The One with the Shanghai Afterthoughts II

Enough Shanghai bashing. Let's see what I liked about Shanghai..

1) The Low Value of the RMB. Yeah I know. Like damn cheapo right. Budden it makes alot of difference when your SGD $1 = their RMB $5. Especially so when like a bowl of shui jiao is like RMB $3 which makes it like SGD $0.60? Or when we ate at restaurants with the bill totalling RMB $50 for 3 people, it means we spent less than SGD $10 combined for 3 people. Making out to $3.3333333333333 for a feast fit for a king! Amazing stuff. CDs (original) cost RMB $25 which transalates to SGD $5. A metro ride RMB $2 = SGD $0.40. A box set of DVDs which I was eyeing in SG cost me RMB $50 = SGD $10 and they were selling the exact same thing here for SGD $60. Taxis start at RMB $10 in Shanghai, RMB $7 in Nanjing, and we rarely exceed RMB $20 for a 1/2hr ride.. which makes out to SGD $5! Whew. I think you get the idea. Same pricing but divided by 5. Lower value of money, I like.

2) The Food. Food in Shanghai is awesome. I don't understand why people complain its too oily. It isn't! It's magnificant. Heh. We spent quite a tidy sum on food alone as my travelling companion refuses to eat at roadside stalls which I really wanted to try. Oh well. I'll get another time to try it. Maybe next year. But the food's really traditional. Cannot ever find such food in Singapore! I've never had a vegetarian meal so sedap.. using mushrooms in replace of squid. Deep fried. Mmm. Perfection. I've never eaten before many of the dishes we ordered. Everything just tastes different. Tastes better. I even put on 2kg and gained a tummy from 8 days of non-stop gourmet food. But I don't regret a single bite. Damn I miss the food.

3) The Taxis. There's an abundance of taxis in Shanghai. It's damn easy to get a cab, and some even make an illegal U-turn in the middle of the road just to get your business! Plus, you can also NOT pay the driver if you encounter such scenarios (really!): (1) If the driver fails to greet you, (2) If the driver smokes in the car, (3) If the driver refuses to accept your travel card (It's sorta like an ez link card for transport!), (4) If the driver is unable to print a receipt for you, and (5) If the driver spits out of the car. Plus, they all wear formal suits! Zai. Now what do Singapore taxi drivers wear? Hmm.

4) The Eye-Candy. I don't know why. But the Shanghainese are just so damn chio. A majority la. There are of course some ugly ones. But majority are chio. Especially the female police and the female army people. All so ladylike. But in uniform. Chio chio! I guess it's attributed to how they dress. They do dress very fashionably. Envious sia. Look at them. Then look at how we dress. I should have packed a suit to Shanghai. Instead, I wore a polo t-shirt and jeans. Once I take off my jacket, damn obiang. Sadz. Singapore lacks eye-candy and good fashion sense. We should wake up. Haiz.

5) The DVDs. I bought so many DVDs. Original and non-original. Original Japanese anime ones are really hard to get by in Singapore. And those found in Singapore are seriously marked up in price. Hence getting them direct from China is really a bargain. Like 5 times cheaper. Where else can I find the entire set of Samurai X, Naruto or Shaman King? Best of all, these are expensive items (luxury goods!) in China and nobody buys them.. so they're all sitting in the shopping centres waiting for me to buy them! Happy happy joy joy. Pirated ones lagi best. No pirated Japanese anime, but plenty of TV series. Especially the ang moh ones. I was particulary happy to obtain my copy of SPACED, a british comedy by the guy in SHUAN OF THE DEAD. Good stuff and amazingly available in pirated format. Just cost me SGD $1.25 each! Malaysia still costs SGD $5 each! So obviously the cheapo greedy pig in me bought plenty. Which I will give away after I'm done with em. Got stuff like CSI seasons 3 & 4, The Family Guy, Garfield & Friends, Powerpuff Girls and some award winning documentaries just to name a few. Love my DVDs.

6) The People. Yeah. Despite them being loudmouthed and sometimes scary, they're actually pretty friendly when I stopped them and asked for directions. I was even stopped by others to ask for directions twice. Of course, I had to say I didn't know where the place they wanted to go was.. but I could have been a bastard and given wrong directions. Could have. Heh. Anyway, as I said, they're darn friendly when you actually talk to them. I guess we've approached at least 2 people everyday just to ask for directions. That's the penalty for not bringing a map around with us. Amazing eh? No map still can survive. Ask people lah! Sometimes we even engage in little small talk, like when we stopped a guy on a scooter (yes! on a scooter!) and asked for directions to a certain pub, he actually recommended us other pubs. Ha! See, friendly people. Nice nice.

7) The Weather. Nice and cool. 24/7 air con. I like. But at night, I prefer to be warm, which can be achieved by the heating in the hotel room. So basically I loved the weather every minute I was there. Afterall, I was adequately prepared for it. Gloves, thermal underwear and a nice snow jacket. Abit overkill actually but it's damn comfy. And rarely do I sweat. Actually I didn't even need to bathe everyday. Budden. Formality sake. And also to keep myself clean. Heh. The weather helped my pimples much. Many of them went away! But I suspect they'll be back soon. Grrr.

8) The Buildings. Shanghai has an amazing mix of traditional shophouses, colonial buildings, modern skyscrapers and also buildings with such far-fetched designs that one would think .. is that real? Heh. Obviously the traditional shophouses take the cake for me. I love the original antique design of such shophouses. The more worn down the better. Reflects the history of the place I'd say. And they haven't been restored! Government no money la. So basically what you see is 100% authentic! I like. We wandered around some back alleys too to take pictures. Very interesting contrast between the modern buildings which are just like next door. Though some may think their urban planning screw up, I think it's nice. You see the development of the city right there. Through their buildings. The colonial buildings include the famous PEACE HOTEL. That entire stretch (The Bundt) is simply fabulous. Reminds me of London. I also like. Finally, they have the Pearl. Which is like an observatory thingy. However, it just seems like another phallic symbol to me. Got 2 balls summore. I couldn't believe my eyes at the ridiculous design. But the Government liked it. I prefer the other phallic symbol (Eiffiel Tower) so I got nothing to say.

9) The Communist. The main attractions in Shanghai for me weren't the museum nor the boat ride up and down the river. I preferred the free Young Communist Party Museum to the National Museum of which I fell asleep amongst the jade and bronze statutes. Too tired la. Anyway, the CCP museum is damn zai. Propaganda has never been so interesting. I'm sure PAP has a tiny museum locked up somewhere too, and schools will one day be forced to send their students there on compulsary outings (we met a group of schoolkids there). We also had the priviledge of visiting the HQ of the CCP near Xing Tian Di. Where Mao Zhedong held his first CCP meeting. Damn shiok reading their history. But they blatently left out the cultural revolution. Hmm. Oh well. But they're very updated. Got Yao Ming and recently the China guy that got shot up into space. Plus, I loved the way they write about their members. Eg. Our hot-blooded (direct translation) young man died valiantly at the war front in battle against the evil conqurers. Something to that extent. Think you guys get the gist? Communists. Interesting read. For modern day CCP parties, look no further than our very own PAP. I actually wanted to get a Mao Zhedong bust and statute. But no money! Had to buy stuff for you people first. SIGH.

10) The Gardens. Amazingly, they have some kick-ass gardens there with some virtually flawless scenaries. No bluff. They're so beautiful that I think I took over 50 photos there. Unfortunately, many had other people inside as there were TOO MANY BLOODY TOURISTS in the garden. Cannot get a picture without any outsiders. Damn. Such is the problem when visiting tourist locations. Sigh. But they were beautiful. And once my photos are up, I'm sure you'll all agree.

11) The Toilets. Apparently the rumor that China has the worst toilets are unfounded. The shopping centre toilets, tourist attraction toilets and even small toilets in mini restaurants were pretty ok. They actually fared better than the local coffeeshop toilet downstairs of my house. Speaks volumes eh? Oddly enough, the worst toilet goes to Pu Dong University. The best local university in Shanghai. Their male toilet cubicles consisted of nothing but an open pipe. You shit into the pipe, flush at the end of the cubicle and your shit travels past everyone else and goes into a bigger pipe. Whoopee. And they have no toilet paper. Acck.

12) The History. Nothing beats Chinese History. I mean, afterall, we're chinese. It's like our roots. (I even picked up a phamplet for 1 RMB explaining the origins of my surname!) But nothing touched me more than the Nanjing Massacre Museum at (where else) Nanjing. That alone made the 6hr to and fro ride from Shanghai to Nanjing worth it. At the museum, we got to see pictures of the atrocities the Japanese did (Fucking Japs!) to our humble ancestors. It's really not for the faint hearted. And really really heart wrenching. There were bodies there. Real actual skeletal remains of the victims which illustrated the cruelty of the japanese. A bullet hole in the head of a middle aged woman. A baby's head found severed in his own lap. A man with steel spikes attached to his skull. Another one with no legs. The list of torture just goes on and on. Which brings me now to a story one of the local students told me regarding their visit to the museum. Apparently when they were there, there was a Singaporean tour group present. And in this group, there was this fat (plump, fat, what's the difference) girl whom was standing looking at this wall inscribed with the names of some of the victims of the massacre. I think they said she was about 18-19? And she looked at every single name one by one, before turning to her mother and asked loudly, "How come don't have my name arh?" Heh. Later lagi worse. When she went to visit the tomb with the remains of the victims (Which I took pictures of and will post up) her first remark was "Wah! All these bones look like dog bones!" I don't care if she's chinese. Or if she's Singaporeans. She has no respect. She has to die. (For more details on Respect, look to "Shark Tale" specifically to the 2 hilarious jellyfishes) I feel for the poor victims. If given a chance, I would do something about it. But I'm just a lousy student tourist. Maybe next time can start a pentition to make the Japanese Government to own up to Nanjing. Apparently there was a victim whom was pregnant and a Japanese soldier tried to rape her. She bit his hand and he cut open her belly. He child dropped out. He then killed the child (duh) and slashed her over 20 times. Amazingly she survived. And gave anti-Japanese speeches since the war ended and tried to make Japan own up to their wrongs in Nanjing (you guys know they actually had killing competitions? The fuckers.). Unfortunately for her, the Japanese government didn't. And she died just 3 days prior to my visit to the museum. I respect the survivors. I for one am interested to find out how my grand-uncles survived during the war now (I know my granddad ran to Singapore and subsequently into the rural villages in Malaysia). Maybe all of you should ask how your grandparents survived the war. My companion's grand-uncles were all killed by the Japanese (Granddad also came to Singapore). It's time to know your roots ask. I'm sure your parents will be willing to tell you.

That's about all for now. I'm quite beat. If I recall anything else I shall just add on to the post.. Afterwhich it'll be a new post.