Shanghai and Suzhou - Adventure China

Adventure Asia - Shanghai en Suzhou - 

And suddenly you are in China

Travelling for work is not something that a job in accounting usually entails, let alone go to another continent. So when towards the end of 2019 I got the opportunity to travel to the other side of the Eurasian continent, I really couldn’t say no. Fear of flying or no, going to China, even having a weekend to go and discover Shanghai, how could anyone refuse? 

And so it happened that flights were booked to Shanghai and back, a couple of nights in a hotel there, and then in Suzhou where I would work.

The flight to Shanghai - or... being eternally grateful for Premium Economy

At the seat there was a blanket, a cushion, slippers, and a headset, plus a small bottle of water. Right after boarding, friendly stewardesses came with warm towels. The seat next to me remained vacant, which was just as well because using my own integrated table proved a challenge due to my size. Thus, I could use the second table. 

The flight was scheduled to last 10 hours, covering just about 10.000 km. Our flight route went from Frankfurt am Main via Berlin, Kaliningrad, Moskva, the Ural Mountains, Novosibirsk, and a fair share of Siberia, over the desert Gobi, to then turn South at Beijing to land in Shanghai. 

Seeing this on the map exhilarated me, and since I was awake when we flew over Gobi, and had clear skies, I watched and marvelled. 

Just before my departure I had been warned about the food on board the plane, and that I had better bought some food at the airport. Quite frankly, I really liked dinner (chicken with rice), even though I was rather puzzled by the side dish of potato salad with sausage. In addition, there was a small roll and some butter, plus a small piece of pie. 

Breakfast was a lot weirder: an omelette swimming in ketchup, topped with a fried sausage and some pieces of boiled potato and a snipped of broccoli. I was grateful for the side dish of some fruit salad and yoghurt, a croissant and some butter and jam. 

We arrived in time in a very grey Shanghai. From touching ground, taxing to the terminal, deboarding, getting the luggage and passing border control, another 90 minutes passed. I found the “official” taxies and we drove to the hotel (175 RMB, which translates to roughly 27 EUR). This took yet another hour, and I already dozed off during the drive.

The adventure of Shanghai starts... in bed

The hotel I stayed at in Shanghai was the Atour Light On The Bund (No. 491 East Jinling Road). Fortunately, my Chinese colleagues had pre-warned me to bring booking confirmation and address of the hotel printed in Chinese. Few cab drivers speak or read English, or from what I understand any other language than their mother tongue. 

Same was true in the hotel, where the young people that manned the reception desk did their best by using a translation app on their phone. However, having everything with me in writing was a big help. Checking in thus was without any problems, and I was led to my room. The room was nicely decorated, clean and the bed comfortably hard. You could however hear everything that went on in the hallway and the neighbouring rooms. 

Being settled, I decided I could not go to sleep at 4pm. So off I went into the rain, to discover the area around the hotel. 

What did strike me then was, although there was plenty of traffic, there was not much honking going on. Generally, it felt as if people respected traffic lights. Overtaking on the right however I saw happening regularly. One exception on the honking was the plethora of mopeds, most of which electric ones, which scurry even through the smallest gaps. Had they not used their horns; they would not be noticed. Electric in this case means incredibly quiet. Similar to some pictures one has seen in documentaries about the big cities in for example India, also in Suzhou and Shanghai the moped is used as a veritable donkey, carrying a multiple of its own volume. The driver is usually perched on whatever space remains available. I’d rather not think about the aspect of safety of such an undertaking. 

East Jinling Road houses an abundance of shops selling music supplies. I believe I have seen all possible instruments, from piano to brass to strings to instruments I had never seen before. S

Wandering further, I saw snack bars selling food I couldn’t identify, but it always smelled delicious. Every so often one saw small stalls selling fresh fruit, and even fruit salads. I bought a big cup for 15 RMB. I arrived at a shop selling salted duck. It smelt extremely delicious. Taking a closer look at the display, I saw that the main merchandise where feet and necks. Uhm, maybe not then. A couple houses down the street was a fish and sea food store. A man was washing his thumb-sized molluscs on a permeable pad right on the sidewalk. 

With the warm soup in my belly I went back out in the rain. I walked towards the hotel, next to which there was a bakery. I had to guess what was what as obviously I couldn’t read the signs. I was lucky though, what I chose was delicious. Some sort of Brioche. So there I was, back in my room at 6pm. I took a hot shower and started one of the Netflix movies I had wisely downloaded before the trip. I guess I made it 30 minutes into that one before I was in dreamland. I slept for 14 hours, with the odd half hour awakeness inbetween.

When I woke on Saturday morning, some 14 hours after I went to bed, I was wondering about the brouhaha in the hallway. Checking my cellphone I realized it was past 8.30 am. So up I got, to go get some breakfast. 

The breakfast buffet was rather overwhelming. Ample choice of many different things, most of which unknown to me. I found a sandwich with some egg and ham, and some fruit. Then it was time to go and discover Shanghai. It was still rather grey and rainy, so I lend an umbrella at the front desk.  

Along the streets many high rises, of course. Not many of them shiny and sparkly though, but rather grey and dated. I am glad to have gotten a Data SIM for China. Google Maps makes the random walking around and the “we will see where our feet take us” alot more comfortable – unlike Hansel and Gretel, you know you will find your way back home. 

Down – or up? – the Jinglin East Road, along the Concert Hall to Yanyhong Plaza Park and Guangchang Park. Seen as it was grey and drizzling, the parks were empty. I made friends with a streetcat though. There are various malls with all different kinds of shops. Here it becomes obvious how Western Shanghai is. I think I saw 4 Starbucks. KFC, McDonalds, H&M, Tiffany’s, Apple, and so on and so forth.

What astounded me where the planted flower boxes along the railings at the highways. Who waters those in the summer I wondered? 

Along the way I had a lovely lunch in one of the malls: a starter of fried WanTan, and as a main glazed pork belly on noodles. Including a beverage, the bill came in at 98 RMB, so round about 15EUR. When meandering down the Nanjing East Road, a pedestrian precinct and shopping street, it started raining again. I headed towards the hotel. My step counter informed me that I had hit the 16k steps, so about time to put the feed up, check work mail and finish the movie I slept through the day before.

Sunday - lets go see the Marriage Market!

The second – and last – day in Shanghai starts at 7.30 am with sore calves and some backpain. At least the breakfast does not overwhelm me anymore. There are salted, hardboiled duck eggs, plenty of fried, boiled or otherwise prepared vegetables (I recognized sweet corn, beetroot, yams, a couple of tubers I could not identify, spinach like greens, …). 

They offer two grain soups. I assume them to be the Chinese alternative to porridge. When looking that up at home, it appears to have been rice soup, indeed an alternative to gruel and the like. There appear to be many ways of preparing it, depending on who makes it and what extra ingredients one adds (nuts, fruit, …). 

I decided to have fried rice with vegetables and some noodles with pork. A slice of toast with some butter and jam, some fruit, cappuccino, and some apple juice. In the back of the room there is a counter with a kitchen and a cook behind, preparing dishes a la minute. I see broths with noodles, WanTan or other ingredients. So early in the morning, they don’t seem a good idea to me. 

The sky is blue and friendly, and I leave right after breakfast and walk towards „The Bund“, the famous promenade at Huangpu River, which is called Waitan by the Chinese.

Down at the river it is hazy, and the wind is icy. Along the promenade there are plenty of old buildings, seemingly from the colonial period. Across the river one sees the well-known skyline with all the high rises and famous buildings such as the Pearl Tower, Shanghai World Financial Centre and Shanghai Tower. 

You can cross the river for only 2 RMB by ferry. Or you go through the tunnel with an animated tourist train for a mere 550RMB… I did none of the above. Instead I walked the whole length of the promenade and then turned back towards the city. 

At the People’s Heroes Monument, I ran into a German tourist group. Their Chinese Guide spoke German rather well and so I learnt that 25 years ago, across the river all there was were paddy fields. The complete skyline as it is today was “conjured out of thin air” since then. 

I have noted it throughout the city, I saw it at the Bund too: all around there is a very visible police presence. This obvious presence of an authority, combined with signs I saw in the parcs, stating one had better be quiet and well-mannered and followed all orders given, do feel rather strange to me. 

The restroom happening

Although it is a Sunday, I see that all shops are open. The streets are full of people. I walk without a plan, just with the general direction of the Peoples Park, where I want to find the Marriage Market. 

I walk through small roads with rather dated two- or three-story houses. There is laundry hanging out of the window to dry. 

I meander across big boulevards with all kinds of shops. Here and there you smell the sewers. Then again, the mouth-watering scent of some fried food. It takes me a while to find the entrance to People Park. It is beautiful here. In one corner of the park, there is small amusement park for kids, with a couple of rides and even a small roller coaster. 

On the other side, a very well-maintained garden. I expect it must be beautiful when everything is in bloom. Here and there I see elder men in training together in small groups or alone.

The step counter informs me that I am again at 13.000 steps, and I can feel it. I thus stroll back towards the hotel. Not too far off I find a restaurant that looks welcoming. I see pictures, but no English description. I enter nonetheless, and I am lucky: the lady at the reception speaks English, and there is an English menu. 

I chose dumplings filled with pork and shrimp and a Coke for 35 RMB. 

Fun Fact: whenever I order a beverage I am asked “Cold?”. I learn later, in Suzhou, that the Chinese prefer their soft drinks and even beer at room temperature. Water they drink plain, at room temperature or even slightly warmed, at the most a slice of lemon in it. 

At the restaurant, I am shown to a table at which there is already a party of three. My food arrives and once again is delicious. My table neighbours have finished and leave; immediately the places are allotted again, this time to a family of three, mother, father and adult son. When their food arrives, I get slightly jealous, it all looks so delicious. I would have liked to sample all of it. 

Once finished, I leave and just stop at the fruit stall and bakery for some desert. 17.000 steps, it is 2pm. Time for some R&R. Later tonight, after sundown, I will maybe go back the Bund.