"Travelling is not just seeing the new; it is also leaving behind. Not just opening doors; also closing them behind you, never to return. But the place you have left forever is always there for you to see whenever you shut your eyes." Jan Myrdal
I promise this will be that last official Shanghai blog!
The few weeks before I left Shanghai were tiring. Packing, teaching, Chinese New Year celebrations, saying goodbye to friends as they left one by one for their Chinese New Year Vacations. I gave most of my things away, making little bags for certain people, with stuff they would find useful. I got rid of a little more at my house cooling party, which Yam and his girlfriend, Amit, Gail and Jessica and later Francis came to, and all left with something in hand.
The rest I packed out to the hallway with a sign in Chinese saying something to the effect of: "I'm going home! Take this stuff if you find it useful otherwise it goes to the garbage. See ya!" In the morning, Reiko came and helped me pack it all out to the place Garbage Lady usualy occupies. When we returned forty minutes later, everything was gone. Sadly, Garbage lady didn't cash in on my crap, as she was still off on holidays. I wonder if she is back now, wondering what happened to the foreign girl on the black bike with all the good stuff. I hope someone else comes to wave at her and smile every morning. In my own little way I will miss her.
I love this sign. I'd pass it on the way to yoga from school everyday. They are all over Shanghai, but honestly, I don't think anyone really pays attention to it- especially around Chinese New Year.
This is my apartment. I was on the 28th floor two floors about the big brown patch. The spot above is Garbage Lady's void. I never did get a picture of her. I was planning to get one with her and all my stuff. Bye Garbage Lady!
One bonus of living in my government-made building is all the slogan posters someone hand drew with loving care. I really have no idea what the messages are. I remember when I first came to my building, two and a half years ago, there were giant posters in the elevators with SARS in a circle and a line through it. We'd stand in the elevator, looking nervous if anyone coughed.
Good pollution days-bad pollution days. Views from my apartment. I won's miss the pollution. Lately my water was stinking pretty badly too. Like really bad breath. Unfortunately, the way the government in China is dealing with city pollution is just to move the factories out to rural areas where no one is around to monitor them, It's a giant problem because the peasants living off the land are suffering because the factories are polluting the water and the land around it. There have been some riots already about this and I suspect it's only going to get worse.
Another this I won't miss is fake money. But actually, both of these bills are real- I just washed one in the wash machine and the ink came out! But that is one way to test a fake bill in China- if you run it on white paper and the ink comes out- the bills aren't colour safe.
I have recieved and (unwittingly) spent a few fake bills in my day, probably more than I know of.
Nanjing Lu at night. Shanghai Glam. One thing about Shanghai is that they never really do anything small. When you get used to the bigness and the chaos, it makes the rest of the world seem a little small. But there are good and bad aspects to this. In terms of photo taking, it's a good aspect.
This is probably the biggest extra curricular activity happening in Shanghai. Coffeeshops, restaurants, teahouses. there is really no nature, or things to go see that dont take much more than an afternoon. So this is what we did in our spare time, 90% of the time, with massages and yoga and dvd watching up there as well.
Moving things by bike. Hey Buddy, where is the kitchen sink?
Two new years pics that I forgot to put in the New Year's blog, but proof of how Shanghai always does things big.
In Shanghai, along with wandering about in public in your pj's, its completely natural to cure your meat and dry your laundry next to your undies.
Dongtai Lu-
Otherwise known as the Fake Antique Market
I spent lots of time on this road, and actually bartered and bought a few things. But the best thing I took away were the pictures.
Beijing opera doll and an emperor. I thought about going back for the opera doll but ran out of time and luggage space.
Little birds in little bird cages. Sometimes you can see old men in the park playing chess with their birds next to them. Poor little birds. just a few artful twigs between them and freedom.
Happy babies, Buddhas and The Chairman.
The Fish, Bird, Flower and Insect Market
This market was next to the Fake Antique Market. Not everyone's favourite place, as the puppies and kittens sold here were obviously bred only for profit, and kept in such dismal conditions you weren't buying a pet for companionship here but more for rescuing it. I used to come here to buy rabbit food for the class pet that got eaten just before summer holidays. But on weekend mornings, the place was literally hopping with old men here to gamble on their feisty crickets. Jeff and I once bought little crickets to fight here, but our crickets were lovers, not fighters. We set them loose in the antique market.
Need a bird? Need a cage? Need a few?
Hello. My English name is Agnes. I am a bug seller. I love my job. I'm a workaholic.
What the heck do you do with a pound of these?
Man and his cricket. Hey Xiansheng, why is your sweater so bulgy?
Because I am hiding my counterfeit crickets, my dear! This man was stinky drunk but extremely friendly!
Shanghai Temples
There are only a few left around, and often the reason they are still standing is because during the cultural revolution, some thinking souls put giant portraits of Mao over the doors, and nobody dared break through the pictures to destroy the temples. I can only imagine what Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou would have looked like if they were able to have saved more cultural relics and architecture during that time.
What's a China blog entry from me without some holy burnin' incense?!!?
Shanghai Streets and People
Could I really be faulted for assuming this was a bowling alley for the first six months of living in Shanghai? The sign actually says "Boiling" followed by 100C. There is no bowling alley, and apparently never was. The Deep Kiss came after. There is no reason for the bowling pin. So China!
I really loved cruising around on my little bike, checking out alleys I'd never walk into because of the time factor. Having a bike in Shanghai made things more easy and colourful. I got lost on the way to the Fabric Market one day and snapped these pics. I missed saying goodbye to Bicycle Fix-it Guy who was also off for Chinese New year. Bye Bicycle Fix-it Guy!
One thing I loved walking around the french concession was just the stuff nailed to doors- locks, mailboxes, iron gates.
Yoga
Bye Bye Y Plus and all the teachers there who became friends. Thanks for giving me a new perspective on things. This picture is of the place bike number two was stolen.
I'll miss doing yoga with you!
And out of all my little students, I'll miss Shuhei the most, for obvious reasons. one of the things I gave him when I left was a tube of cinnamon flavoured toothpaste, because his mother told me he liked cinnamon alot. He grabbed it, snapped back the lid and smelled it right away. Ahhhhh! I loooove cinnamon!
I cried when I said goodbye.
I also gave him a necklace of a triangular stone picked up on my travels through India. Shuhei believes it has magical powers and wears it constantly- except in the bath- because he told me if you get it wet it will lose it's power.
His mom said he cried too after I left. Good bye, Shu-man crazy pants! See you soon!
I will miss you guys! And those of you I never got pictures of as well!
Reiko helped me pack my stuff out to the road after we swept my apartment and threw the key in the mailbox. I caught a taxi and waved goodbye, knowing I'll see Reiko again someday. Thanks for all the help, Reiko!
When I got to the airport, I had to repack my bags on the floor of the airport. I had to move six kilos from one bag to the other- discovering that shoes and books were the heaviest things I had packed. When I was finished, they were about to close the check-in counter, so I whipped through customs and went to duty free to spend the last of my Chinese money. I was carrying a 26 kg back pack and an even heavier bag full of books and every travel journal and photo album for all of my trips abroad. Having lost my suitcase once on the way back from Mexico, I thought I'd be safe and keep them by my side. Besides, with both of my bags already at the limit, I had no choice but to carry them.
I went to Duty-Free and bought some lipstick and handcream. I was only one yuan short, and the cashier looked quite unimpressed as I emptied out the smallest of small coins to add up to one yuan. Finally I did it, grabbed my purchase and started to my gate, waaaay on the other side of the terminal with my new purchase. They were announcing last call for my plane.
I got through the gate and onto the plane. Most people were seated. Me, being stuck in economy started the long march down the aisle. As I entered economy, I mused, where the heck am I going to put my big bag of books? MY BIG BAG OF BOOKS! I forgot it! I turned to the flight attendant, and said, "I forgot a bag!" Before she could stop me, I dropped my back pack with my laptop in the flight attendant's area, and bolted before anyone could say anything to stop me.
Off the plane, up the ramp, past the gate I ran. One woman ran after me and I threw my boarding pass at her as a decoy. I was afraid she would try to stop me, and I wasn't getting on that plane without that bag. I was fully prepared to buy a new ticket if I missed the plane, as long as I got that bag back.
Need I mention, that I couldn't fit all my clothes into my luggage either? So I was wearing, a tshirt, two sweaters and a light jacket and my winter jacket. I ran as fast as I could but I felt like molasses trodding along. It was just like the movies- Me, like Run Lola Run, running and wacking into people- people telling me I was rude! (But they got in my way! no time to be polite!) Sweating and panting and feeling a little dizzy, I got back to the store and phew! There was my bag. this story does have a happy ending.
Then I had to run back to a plane full of people waiting for me, with my lead bag that needed to be carried. I started to walk fast, fingers bruising under the weight, when I spied an empty luggage cart. I went for it and I could hear a Chinese man shout in Chinese, "Hey! That's mine! Come back here!" But I thought, Catch me! Flung my bag into the top and ran, pushing it like a baby carriage all the way back to the gate on the far side of the airport. Besides, he probably assumed I didn't understand him. Ahhh, ignorance is bliss!
When I got back to the gate, huffing and puffing, one smart ass airport employee told me, "Sorry, you missed the plane- the gate is closed!" and held his arm out in front of me to stop me. I stopped him and glared at him. "That's not funny." I shot him such a look that he immediately cleared my path and soon enough I was back on the plane.
Sweating profusly, wandering around the plane with the flight attendant to find space for all of my luggage, I know I must have looked bad- hot, sweaty, dripping, a little dizzy, hair falling out of my clip- my seat neighbour took one look at me and requested a seat change. Weee! I got two seats together! I slept like a baby between meals and hardly noticed the long hours on the flight.
My parents picked me up at the regional airport, after I caught another connection to Kelowna. We drove back to my little hometown of Naramata and ate dinner at the village pub.
Ahhh, the more things change, the more they stay the same!
Bye for now! Off to the Emirates!
Melanie