives since we couldn’t fly on the favourite, Singapore!!  We are back of the plane flyers but I have never been as uncomfortable as I was on this trip. Seats were hard and the headrest is too high to be of any use to shorties but even for taller people like Geoff the headrest wouldn’t stay in one place so was of minimal use anyway. The food was marginally edible – scrambled eggs  in the morning were quite similar in texture to porridge which has been sieved and tinted a very light lemon colour; didn’t bother with wine as I was wanting to sleep; Entertainment system was lacking in content unless  you were aged between 4 -30 and not needing anything  worthwhile to watch; Staff had not learned the pleasures of turning their lips upwards ,armrests would not rise completely and I was stuck in between two people who were sound asleep.  
I did eventually get to sleep though I think with the help of some sleep support pills I had bought from the chemist that morning. Thank goodness for pills, --- one for my back and one for the sleeping --- eventually off to a happy place somewhere.

Arrived in Shanghai tired after a few very late nights and early mornings before we left Christchurch so not a good start but we were going to make the most of this holiday. My bag is very heavy and this is not what I had planned. I have a small pack as my carryon luggage which will double as my around Mont Blanc pack so I wanted to take either another light pack or a mid-sized wheeled suitcase.  As I am currently feeling in a thrifty frame of mind I did not want to buy something unnecessary but now realise that was very short sighted. At home we have three LARGE suitcases courtesy of trips the girls have taken. All too big to cart easily on a metro or similar, and also very big to store in the van when we pick it up. There are also 4 mid-sized cabin baggage cases which it turned out were just a bit small when I wanted to include marmite and honey etc, for the kiwi refugees.  I tried the smaller tramping packs and they were too small – sounds a bit like goldilocks and her friends, so on Friday at about 4pm decided it had to be my big pack and I had to pack it right then. Still trying to finish cleaning the house for tenants and waiting for Geoff to pack his bag so I could see if he had space for my extra necessities; he was still trying to finish a project so it was wiser not to interrupt or ask questions especially  if they related to dilemmas I had because of my packing inefficiencies!!. So all my good intentions of reassessing my luggage requirements went to the wall and I panicked, just packed stuff --- already reduced in quantity twice, into the big pack. It is heavy and I am a bit older than I was 40 years ago and so do not feel like walking through subway and metro crowds under load. Geoff is of a frame of mind to not ‘pander‘ to my load requirements so has a pack which is about 9 kilos lighter than mine. This has been discussed!!!!

The upshot is that when we landed at Pudong all good intentions of catching the Maglev and metro to our hotel vaporised and we got an expensive but VERY comfortable car into the city. It was the most comfortable I had been for about 20 hours.

Taxis can be an interesting window into new places. In a car with a local who knows the zone and can possibly introduce you to a new place. We have had a few of this kind in various places. In many places even if the level of English is not good the driver is very willing to practice. This driver was not of that variety. He knew the general direction and was assisted by a bossy sounding TomTom woman. He was intent on getting us to our destination as quickly as possible  -- maybe he knew Geoff wanted to be on the Maglev and was making up for it, but even  Geoff was concerned enough to lookup speed limits on freeways in China and ask him to slow down from 120 to 80. I suspect it was less a safety concern than a concern that we may have to pay the fine if he received one!!

Traffic was intense and moving fast and the closer we got to town it moved through high roadways above the ground. As part of the focus of this trip is housing alternatives we looked at the accommodation options with some interest but minimal admiration. So many really high and very boring and sterile looking apartment blocks. Some areas though where you could see the smaller lower level traditional streets and houses but many of these were in the process of being removed and we assumed would be replaced by something higher and with greater people capacity.

But there were trees, some older but including a new forest the city was trying to develop closer to the airport.

The area of the city we were aiming for is a mixture of old and new architecture styles and not many really high ones although these are obvious on the skyline.

Our hotel was the Old YMCA and opposite a big park and just a 5 minute walk from People ‘s Square which is a huge garden area in the centre of the city.

I had anticipated People’s Square being a bit like the pictures you see of Tianamen Square in Beijing – bare and barren and capable of holding major gatherings. People’s Square possibly reflects the history of the development of Shanghai as a multicultural city with a very strong international trade and commercial base. Large numbers of trees and small resting areas and recreational paths. One of many similar havens in the city. Trees give the city a calmness which belies the fact there are many millions of people living there.

Many of the streets are lined with Plane trees and these have even been retained despite the fact they limit the access for larger trucks and buses. The  London Plane tree is renowned as a good street tree and much of this reputation is justified by the success of it in Shanghai. The bark is beautiful and the greenery is gentle and not too dense so creates shade but not depressing darkness.

We parked outside the Hotel Marvel and walked in and up to our room, having paid a tip of too much to the taxi driver because we did not have any small money and were not sure of the tipping policy yet. Took the independent stance and carried our own bags to the room partly because we do and partly because we did not want to feel beholden to the porter until we had the tipping thing sorted. Felt a bit silly but put it down to tiredness and start of holiday/ return to Asia confusion. I opened the door to the room with some trepidation as despite excellent Trip Advisor reviews I had got  what I thought was a very good deal of $NZ 135 for two nights  and I was hoping it was not going to be a big let-down. No way. An excellent deal and a very comfortable huge room. I was smiling. We had arrived in Shanghai but decided a wee snooze would help us enjoy  our first steps outside so that is what we did. We fell asleep very easily and woke up 2 hours later ready for lunch and the city.