Shanghai/Beijing, China
Today was my last day in Shanghai. Eric and I met for breakfast at nine. Instead of eating in the ginormous lobby buffet, we ate in the executive lounge. Eric spends more than 50 nights a year in Starwood Hotels and that results in some very nice perks, including free breakfast. The spread had all I could have ever wanted. My treat choice for this meal was a coconut danish. It was, as Joyce would say, “yummy”. While we were eating Eric’s colleague Carry came into the lounge. We ended up talking with him for quite a while. By the time we left breakfast it was already 10:30. In order to catch my flight to Beijing I needed to head for the airport at 1:30. By the time I had packed up my stuff it was 11:30, so I had two remaining hours for fun. I still believed that there had to be a hoop with some part of a view of the skyline of Pudong. Basketball is just too popular in China for it not to exist. I scoped out Google Maps a bit more and realized there was one possible court I had missed. I decided to spend my last two hours in Shanghai trying to find it.
I took the subway to the Pudong side and began walking. The hoop I thought I had found on the map was located right near where Eric and I walked yesterday. Since we hadn’t seen it, I figured it must be located behind some serious walls. I found what I thought must be the place. It appeared to be a school of some sort, which then made sense that it would have a basketball court. The only problem was there appeared to be pretty serious fences all around the compound. There were two gates each manned by a guard. I walked a lap and then another trying to see one, if I could confirm there was a court and two, if there was a way in. I eventually found one angle where I saw through the building’s windows and around some bushes a kid dribbling a ball. I was now certain there was in fact a court in the compound. I was also highly confident that there would be a decent view of at least part of Shanghai’s skyline. Now my big problem was figuring out how to get in. The problem with hoop hunting in non-English speaking countries is I can’t ask people for help or explain my intentions. I wasn’t keen on the idea of trying to break in, because well, this is China after all. I was hopefully, however, if I could figure out a way to tell the guard at one of the gates what I wanted, he might let me in.
In general one’s best shot at finding an English speaker in a foreign language country is to ask a kid. Conveniently when I was contemplating my situation on the street a girl who was roughly 15 walked by. I sort or yelled at her and she ignored me. I tried again and got her attention. I asked her if she spoke English. She said, “a little” and pinched her fingers close together. I tried explaining to her that I wanted to take a photo and I needed her to ask the guard if he would let me in to do it. She looked confused but seemed willing to help. I explained it again with a little more success and convinced her to ask the guard. She went up to the booth, yelled something at the guy inside. He said something back and she said sorry but he says no. I then said ask him if he will open the gate if I give him ten dollars. She yelled something else to him. I’ve never seen a gate open that fast in my life. The guy come running out of his booth with his hand out. It was hilarious. I then felt compelled to give the girl a ten as well. She seemed pleased, as did the guard and as was I. I marked down as a mental note, when all else fails in China, bribery works. I manage to get some pretty good shots from inside the school. I still didn’t get a shot with the Pearl Tower but I did get a very nice angle on the “Bottle Opener” building.
The time was now a little after twelve and I need to make my way back to the hotel and get on my way to the airport. Riding back up in the elevator for the last time I was reminded of something I failed to mention. The first time I got in the elevator at Le Royal Méridien Shanghai I thought I heard monkey being murdered playing through the speaker system. On about the fourth ride I saw a sign that said this:
“French Musician and Composer Henri Scars has developed a 24-hour soundscape exclusively for Le Royal Méridien Hotels and Resorts. by blending rich natural sounds with music elements from all over the world and playing them at the entrances and in the elevators, unexpected moments are experienced around the hotel.”
Needless to say I found the sound of dying monkeys upon entering the elevator unexpected. So I guess his mission was accomplished.
My trip to the airport and even all the way to Beijing was uneventful. The Air China lounge was decent. It had free Coke Light, which was enough to make me happy. Upon arrival in Beijing I saw out my window a new Airbus 380 parked next to a Boeing 747. The A380 is absolutely ginormous. The 747 is huge and the 380 just absolutely dwarfed it. I don’t have a large burning desire to visit the Middle East but I might have to just to get to fly on one of Emirates new planes.
I was met at the baggage area by my guide Vivian. She seems very nice but her English is not as good as I might have hoped. Hopefully it won’t be much of a problem over the next two days. Our drive to the Raffles Hotel in downtown Beijing seemed way faster than the 40 minutes Vivian predicted. I didn’t look at my watch so I’m not sure if it was fast or just felt fast.
I made the bellman at the hotel very uncomfortable by professing my ability to carry my own things. I think it literally made him squirm a bit. I hope I didn’t cost him his job. Inside the hotel I was helped by a super nice guy named Nolan. I drank tee while he checked me in. He then showed me to my room and answered a bunch of questions I had for him. Raffles hotels are generally very nice, old school, colonial type places. I don’t think they get many single 20 something females as guests and I think in this case to Nolan, I was a welcomed change.
One of my questions for Nolan was where should I get dinner. He recommended heading over to the Oriental Mall’s food corridor two blocks away. He said they had a little bit of everything and he was right. I settled on a Chinese place. The menu had some scary things on it. I was a little adventurous and a little cautious. In the end the food wasn’t great nor was it terrible. I think part of my appetite may have been quenched by seeing some of the scary pictures of other dishes offered on the menu.
After dinner I walked through the mall and ended up in the Nike store. I think Bailey and I both missed our calling. I think we should have been tag-team designers for Nike’s Asia Pacific Division. I swear they just sit around in Portland and come up with the most random stuff possible. Some of the English phrases and graphics just kill me. The craziest part is that the stuff sells and it sells quite well.
On my walk home I took a jaunt through a traditional Beijing street market. It doesn’t matter how many times I see scorpions and other critters on sticks. It still freaks me out. One thing I didn’t remember was that this time many of the bugs on the sticks were still alive and franticly waiving their arms. I didn’t like that.
It’s now 11ish and I am totally wiped out. I have to be up at eight tomorrow, so I’m calling it a night.
Until tomorrow,
Katy
No comments:
Post a Comment