Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

3/25/2005, China trip day 2: Sightseeing in Shanghai, train to Hangzhou

Sightseeing in Shanghai

We woke up, slowly, and ventured out into the madness of Shanghai streets.  After a pricy $3 breakfast for two, we headed for the Shanghai Museum.  Although my brain has no capacity for remembering or really understanding history, the gravity of a historical museum in such a history-rich country as China was too much to resist.

I took this photo from a bridge on the way to the museum.  The air pollution in China is staggering.

We stopped for a little while in a park outside the museum.  It was built for tourism, so it was much cleaner than the rest of Shanghai.

Park near Shanghai Museum.

Park near Shanghai Museum.

The museum was impressive.  Lots of great sculptures, pretty pottery, old scrolls, beautiful paintings, and models clearly explaining the time periods under discussion.

A scroll on display at the museum.

Some paintings on display at the museum.

From there, we headed for a park.  (David, if you're reading this, can you tell me the name of that park?) Maybe not the top of the official Shanghai sightseeing list, but I like parks, so we went.  Just saw lots of folks hanging out and enjoying themselves.  For me, there's value in that.  I feel like I better understand people when I see what they do to relax.  In that way, China, Japan, and the United States are all very different.  (They're different in other ways, too, or so I've been told.)

Scene from the park.

Me at the park.

David at the park.

Chinese people kicking back at the park.

A little trail to nowhere.  It's hard to see, but it actually goes though a little patch of deliberately planted bamboo forest (if you want to call it "forest").

After that, we headed for the train station.  Carrying a heavy pack, I was getting awfully tired and slow.

I've noticed in Japan, Malaysia, and China that the Playboy brand name has become very popular on clothing.  I never saw it back home.  Many people around here like the look of westerners.  I guess it's somehow desirable for some people to be associated with western sex symbols.  I don't know.  I think it's a little odd.  Here's a store with a display of Playboy sneakers.

Finally we got to the train station.  It was a 3 hour wait.  The fare was ≈$5 for "soft seat" (first class) from Shanghai to Hangzhou, 108 miles or 174 kilometers.  "Hard seat" (economy) would have been ≈3.  In Japan, bus fare to my school, 7.3 miles or 11.6 km away, is ¥640 (≈$6.40).

The train station was an absolute sea of people.

When I got to Hangzhou, we took the bus to Xiujuan's apartment at the Hangzhou Foreign Language School, a combined junior and senior high school where she teaches Chinese to Chinese students.  (It's not really a foreign language school.  They teach English and French.  That's it.) It was really great to meet Xiujuan.  Xiujuan, by the way, is David's girlfriend with whom he is temporarily staying.  She knows some English but doesn't care to practice it unless she absolutely has to.

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