Enter Shanghai (5.9.2009)

Fortunately our hostel in Shanghai had so much space that we could reserve some extra days (we had only two nights originally) for our Shanghai venture. Although the Internet costs here, the rooms are all very nice and our beds have these portholes in one end to get into the Captain'ish mood. There's even a view from our bar to the Huangpu-river and Pudong - the part of Shanghai that was completely reformed in just 10 years to look like this hi-tech city with its near 500 m skyscrapers.

Yesterday having arrived to Shanghai we quickly took the metro, and after a sweaty walk through Shanghai's humid and hot streets we found the previously mentioned hostel.

The Bund, which is a street filled with bohemian architectural styles ranging from English to Russian, was a total disappointment because of the EXPO 2010. EXPO 2010 is the massive occurrence is Shanghai's history, which everybody seems to be waiting for. The official mascot of this event can be seen in every street's scene somehow - either someone is trying to sell it to you as a figure, or there's somewhere an advertisement regarding this event. The EXPO is a half a year event, which focuses on bringing different cultures together by designing and creating various types of city infrastructures generated by these countries' designers. They have these plans to create an ecologically and probably in every other way a sustainable environment in which to live (buildings, transportation, sewage, etc.). The slogan is "better city, better life" and is, as said, all over Shanghai. Constructions related to this were blocking the view from the Bund to the Huangpu-river and Pudong. So nothing there but some banks etc. expensive restaurants. It feels as if at least half of Shanghai is some kind of construction yard.

We took the sightseeing route to Pudong ("new" part of the city) via an underwater tram. The trip was a lightshow in this tunnel, which led to the other side of the river. The buildings in Pudong are massive, although they seem a bit shorter than we had expected, but one must believe - I guess - Lonely Planet's depictions of the heights of the buildings. The most interesting thing we did in Pudong was definitely the aquarium, in which all kinds of sea animals ranging from Antarctica to Amazon were presented. When we saw the penguins, we could not help but to think of them being imprisoned there against their will. One of the penguin kids was trying to go through the glass, it was swimming all the time with its head against the window.. poor thing. There were also these massive, at least one meter long, sea turtles, rays and sharks longer than that. Swimming right there under a half a meter away from us. COOL!

We met in our hostel room this American man - probably in his 60s. What a great hippie! He was talking about the political problems in America, about his disbelief in it. For example, he mentioned that if the health reform that Obama has been talking about (but is unable to implement because of the actual powers to be above him) would really have been made to help American people get happy (which is actually their constitutional right), they would legalize marijuana :). Then this guy went on about all kinds of conspiracy theories and about spiritual things, for example of the famous 2012 awakening..the newest new for me was the thing he told about a new generation of children that have evolved into something that might be compared with some X-Men :), maybe some even have psychic abilities, and that there actually were some schools especially meant for these children. This guys's name was Kevin and he was a teacher here at Shanghai (has been here for about 30 years) and was about to establish a school in which English is taught to Chinese by audiovisual means and at the same time trying to guide those people in their spiritual path. Well, I told him about Zeitgeist and Peter Joseph, and he promised to look into it. We also exchanged e-mail addresses. Kevin knew also lot about kung fu. He explained how he releases bad energy from his body by certain moves (stances) that involves the Chi. He does it before meditation in some of the Shanghai's numerous parks, e.g. People's Park. His master was a 93-old kung fu master, whose picture he showed to us, and told us where to find him every morning meditating.

Another character in our hostel room was Julie, this Chinese small girl, who talked a bit English, but was talking a lot, maybe even too much, because she had lived in this hostel for 2 years now, and had just probably been drinking beer and meeting new people who come and go to the hostel. She was also into this meditation and was a friend of Kevin's.

Today we went for a walk to Nanjing road, the biggest shopping street for foreigners and non-Shanghainese Chinese tourists. I even went as far as buying a 4 euro t-shirt from an outlet - a deed I explained to myself as a necessity, because I have only 4 or 5 t-shirts on this trip and nearly all have been used and lay sweaty at the bottom of my backpack.

We then took the Shanghai urban planning exhibition tour in a museum. There were five floors of explaining the history of Shanghai in forms of interactive shows, pictures and texts. EXPO 2010 was all over this place, and involved nearly three fifths of the whole tour. It is going to be huge I tells' ya!

The best dinner I have yet received in China took place today. The place was called Vegetarian Life Style and was situated just beside West Nanjing road, maybe 1 km after People's Square. The service was excellent (this delicious Chinese tea was plentiful and poured whenever the cup got empty; even our bags were secured to the table base with some kind of a lock ("mora" in Finnish Hyvinkää slang). Various sorts of melons were brought in front of us for starters without any request. Starters were delicious vegetarian dumplings and tofu rolls with filling. Main course consisted of a pot of Tofu with some black mushrooms and vegetables, and another one was (I don't know the actual ingredient) vegetable chicken with some pretty dam hot peppers. My head was sweating all red and I was like five minutes completely paralyzed from the neck above. And what an endorphin rush I had after that, MAN!

The highlight of this day was definitely the Shanghai acrobats show. It was in the Shanghai Centre. My eyes nearly dropped when I saw the accuracy, the definition, the body control, the uniformness of these young performers and at the same time the entertainment and on the other hand touching atmosphere, which together really created this amazing piece of art. Alas, the positions in which human being is capable of deforming him/herself! The performers and everything was just so elegant and was oozing this unbelievable proudness and excellence - and most importantly the fun they had doing it was something to be learnt from. It reminded me actually of the Teekkarispeksi-spirit :). The show not only consisted of pure tricks - there was also a backdrop and semi-transparent curtains onto which these beautiful images were projected, and all kinds of atmosphere-generating elements, such as lights, music (aesthetic Chinese stuff) and the pure acting of the performers.

The most touching piece of acrobatism I have ever seen was this performance by this handsome Chinese guy and a beautiful Chinese girl. The guy was strolling around on a gloomy rainy night with an umbrella in his hand, while all of a sudden he remembered this girl, which he saw in a window from the street. He delves into his memories and suddenly the woman appears on stage. They start their game of love, where they play sometimes hide and seek, sometimes show intense feelings towards each other..they are flying across the room by hanging from these white bands and doing amazing acrobatics while at the same time giving their soul to one another. In the end, the girl disappears back in to the window, from which the guy saw the girl. Finally, the boy realizes its again the rainy night, picks up his umbrella, walks in front of the audience and...gives this first sad impression, but then smiles as to indicate what a great memory he had of this time and sighs and exits the stage. What a piece of art..the music, the lights, everything perfect. Now this is art I gladly pay for!