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My Travels in China: Shanghai Day 2

My Travels in China: Shanghai Day 2

Dr. Arnold Plotnick of Manhattan Cat Specialists, loves to travel and loves cats.  So off he went... East... way way East... to China.  Over the course of the next few weeks, we will share the cultural and kitty cat highlights of Dr. Plotnick's trip.

(Continued from Day 1 part 2)


After another weird breakfast (malar cakes, sesame balls, tiramisu), we headed over to Xintiandi.  This is a renovated two-block complex of converted stone arch gate terraces, with a central boulevard running through it. It’s loaded with lovely shops and restaurants.


It’s kind of quiet during the daytime, but gets hopping at night.

Right  nearby is an interesting museum, the Site of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.  This museum has many exhibits about the history of China, with a main emphasis on the formation and foundation of the Chinese Communist Party.  There were lots of guards present, and no photos were allowed, but of course, I managed to sneak a few.


On July 23, 1921, a group of Marxists, socialists, and communists came together to lay the foundations of the communist party. Among the delegates at the meeting was Mao Zedong, a young revolutionary who would eventually become the first chairman of the new People’s Republic. A display with life-size models of the 13 delegates is probably the most popular display in the museum, and even though photos were prohibited, I snuck one when the guard turned away. 
Of course, I grabbed a couple of gratuitous commie photo shots


and bought this hilarious watch at the gift shop.

Our next stop was Tianzifang, a little warren of alleys tucked away between two main streets. These little alleys contain numerous stores, art galleries, cafes and restaurants.


It was really like a maze, and at every turn you took, you discovered a new alley and an interesting collection  of shops.
I love these kinds of neighborhoods, and I had a great time.  I also got to see a few cats!  Like this boutique cat.


In the same store was, I have to admit, a pretty cute little dog, too.


I saw this kitty outside a crafts shop.


She reluctantly let me pat her.


In one restaurant, I spotted a table occupied by two kitties.  The waitress saw me photographing the cats and tried to get me to come in and eat.  We had just eaten, so I declined, but I told her that  I thought it was cool that she had two American Curls in her shop.


She was amazed that I had heard of the breed (until I told her I was a cat vet from America). 

My guidebook had a listing that intrigued me. It was a housing complex called Cité Bourgogne


It is supposed to be a unique example of the shikumen (“stone gate”) style lane house dwellings constructed across the city during its early-twentieth-century heyday. The buildings are all 3 story high red brick buildings, with laundry drying on the clothes lines and bikes parked out front of nearly every apartment. 
It was built in 1930. Strolling  through the narrow lanes of this block-sized complex gives you a sense of yesterday's Shanghai.

Designed to accommodate 78 families, and currently occupied by some 450 households, Cité Bourgogne provides a glimpse of a way of life that is fast disappearing as old housing stock falls before the wrecking ball to make way for high-rise developments and glitzy malls. As I strolled the nice lanes of the complex, I didn’t see any cats, but I came across this very cute pup.


(I’m still allowed to like dogs, I hope)

The next site on our itinerary was the Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum, in the Pudong district.


This museum was built in memory of the time during the Second World War when Jewish refugees sought sanctuary from persecution. It is housed in the former Ohel Moshe Synagogue


where the Jewish refugees gathered for religious activities. The museum holds many scrolls and other cultural relics.


The history of  Jewish Shanghai is interesting. Between the year 1937 and 1941, Shanghai has received 25,000 Jewish refugees and became the only metropolis in the world which did not refuse Jews. The number of Jewish refugees that Shanghai took in was equal to the total taken in by Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India and South Africa. "Ohel Moshe Synagogue" became a synonym for "rescue" and "refuge".


The Jewish refugees lived a free and peaceful life around the former Ohel Moshe Synagogue. Between the end of the Second World War II and 1960's, many left China and emigrated to all parts of the world one after another. But the life in Shanghai was so memorable, and they considered Shanghai as their second hometown and called themselves "Shanghai Jews".
After learning a lot at the museum, we went to a very cool building nearby.  Architecture fans would  be pretty impressed with the place.  It’s called “1933”.  It’s a former slaughterhouse that’s been transformed into a large space for art, music and restaurants.


All of the stores and restaurants in the building revolve around a central core that can be accessed by a series of bridges that cross back and forth at various places.
The space between the edge and the core is open air and the entire building reeks of Communist era concrete mixed with Art Deco styling.


That mixed in with the still existent “Cattle Road” ramp and the tight shadowy corners gives the building a creepy feeling that is juxtaposed by bright airy spaces. Walking  through it, you feel like you’re in an M.C. Escher drawing come to life.


Occupancy was still a little sparse, which made the place even that much funkier.

By this point, we were pretty beat, so back to the hotel for a nap, and then dinner in the neighborhood.  Our trip is starting to wind down; two days left before we head back to the U.S.
                   

CHECK BACK SOON, Dr. Plotnick's China Travelog continues.

Previous Posts
Beijing - Day 1, Day 2 Part 1, Day 2 Part 2, Day 3, Day 4 Part 1Day 4 Part 2, Day 5, Day 6
Shanghai - Day 1 part 1, Day 1 part 2

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My Travels in China: Shanghai Day 1 (part 2)

My Travels in China: Shanghai Day 1 (part 2)

Dr. Arnold Plotnick of Manhattan Cat Specialists, loves to travel and loves cats.  So off he went... East... way way East... to China.  Over the course of the next few weeks, we will share the cultural and kitty cat highlights of Dr. Plotnick's trip.

(Continued from Day 1 part 1)



We decided to head over to the cool neighborhood – The French Concession – but I took us on a detour to a small museum that I was dying to check out: The Chinese Propaganda Art Center.


It wasn’t easy to find; it’s located in the basement of a building in the middle of a housing complex, but I’m glad I persisted.  The museum consists of several rooms with the walls lined with great propaganda posters from the Maoist era.  I’ve always loved this kind of art.





I can think of no better examples of the power of art to strongly persuade than these posters. I was really fascinated by it all.


Check out this one: The inscription says something about promoting the friendship between Russia and China.  This is the gayest thing I think I saw on my entire trip.


I went a little crazy  in the gift shop, purchasing four posters and two mugs. 

We continued our stroll, passing this lovely, discreetly named building: .


Imagine walking out of this building and bumping into a group of your friends.  Can you say, “die of embarrassment”?

We finally hit the heart of the neighborhood we sought: the French Concession.  This is a very cool neighborhood of tree-lined streets and an intriguing mix of architectural styles dating from the colonial era.


The  neighborhood is filled with quaint boutiques and galleries, and lots of cool restaurants and bars.


It reminded me a little of Soho in NYC, but more neighborhoody.  
As we strolled the streets, we encountered some interesting monuments, like this statue of Pushkin, one of the traces of Russian influence still found in the neighborhood.


We found the U.S. Consulate, which stood out because of the military guards out in front. I tried to take a photo, but the guard angrily tried to wave me off.  I went  down the street and took the photo anyway.


I then came upon a statue of Nie Er, the guy who composed the Chinese national anthem.


By this point in the day we were getting tired and hungry, so back to the hotel to relax a bit before heading out to dinner. We really loved the French Concession, so we decided to head back to see what it’s like at night.  Having enjoyed the Yunnanese cuisine at Lost Heaven the night  before, we tried another Yunnanese place, called Southern Barbarian.


We got the fried goat cheese, shredded potato pancake and pork with  sauerkraut.  Not your typical Cantonese or Beijing cuisine. The place was fun, and very popular with expats.

The French Concession, in fact, is very popular with expats; we saw young parents out for a stroll with their kids, foreign exchange students, American businessmen.  If I were ever to move to Shanghai, this is the neighborhood I’d want to live in, with all the shopping and restaurants and trees.  Wherever you are in the French Concession, you’re never too far from a park.

After dinner, it was back to the hotel for some much-needed rest.  Sorry, cat fans.  No cats today.  I know… I’m disappointed, too.  Perhaps tomorrow we’ll see some?

CHECK BACK SOON, Dr. Plotnick's China Travelog continues.

Previous Posts
Beijing - Day 1, Day 2 Part 1, Day 2 Part 2, Day 3, Day 4 Part 1Day 4 Part 2, Day 5, Day 6
Shanghai - Day 1 part 1

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reade more... Résuméabuiyad

My Travels in China: Shanghai Day 1 (Part 1)

My Travels in China: Shanghai Day 1

Dr. Arnold Plotnick of Manhattan Cat Specialists, loves to travel and loves cats.  So off he went... East... way way East... to China.  Over the course of the next few weeks, we will share the cultural and kitty cat highlights of Dr. Plotnick's trip.

(Continued from Day 6)

As much as I tried to psychologically will away the rain, there was no getting around it.  I had been following The Weather Channel’s 10-day  forecast for weeks, and the weather was always sunny, until about the last week before the trip.  It was still sunny for Beijing, but clouds were moving into Shanghai. The forecast said there was a 90% chance of rain today, and they were right.  We woke up this morning to a totally gray sky and a steady, annoying rain.

I wasn’t about to let this stop me from all of the sightseeing I had planned. It just meant purchasing some cumbersome umbrellas.  Not a problem. Across the street from our hotel were some shops selling umbrellas for 10 RMB. (That’s $1.60 in U.S. dollars)

Before that, however, was the bizarre experience called breakfast. Like Beijing, the breakfast at the Oriental Bund Hotel was buffet style, served in their “Champs Elysses Western Restaurant” on the 8thfloor.  We had a nice view of the buffet table and dining room from the corridor of our hotel.





From above, one can see that it is fabulously stocked with goodies.  When you arrive in actual restaurant, it goes from being impressive, to being, well… odd.   Listen, as I’ve said before, I’m a big fan of getting out of one’s comfort zone.  I understand that not every culture goes for eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, pancakes and waffles exclusively at breakfast.  However, I just don’t know if I’m ready to eat penne pasta, sweet and sour pork, purple corn on the cob, purple sweet potatoes, pistachio mousse cake, and ham with cauliflower for breakfast. 

It was bizarre.  I stopped lamenting the lack of an in-hotel gymnasium, as I ended up doing several aerobic laps around the buffet table, trying to find something appropriate for breakfast.  A salad with tomatoes, kidney beans, cucumbers, and those little tiny ears of corn-on-the-cob was just too lunchy.


Lo mein noodles, fried rice, and the aforementioned sweet-and-sour pork was also too lunchy, and even crossed into the realm of dinnery.


There were pastries, but they were kind of weird.  Silken tofu and pork and egg congee is just not my style, breakfast-wise.  There was Canadian bacon, thankfully, as well as regular (i.e. non-Canadian) bacon, although the latter was a tad too fatty.  There were just too many options.  Which leads to my obligatory translation joke-of-the-day:

Rather than just commit to one or two things that I’d find acceptable and then just load up the plate, I was more in the mood for several things, in small volume.  This, too, was no problem

Okay… enough translational humor.  I ended up scarfing down some Canadian bacon, a weird donut, a weirder donut, two sesame balls, a slice of pistachio mousse cake, a few glasses of orange juice, and off we went.

Ugh.  It was pouring out.  Grrrr.  Annoying and depressing.  Braving the downpour, with our newly purchased umbrellas, we headed to The Bund.


I had my guidebook in hand, and there was a nice description of each of the buildings, including the year it was built and the original purpose of the building.  The rain, alas, hampered our ability to appreciate them fully, as well as to take any semi-decent photos, but I got a few.



Fortunately, we saw these buildings in grand fashion from the Huangpu river cruise last night, lit up beautifully against the night sky.  The buildings are much better appreciated a bit of a distance away, from a nighttime cruise, rather than up close in the pouring rain. 

The rain started to let up a tiny bit.  We started our walk down Nanjing Road East, the Champs Elysees of Shanghai.


Lots and lots of high-end shops and malls.  Lots of scammers, too.  It’s amazing how many people aggressively approach you while you’re walking on the street, especially if you’re non-Asian.  I’m a native New Yorker, though, and I don’t put up with this kind of crap from anybody, especially when I’m on vacation.  And so, I’ve mastered the dirty look, the indifferent stare, the I’m-totally-ignoring-you shuffle, and most importantly, the perfect pronunciation of “bu yao”, which means “I don’t want any.”  I kind of enjoy saying it.  “Bu yao, bu yao, BU YAO!!”, I screamed at multiple pests.  They seem shocked that I’m speaking their language, and that fact that it’s this particular phrase that they’re hearing from me let’s them know that I’m  not an easy mark. They leave me alone. 

For an interesting juxtaposition, we escaped the commercial mayhem of Nanjing Road and ducked down Lane 1025, one  of the side streets off of the main drag.


Lane 1025 is a lilong – a traditional Shanghai residential alley, containing row upon row of gorgeous red brick buildings built from 1928 to 1932


 They are three stories high and are mainly residential, making up much  of the city’s low-rise housing stock.


Once you get  inside this little lane complex, you almost forget that you’re in  one  of the world’s biggest cities.

We continued west on Nanjing Road, until we hit Jing’an Park on our left.  On our right, sticking out like a sore thumb in the  midst of the crazy shopping district was the Jing’an Temple.


The temple has a history of more than 780 years. It was first built in the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280) and was named Hudu Chongyuan Temple. In the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), the temple moved to the present location from the bank of Wusong River and became a busy and crowded place until 1908. Later, a famous calligrapher renamed the temple as Jing'an Temple in 1945 and is still named as such today. Unfortunately, the temple was burnt down to ruins in 1972. However, the reconstruction began after 1984. In 1990, Jing'an Temple was finally opened to the public.  One of the highlights of the temple is the statue of the goddess Guanyin Bodhisatva, made out of camphor wood.  It is about 20 feet tall and weighs five tons.


CHECK BACK SOON, Dr. Plotnick's China Travelog continues to The Chinese Propaganda Art Center.
Previous Posts - Day 1, Day 2 Part 1, Day 2 Part 2, Day 3, Day 4 Part 1Day 4 Part 2, Day 5, Day 6

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