From flowed energy
of modern Shanghai to the pleasingattraction of ancient Suzhou,
China is a timeless journey.
Damn it! I mean the dam or rather the levee
along the Huangpu is the place for tourists to visit in Shanghai. Fortunately
for me, I was in Bund when they came at sunrise, enjoyed the hospitality of the
imposing Lady. Cathay Hotel has just been recovered, originally it is built by
trade tycoon Sir Victor Sassoon (Sassoon shipyard boss in Mumbai), now is the
Fairmont Peace Hotel.
This is a magnificent lady with China,
Japan, France, Italy and India suites. As a cultural revolution of lifestyle,
it has been added as a maid of the officials in the last century. Facing with
the Gothic gate is a land with cabbage planted vertically. The decorate
cabbages seem to be a seasonal France, Italy and India suites. As a cultural
revolution of lifestyle, it has been added as a maid flavor, or at least the
seasonal flora in Shanghai. We see them around the high lamp post, suspended in
the air. Food is art in Chinese tradition, such as slice mandarin fish and
rabbit cooked with tomatoes in a big banquet will ultimately reminds us.
The
Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai.
Bund is Wall Street of China, along with
its big speculators. The height of buildings in the harbor have been prescribed
by law, with the Peace, the first skyscraper of Shanghai, is still the highest
- although it is bypassed by new sparkle skyscrapers in the other side of the
river. Other Shanghai Deco buildings combining Chinese aesthetic principles
with the abstract view of Egyptiansand and typical geometry are in the western
coast of ancient Puxi area.
However, as we are going to 2020 decade, as
passengers in rush hour subway station of People Square, we are waiting in a
waiting room in the 20th decade. Back to the hotel, Jazz Bar, with the Old Man
band (average age of 27) and young quartet, according to Croker, it remains
extremely popular. After dinner, the gamblers are crammed like fish cans in the
dim lit table, under the heavy wooden bars, which seems have not changed since
Swinging Twenties. On the floor, the Dragon and Phoenix restaurant, with
beautiful lanterns and dragons, the shapphire walls and ornaments are painted
red, is the prototype of culture from last century.
Outside, the sun is rising on Pudong
(commercial outposts of new Shanghai) in the eas. The back of Shanghai
Financial Center has shape of a lid opener, the second highest building in the
world. Initially, it is designed with a wind eye on the top, it is redesigned.
Instead, one red star is falling from the
dark sky. Following is a goldfish, a purple dragon flyes up when Shanghai wakes
up. The dawn dissipates the legend - people who get up early are playing kite
on Bund. The sanitation workers in reflective clothes go along the cabbage rows
with broom attached red ribbon. The workers soon push the new cabbage here to
grow. Some girls play hopscotch, rope jumping, while the older people walk
backwards more than a mile! This is helpful for memory and ingenuity. When the
light scans the final shade out the ground, the kite is interrupted by the
cranes - this walking place is also a popular venue for Taichi - and the pairs
begin playing ballet rhythm of two people.
Some
girls play hopscotch, rope jumping, while the older people walk backwards more
than a mile!
Less than 7 o'clock, 30 minutes later, they
will vanish like the fog and come back to normal life in the office, wearing
designed uniforms and shoes. It is a good time for me to walk down Fuxing Park,
in the heart of the old French Concession, where there are still many
dancing and taichi course. In addition to the park, the architecture of the
neighborhood is an interesting combination of neoclassical style, Gothic style
and traditional Chinese style. Christian Center of the city has the red church
of St. Ignatius with two grey roofs. Jeffre avenue, a former tram, is
surrounded by several houses with the old brick gate, adjacent to each other in
an alley with arches at the entrance.
Get out of the line number 10 on Shanghai
subway, the pedestrian's area of City Gods' Temple surrounds Yu Garden.
Locals and visitors come this place to buy many things - shoes (boots and
slippers are made of fake "silk") and ships (carved from wood) and
glue (with the brand created in 30 minutes - be careful with the creative
interpretation into Chinese unless you have a native guide). Many bags made of
dolphins, bears, cats and several kinds of bags made from other animals catch
my eyes. I do not buy them, because it's hard to bargain - another reason is
that I want a reliable guide, and I have lost my guide in the crowd.
The
Yu Garden market.
Around, the locals come to the front stores
to buy snack on a stick, a dish likes meat skewer but it has squid, quail meat
and some secret kinds of meat. Longest queue is by the zigzag bridge at
goldfish aquarium. It leads to the "Outer Sell" counter of Nanxiang
Steamed Bun Restaurant, where sell famous crab dumplings. Of course, Shanghai
giant dumplings are sold every where. My tongue is burned because I swallow too
fast.
Back to the hotel's spa, the friction with
poppy seeds, green lotus and Sichuan chilli brings an exciting experience, with
an action that forgets political matter, in which an Indian tourist in China
takes a bath in Tibet's water whether opium dream recalls unavoidable questions
about Aksai Chi and Arunachal.
However, these annoying alliances are quite
popular in Shanghai, which is polished by consumer republic. Let's ask the
cobblestone alleys of Tianzi Fang - Road 210 from Taikang Lu street, near
Xintiandi, all are parts of the French Concession where has the convergence of
art and intellect, the link due to free talk about free milk coffee, customers
are served in a glass jar, an eccentric against Starbuck cafe. After crossing a
familiar smelt amonia stream, which comes down an iron staircase and from a
public restroom (incredibly familiar with illegal toilet users of India) - I go
to a studio of the artist at first floor. Performances are presented by
appointment only. Moving up one more floor, Bambu brand, which is friendly with
environment, is based here. The company processes bamboo to innovative and
secure kitchenware.
This
is a typical street scene in the French Concession area of Shanghai, China
The next morning, we drove to the suburb,
and we could not stop staring at everything. Everything is too high and huge!
As terracotta army of Qin Shi Huang, the modern Chinese continued associating
the success and prestige. The roads are full of color coded cabs of Shanghai on
day time, as diverse as a M&Mpackage, at night, the colors come from the
dots of colorful safety lights blur Diwali lights of an autonomous city
government.
The building looks like any Bandra block is
multiplied with 10 or 12. "The future is here, and it looks like
Gurgaon", quipped someone.
