Monday, February 23, 2009

Shanghai from under the umbrella: Part 1

With only five days left in Shanghai before Laura had to board her Vancouver-bound plane, we’ve had a lot to take in and not a lot of time to take it in in. (Grammar experimentation is exciting.) We got right to it and hit the pearl market, the fabric market, and the glasses market; we’ve been balancing the shopping with, of course, eating: dumplings, hotpot, and home-cooked stirfries and soup have been on the very full menu.

Yesterday, we went with Claire’s friends Eric and Allison to the fabric market, stopping along the way to admire the oodles of buttons for sale in hole-in-the-wall shops (see below for Button on buttons); at the market, Claire ordered a tailor-made hat while Laura agonized over a suitable cotton print for new kitchen curtains – and just happened to find the perfect wool skirt for those cold Clarenville winters. Everyone left happy, especially those of us who got to come home to make soup and watch episodes of Monk before indulging in copious amounts of Laura-imported chocolate.

Somebody in charge knew today was our last day in Shanghai, because it was raining all day – the clouds followed us all the way to the Bund, the city’s must-see destination. We took in the lower half of China’s tallest buildings, and amused ourselves with umbrella sightseeing: seriously, check that one out below. A spur-of-the-moment elevator ride in the Ritz-Carlton rounded out the afternoon. A note to prospective hotel lobby crashers: be confident when you ask directions to the washroom and act like you’re definitely visiting the penthouse when you step into the elevator. Even if you’re wearing MEC and your shopping bag comes from Carrefour.

So: Claire will be on her own tomorrow night and Laura will be somewhere over the Pacific Ocean with 400 other people, who are hopefully keeping their microbes to themselves. (One more bout of strep throat is needed not.) Another great holiday!



1. Laura testing the padded sidewalk near Claire’s apartment. Rating: 7/10 for bounce, 10/10 for capturing the moment

2. Rainy reflections along Nanjing Donglu, Shanghai’s most famous shopping street

3. Universities look the same all over the world; Claire in front of her classroom building at Donghua University

4. In the textiles neighbourhood: don’t mess with PMS security

5. Laura N. Button… or is it Laura and Buttons? (Ha, ha, ha.) Thousands of buttons nestle into shelves and drawers in button shops near the Shanghai fabric market




Shanghai from under the umbrella: Part 2

6. “30th floor, please”: after a surreptitious tour around the Ritz-Carlton, we’re pretty sure we’d rather take a B&B.
7. Check out the majesty of this massive advertising boat on the Huang River. Upper stories of the Pearl Tower are obscured by fog.
8. Posing on the Bund: Heeeey!

9. Tiny old man, GIANT RAINBOW UMBRELLA. We covet
.
10. Random act of sculpture. What. Is. It




Saturday, February 21, 2009

All things Beijing: Part 1

Before embarking on our 13-hour journey to Beijing, we stocked up on snacks at the local supermarket. Not on our list: $14 Cheerios (Claire’s not-so-silent tears below), handy can of Sweat (we’ll make our own at the Olympic Stadium, thanks), or tennis racquet bag full of meat. Seriously. More tempting were the darling Valentine’s bouquets at Taikang Lu, where we’d visited earlier in the day.

The road to China’s capital city was paved with goat cheese, trés twee crackers, and, of course, our Nalwinegene. Sleeping quarters were cramped but we made it; thank goodness the hostel had the Itty Bitty Welcoming Committee waiting. Sooo cute. Sooooooo puntable.

We snacked on dumplings (extra garlic – nice work with the Swiss Army, Laura) before heading to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City; Beijing welcomed us with beautiful clear blue skies to go with the crisp northern air.
Laura was feeling under the weather that evening. Fortunately, China has a reliable 24-hour pharmacy service (see below); by the next morning, though, we decided to make the trip to Beijing United Family Hospital to see about uniting our sick one with some serious medication. As every traveller knows, though, the first step was to notify the insurance provider. Unfortunately, as Claire discovered, the number listed on Laura’s plan card was actually a hotline for “feminine company.” Nice one, Manulife. Anyway, everything worked out fine. We made it to the hospital, where Claire roughed it in the waiting room while Laura chilled with the Duke intern sitting in on her appointment. Now we know how the other half lives…

That afternoon ended up being the highlight of our trip: we rode the metro to the Olympic Park to see the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube. Sooo big. Sooooooo cool. Our excitement was definitely documented by many a Chinese camera as few others were as demonstrative of their enthusiasm. Claire talked our way into the Water Cube fifteen minutes before closing (and fifteen minutes after ticket sales had stopped): wit, persistence, and a couple of white lies about Laura’s life dream of being an Olympic swimmer did the trick.

Day Three: we woke up to the first snowfall of 2009 and beat the crowds to the Great Wall. We beat the treacherously slippery slopes at their own game by sliding down – great (Great, ha, ha) fun. The snow-covered mountains were stunning, and we were lucky to catch them as most of it melted away by that afternoon.
Another feed of dumplings capped off our trip before we caught the metro from Tiananmen Square to the railway station. The trip back was long – no luxury sleeper car for us this time – it's taken this long to blog about it as we recover from the train hangover.

Enjoy the multiple-posts from our adventures to date.

1. – 3. Grocery store finds

4. Nothing says “I love you” like a dozen tiny bear heads


All things Beijing: Part 2

5. Smorgasbord on the train to Beijing
6. Magical crackers
7. Laura adjusts to our rather cramped sleeping quarters
8. At our hostel: What. Is. It.
9. Dumpling fiesta







All things Beijing: Part 3

10. BEIJING!
11. Mwah.
12. Our first steps into the Forbidden City
13. Claire and Laura’s shadows doing what Claire and Laura do best: reading the guidebook and snapping pictures.
14. Gorgeous architecture at the FC




Friday, February 20, 2009

All things Beijing: Part 4

15. Yeee! Jingshan Park just before sunset
16. “I’m here to see the Wizard”: Claire scores some cough drops from the pharmacy, 10 p.m.

17. Private health care comes with white leather couches. Claire adjusts easily

18. Water Cube! Bird’s Nest! Aiieee!

19. Laura as integral structural component



All things Beijing: Part 5

20. Demonstrating our athletic prowess. It was a good fight
21. …but Claire was the ultimate victor. Sponsored by Ritz
22. Laura crossing the finish line on the square metre of uncovered track
23. Water Cuuuuuube!
24. Michael Phelps never saw it comin’


All things Beijing: Part 6

25. Very cool lobby, like being inside dishsoap
26. Laura gets into the spirit of the Year of the Ox

27. The Great Wall: chilly but beautiful

28. Claire makes the very best of the slippery snow

29. On the walk to the railway station: the old City Gate


Saturday, February 14, 2009

Newshangfoundhailand

Welcome to Shanghai, Laura! Air Canada's faulty equipment meant we had two extra hours of anticipation before our gleeful reunion at the arrivals gate. Laura had her first taste of Shanghai culture (ie. shoving/yelling/general chaos) as we fought our way onto the airport bus, but we arrived home safely and with just enough energy left to toast (slightly late) Christmas Number Four. On the menu: wine and goat cheese, as per tradition.

Today I conquered my cheap wine hangover while Laura worked through her jetlag (jetgo? She was ready to hit the town at seven a.m.); we finally made it out the door to Yuyuan, or Shanghai's Old Town - a little touristy but fabulous for shopping and getting a feel of what it might have felt like here before the population hit its current 16 million. Highlights: a giant Year of the Ox display thing, and a motorcycle taxi ride to Nanjing Donglu. Chalk that one up to irresponsible youth.

Tomorrow evening we're heading to Beijing on the overnight train to take in the Great Wall (bien sur), the Olympic Park, and whatever else tickles our fancy. Please enjoy our first round of pics:

1. CLEENK! The Fourth Annual Claire and Laura Christmas Reunion begins
2. All the essentials. Great Wall: the pride of China's red wine industry. Or something. Whatever, it sure packed a punch
3. Yuyuan, or the Old Town... pointy peaks and all
4. The motorcycle taxi driver driving on the correct side of the yellow line. For now
5. Yiiiiiii!



Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Mom went home :( But at least I can cook now

Well, I'm on my own now for the first time in a month. I'm okay, but it just doesn't feel right making hot chocolate for one, you know?

P.S. Claire's hot chocolate (new recipe): tons of cocoa, a little sugar, extra-creamy milk, and fresh grated ginger. Careful, the ginger makes the milk froth to twice its volume, so be ready to swipe the saucepan off the stove while bleating "Ahh! Ahhhhh!" like I did the first time.

A dash of cayenne is fab as well.

So, Mom and I had a great time in Beijing, Qingdao, Hangzhou, and Xitang. We spent most of her last two weeks in Shanghai finding new cafés, doing in-depth research on local foot massage establishments, and cooking soup. I am now the proud owner of a Westinghouse rice cooker that also has a darling steamer attachment. Rice cookers are amazing! I've been eating brown rice with milk and cinnamon and raisins for breakfast, and stirfry with white rice for lunch. Will experiment with a combination for dinner and report on findings.

I'm going to post my favourite pics from the first part of our trip; Mom, I forgot to get the Shanghai ones from your camera before you left! Oh no!

Thank you to everyone who is still following me after these weeks of erratic posting. Laura and I will be sure to get our pictures up ASAP!


Photos:

1. The beautiful Lama temple, apparently one of China's most important Tibetan Buddhist temples.
2. Beijing duck (the close-up)!! Yummy yummy yummy. You take a little piece of duck and put it in the middle of a warm, thin pancake (plucked from the slightly limp bouquet on the right); then you add hoisin sauce and onion, roll it up, and EAT IT. This was a contemporaryish place, which meant they gave us three sauces and tiny slices of interesting fruit to put in the pancakes. Mmmmmm.
3. Mom dug it.
4. Bug kebabs at the night market. Eughhh
5. Lovely candied fruit sticks. Those I can handle.



M & C photos, part II

6. Our fantastic hostel in Beijing (in a hutong, a traditional alleyway full of courtyard houses - most of them have been destroyed to make room for highrises etc.)
7. Me wondering if Mom knows how to use the camera at 798, Beijing's biggest contemporary art district
8. The Great Wall! I was in a symbolic mood
9. Mom looking rugged
10. Me looking daring