• There is an amazing willingness among local folks to speak English. Since Chinese people are still very shy about speaking English in public, they seek every moment to practice with foreigners. To give some perspective, I was stopped by a woman at a giant metro station (people’s square) in Shanghai for a quick chat. Accompanied by her husband, she started some small talk but when I replied that I am in a hurry, she said in a very cute and innocent manner that she just wanted to practice her English! Similarly, another student started talking random stuff with me outside the Shanghai Museum. Later she acknowledged that she was simply practicing her English.
• Shanghai is a very modern and developed city comparable to the likes of Atlanta, SLC, or even NYC, with lots of skyscrapers and overpasses. Shanghai is divided into two parts by the Huangpu river (often shortened to Pu) – Pudong and Puxi (dong means east and xi means west; of the river ‘Pu’).
• Beijing is more traditional. It has more historical relevance and one can still spot hundreds of historical relics and structures around the city. It is relatively inexpensive compared to Shanghai (e.g. a subway from any station to any costs 2RMB vs 3 in Shanghai).
• Beijing also houses Forbidden City, Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, South of Tiananmen (old city), Temple of Heavens, etc. However, I did not like Temple of Heavens that much, and frankly, you will get bored with the same architecture after a while too. The Wall of Echo in the Temple of Heavens was a complete bummer. It was supposed to guide the echo around a curved wall to any other spot in the structure. Unfortunately, there was no trace of mine’s or anybody else’s echo (or for that matter even voice). As for Great Wall, an old saying says it all: you haven’t been to China if you haven’t been to Great Wall.
• Spitting is still common on Chinese streets.
• Despite great roads and well marked lanes, Chinese have yet to learn the proper way to drive. They still honk for no reason and patience seems to be the least of their concerns. Surprisingly, it still baffles me that I did not see any scratch in the cars or accident on the streets.
• Tipping is verboten in China. Everyone returns the exact change and does not expect you to leave any tip either. There is some solicitation at some places, but I realized that none of them were too pestering. Once you say no, you can get rid of them pretty easily. Although I have heard stories of people getting ripped off at some shady massage parlors, I did not have any such experience. At least not in China.
• Usually, you can bargain at some shops but not to the extent I was initially expecting. Neither do the shopkeepers (or their minions) come running after you even after you have left the shop offering your ‘last final price’. Even the Cheap Street (called Cheapu in Shanghai) or the HiTech electronic market was easy to shop. More importantly, it was fun negotiating with sign languages or by entering your wish price in the calculator. If the other party likes it then ok else he will either enter another number or simply turn the calculator off (signaling no further interest in bargaining with that price!)
• A couple of my friends even bought fabrics and got some suits tailored at ridiculously cheap prices.
• Peking Duck is one of the famous dishes of Beijing. It is supposedly cooked overnight that gives its almost butter-like melting taste while being crispy on the outside. Sea Cucumber is also huge but it was a little bland to my taste.
• Hunan dish is another famous Chinese cuisine. It comes from the Hunan province in China. One word to describe this cuisine would be spicy. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that its dishes contain 50% chili/peppers.
• You need addresses written in Chinese no matter where you are going. Do not try to remember the names of the places because trust me, it is not easy to master the pronunciation that they can understand. Since Chinese people “chinesize” all English words, it is futile saying the name of a famous hotels either (e.g. mei jiu dian for Meridien hotel)
• You can exchange US dollars at amazingly good rates at any bank. The banks don’t charge any commission fee either unlike the folks at the airport who can charge upto 50 RMB per transaction.
• One particular thing that struck me is that when it rains (and it rained almost half the time I was there), umbrella vendors could be spotted at each and every subway entrance and exits, street corners, and everywhere else. They sold umbrellas at a fixed price of 10RMB. However, one of my classmates managed to buy one for 5 RMB too!
• For the upcoming Expo 2010, Shanghai is being prepared the way Beijing was prepared for the Olympics. We met with the president of the Expo organizing committee in Shanghai and were marveled by all the detailed preparation that is going on to make it the most lavish of all expos. Almost all the nations in the world will take part in this expo and ca 70 million visitors are expected for the fair opening in May 2010. We were told that they relocated a huge number of people and industry at the heart of Shanghai to make way for this mega event. In a city where any empty space is a luxury, let alone a green area, this expo has lots of greenery that will remain there even after the end of expo. Visit http://en.expo2010.cn/sr/video/index.htm for more info.
• We also went to the new Shanghai port. Although a little disappointing because of the initial low traffic right now, the highlight of the port is the 32 km (20 mi) long bridge that connects mainland to the port. This was second longest bridge until another one was built very close to Shanghai only. The reason for this bridge is that the water is quite shallow near the mainland (only 7m). So to reach a depth of 13 m they had to build a port 32 away.
• The Bund is the western bank of the Huangpu River and is the most recognized areas in many of the Shanghai photographs. Surprisingly, the word Bund is derived from the Urdu word band, which means embankment, levee or dam. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bund
I leave this post with an incident that brings smile and surprise to me every time I read it. Picture yourself standing in the middle of a big metropolitan city. You are told that there is a performance starting in 30 minutes somewhere within a 2 mile radius. Oh, and yes, you do not speak the local language and have no idea where it could be happening. The chances of you making it to the performance is zilch, right? Well, it worked out well for me in Shanghai when I was separated from my group in the subway station. With no clue, I took a random train and got off after two stops (I knew it was not far away from where I was). Since I had given almost all hopes of making it to the performance (a Chinese acrobatic troupe), I started taking random pictures and walked in a direction that I assumed would lead me back to our hotel. After about 20 minutes I spotted a building that got my attention for no particular reason. I took a couple of steps and noticed that a lady was beckoning at me. When I approached her she asked if I were Mark. I shook my head but instead of returning, I asked her if she represented Georgetown (again for no particular reason). To my utter shock, she nodded YES. Soon I was the last one to be escorted by her to the brilliant performance by Chinese acrobats.
PS: since Chinglish is so popular, here a brief look at some of the funny ones I captured
