East Meets West, Shanghai, China

I broke my rule and flew to Shanghai from Tibet.  Mostly because the alternate route was a 24 hour bus ride to Golmud followed by 4-5 days of bus and train travel.  Sometimes it pays to fly.  Oooops, I mean, sometimes I pay to fly, as my flight cost almost the same as the LAX to Bangkok trip.  Arriving at the Shanghai airport I set out to meet up to meet up with my good friend Erin, who is teaching English.  This journey took me on the Meglev, the world's fastest and most expensive train.  We got up to 267 m/hr!  After that I hoped on the subway and popped out, after coming from Tibet, in what felt like Mars.  I was right next to the Pearl Tower, a funky, space-age looking Eiffel Tower.  It's hard to believe Tibet and Shanghai are part of the same country.  Tibet was culturally intriguing, remote, poor with brilliant blue skies and Shanghai in contrast is new, mostly built in the last 10 years and sports stores like Gucci and Ferrari.  It barely feels like china.  The first day I go in search of the fake market where fortunately I can afford to shop.  It contains a wonderful array of cheap Chinese goods that require some serious bargaining and I'm up to the task after getting some experience elsewhere in Asia.   And, it's fun.  

Visiting and staying with Erin has most certainly been a vacation from travelling.  It's the first time in weeks I haven't had to go outside to use the toilet.  And Shanghai has great food, though we didn't have Chinese food once, but indulged instead on Moroccan, Italian, Thai, and Indian.  And aside from the serious smog problem, it is generally a clean city.  One curious thing about Shanghai, and elsewhere in China, is the excess workforce.  Everywhere, restaurants, gift stores, banks, there are so many employees that several are always standing around doing nothing.  In Shanghai this surplus workforce has been put to use at the traffic lights.  At every light there is a man with a reflector vest and a whistle making sure nobody steps off the sidewalk during a green light.    

While in Shanghai I need to sort out some visa issues.  This is unbelievably time consuming and often doesn't resolve anything.  Getting my visa for Russia is quite a challenge.  I order my invitation online and it doesn't' come.  When I am finally armed with it I arrive at the Russian embassy to wait on the sidewalk for three hours.  No benches.  When I'm finally admitted I receive special paperwork just for Americans that asks the following questions:  Do you have experience with biological or nuclear weapons?  List every country and city you've visited in the last 10 years.  List every job you've had with addresses, bosses, and phone numbers.  The very nice man at the window smiles and tells me to do my best.  Two hours and twenty extra bucks later I had the visa.  Obviously they didn't check my references.  I'm $145 poorer, thanks to their price chart that has the following categories:  Chinese, Foreigners, and Americans.  I can say that after listening to the experiences of Chinese, Vietnamese or any other Asian natives trying to get a US visa I've learned to quit my whining.  

Russian visa in hand, I leave Erin's cocoon for the world of dorm beds and cold showers.  First though I stop in Beijing to pick up my train ticket for Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia and meet up with Zhao for a dinner of boiled duck blood, liver, and various other animal parts, Chinese style.

For photos of Shanghai, click here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39463330@N00/sets/72157594170569666/

For photos of Beijing, click here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39463330@N00/sets/72157594170576402/