People's Democratic Republic of China Part 5 - Day 3 of Shanghai Continued.... (Oooh ahhh!)
Following on from our touristic elevator ride up the Pearl TV Tower - Ant and I continued on the bottom floor to the Shanghai History Museum - which was also included in our expensive Pearl Tower ticket.
The Shanghai History Muesum was a little short on history - but heaps on kitsch Disney-esque Pirates of the Carribean moments... It took tourists through the "gold old days" of colonial western oppression and opium dens (my favourite!) with heaps of maniquins in poses, smoking crack, etc... My favourite bit of chinenglish from the Muesum was the sign pointing to the exit saying "300 inches"... I'm not quite sure what that is in terms of feet or metres...?
We ventured to the nearby Pudong Mall (or something - it was in Pudong but I've forgotten the name) and there were a whole two floors of themed restaurants and stuff... We choose "Chamate" and it sort of delved into Canberra-esque crap service when we were waiting 10 minutes for the woman to take our order - but the food was great - great stewy seafood soup things... We also ordered $5AUD worth of Oblong Tea but it was rather small (enough for only 2 small chinese teacups worth)... Of note - Chamate was located across from the fast food joint - "Kung Fu" with heaps of Bruce Lee likeness everywhere - I'm sure they are going to be sued by the Lee Family for Intellectual Property (IP) infringement...
We caught the metro to the French Concession to check out the main shopping strip mall... It was moshpit craziness at one particular mall - they had a "buy 200RMB worth of crap - get 100RMB off" - which had sent all the locals in a zombie rampage like state..... Ant and I could only take 2 mins worth of this before bailing on the mall... In one of my mooder fits - we tried to search for a drink for 1/2 hour. Before almost stooping down to a new low and ordering a drink from KFC - we found a nearby stewpidmarket - and got some Pocori Sweat like drink...
We walked back from the French Concession to downtown and it pretty much reminded us of Orchard Road in Singapore. Wide, leafy sidewalks and wall to wall huge shopping malls...
As I was feeling tired and moody and Ant was feeling like he needed to go and do more shopping - we parted ways. I went back to the hotel for some crap Chinese TV whilst Ant bought some shoes (! still in shock - not sure how he bought some shoes in Asia at the right size!) and a cheaper Billabong scalf and beanie than the ones he were eyeing off at a Raw Denim shop.
I fell asleep through Anacondas - The hunt for the Blood Orchard (shock!) and woke up in a grumpier state so for dinner - we decided to do it easy and go to a local Yoshinoya on Nanjing Lu. For those not in the know - Yoshinoya is a Japanese fast food chain that specialises in beef rice bowls. In the Japanese version - you can "mix it up" with some raw egg - but every non-Japanese version seems a bit light on in terms of menu. Anyway - we can't complain as a meal there including beer costed about $3AUD.
Following on from our touristic elevator ride up the Pearl TV Tower - Ant and I continued on the bottom floor to the Shanghai History Museum - which was also included in our expensive Pearl Tower ticket.
The Shanghai History Muesum was a little short on history - but heaps on kitsch Disney-esque Pirates of the Carribean moments... It took tourists through the "gold old days" of colonial western oppression and opium dens (my favourite!) with heaps of maniquins in poses, smoking crack, etc... My favourite bit of chinenglish from the Muesum was the sign pointing to the exit saying "300 inches"... I'm not quite sure what that is in terms of feet or metres...?
We ventured to the nearby Pudong Mall (or something - it was in Pudong but I've forgotten the name) and there were a whole two floors of themed restaurants and stuff... We choose "Chamate" and it sort of delved into Canberra-esque crap service when we were waiting 10 minutes for the woman to take our order - but the food was great - great stewy seafood soup things... We also ordered $5AUD worth of Oblong Tea but it was rather small (enough for only 2 small chinese teacups worth)... Of note - Chamate was located across from the fast food joint - "Kung Fu" with heaps of Bruce Lee likeness everywhere - I'm sure they are going to be sued by the Lee Family for Intellectual Property (IP) infringement...
We caught the metro to the French Concession to check out the main shopping strip mall... It was moshpit craziness at one particular mall - they had a "buy 200RMB worth of crap - get 100RMB off" - which had sent all the locals in a zombie rampage like state..... Ant and I could only take 2 mins worth of this before bailing on the mall... In one of my mooder fits - we tried to search for a drink for 1/2 hour. Before almost stooping down to a new low and ordering a drink from KFC - we found a nearby stewpidmarket - and got some Pocori Sweat like drink...
We walked back from the French Concession to downtown and it pretty much reminded us of Orchard Road in Singapore. Wide, leafy sidewalks and wall to wall huge shopping malls...
As I was feeling tired and moody and Ant was feeling like he needed to go and do more shopping - we parted ways. I went back to the hotel for some crap Chinese TV whilst Ant bought some shoes (! still in shock - not sure how he bought some shoes in Asia at the right size!) and a cheaper Billabong scalf and beanie than the ones he were eyeing off at a Raw Denim shop.
I fell asleep through Anacondas - The hunt for the Blood Orchard (shock!) and woke up in a grumpier state so for dinner - we decided to do it easy and go to a local Yoshinoya on Nanjing Lu. For those not in the know - Yoshinoya is a Japanese fast food chain that specialises in beef rice bowls. In the Japanese version - you can "mix it up" with some raw egg - but every non-Japanese version seems a bit light on in terms of menu. Anyway - we can't complain as a meal there including beer costed about $3AUD.
posted by NicknAnt @ 5:34 AM
3 Comments:
Hey guys - love the blog. I went to China a few years ago. What about all the deformed and disabled beggars in Shanghai? OMG. My favourite was the kid with no legs, one eye and a skateboard. He lay on the skateboard on his stomach and held his plastic begging bowl in his mouth. Then he roared up the street in hot pursuit of any Westerners (only us because it was winter) and screeched to a halt in front of the hapless pedestrian, and proudly threw his bowl down. Which meant you had to step over or around him whether money was given or not, followed by abuse from him - there was nothin' wrong with his mouth except a huge coldsore (or some such horrid thing) and a lot of dirt and rotten teeth. Or there was the guy with one eye missing and the other eye(soon to be missing) - a socket full of pus pulling along a cart with a guy on it I swore was dead, until he groaned - at the market in Shanghai.
and the Shanghaiese were very accurate spitters, I found. I saw a woman spit into a bin (and you know what I mean by spit - not just a genteel spit, but a huge noisy hoik)from about twenty paces away - only a little bit of it dribbled down the side of the bin...
must see you to compare Chinese beggar and spitting stories
cheers, Julia
Hey guys - love the blog. I went to China a few years ago. What about all the deformed and disabled beggars in Shanghai? OMG. My favourite was the kid with no legs, one eye and a skateboard. He lay on the skateboard on his stomach and held his plastic begging bowl in his mouth. Then he roared up the street in hot pursuit of any Westerners (only us because it was winter) and screeched to a halt in front of the hapless pedestrian, and proudly threw his bowl down. Which meant you had to step over or around him whether money was given or not, followed by abuse from him - there was nothin' wrong with his mouth except a huge coldsore (or some such horrid thing) and a lot of dirt and rotten teeth. Or there was the guy with one eye missing and the other eye(soon to be missing) - a socket full of pus pulling along a cart with a guy on it I swore was dead, until he groaned - at the market in Shanghai.
and the Shanghaiese were very accurate spitters, I found. I saw a woman spit into a bin (and you know what I mean by spit - not just a genteel spit, but a huge noisy hoik)from about twenty paces away - only a little bit of it dribbled down the side of the bin...
must see you to compare Chinese beggar and spitting stories
cheers, Julia
My favourite beggers were the 2 year old contortionate children doing back-flips while supporting their body on their necks - great for posture and spine stuff
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