cartography

a tragic lack of xiaolongbao

April 24, 2009 at 21:09 (China) (Nanjing, Shanghai, Suzhou)

SO GUYS. I’ve been back in the States for about four months– haven’t updated in a while because I am a) too busy, or b) too lazy. Usually, it is the latter, but now that school’s in full swing, it will most likely be the former. Not that it matters anymore, after this post, because my travels have ended, alas and alack!

If I were to enumerate the rest of my days in China in detail, this post would go on forever. I am not going to do that, but I anticipate this post to go on for quite a while anyway. If I’m going to do something, it might as well be thorough, right? Here we go!

NANJING (the rest):
01. We saw a lot of Nanjing, which makes sense since we spent the most time here and for the most part, we were free to do whatever the heck we wanted. My professor was also the chaperon for all the side trips, so he wasn’t even there 90% of the time.

02. One day, we went to this underground mall at Xinjiekou called Fashion Lady. I kid you not. It was so– chic, for lack of a better word. The whole place was crammed with shops and people, no relief anywhere. If I hadn’t been dogging Ryan’s footsteps, I am sure I would have gotten hopelessly lost, because the neon lights down there throw off your spatial reasoning like you wouldn’t believe. This page has some pictures, but pictures don’t do this place justice. Let me tell you, Grace had a grand time here.

03. Another day, we went to Sophia’s house for dinner. Her family was so hospitable, and dinner was real, real Chinese food. And I think her entire neighborhood came to see us, because people just kept coming in (her dance teacher even showed up!). Paul gave us a hip hop demonstration after dinner. There was much applause.

04. WE SAW RED CLIFF PART TWO WITH RYAN. RED CLIFF RED CLIFF RED CLIFF. CHIBI. CHI FUCKING BI. I ALMOST CRIED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE THING, IT WAS SO EPIC. Ahem. I mean, it was great. SO GREAT.

05. Purple Mountain. Guys, guys, at least we only spent an hour climbing the Great Wall. We must have spent five hours climbing Purple Mountain. Roger, Isabel, Debora, and I went with three of the Nanjing guides: Sophia, Sabrina, and Robin (who brought his dog along! it hitched a ride in his backpack, so cute), and two of their friends, Skye and I forget the other boy. Going up seemed endless, all those steps and more steps. Coming down was faster, but painful. We were going to take the cable car down, but it was under repair. Curses! The view at the top was pretty, that’s a given, but I’m not sure it was worth all that pain.

06. After that grueling experience, we went to Gary’s birthday dinner at the revolving restaurant near the hotel. Buffet style! I ate so much sashimi…

07. We also visited Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum. Lots of walking and stair-climbing, let me tell you. But being in that circular room, with his marble coffin–carved in his likeness–below us, that was something else. It was something of a relief to escape back into the sunlight. Then we took the shuttle bus to the the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, too, but it was under construction. What a disappointment. But we climbed this huge stone tortoise! Well, Ryan and Roger climbed. The rest of us were hauled up by Ryan. I don’t know how he did it, but I bet it’s all that military training.

08. Then we took the shuttle bus all the way across to the Linggu Temple. More stairs, always going up and up and up. It was a narrow spiral staircase this time. When we reached the top, the sun was started to set, so the view was amazing, amazing. Looking down was amazing. Going down, now that’s a different story. We left at closing time, so of course there’s no one around and it’s getting dark outside and there are no lights in the temple, so we are basically descending INTO DARKNESS. We were literally groping in the dark, hugging the railing as we went down, and when we got to the ground floor, it was pitch black. We saw the outlines of the door, and we tried to pull it open, but we couldn’t do it. So Grace is yelling and yelling, and the rest of us are running around trying all the doors (they were all locked), until finally, miraculously, we got one of them open. We had no idea what had happened, but later, much much much later, when we were on the plane back to NYC, Michael confessed that he and Ryan had gone ahead of us and held the only unlocked door shut from the outside. He had pictures and even a video of the two of them trapping us inside the temple. THOSE VERMIN.

09. Anyway. Did I tell you about the subways, guys? The Nanjing Metro. SO CLEAN. SO EFFICIENT. SO NEW. I bought a subway token just to take home. It’s blue, and you just touch it to the little pad at the turnstile, and you swish through. Very cool. Then you had to insert the token into the turnstile when you wanted to get out. There are only two subway lines, though, so at least our filthy, smelly, always-where-the-fuck-is-the-train-late subways are more convenient.

10. Also, Grace and I found the best place for stinky tofu around the Confucius Temple shopping area. SO GOOD, SOMEONE PLEASE TAKE ME BACK.

11. Farewell dinner for Ryan. MY HEART DID REND ASUNDER. He got us all gifts (the most heartfelt: an amulet to keep us safe), and afterward, when he was leaving our hotel for the very last time, and we were watching him leave, and both sides refusing to move until the other did, and– AND– I count down the days until he comes to America. He was the absolute best, and I miss him desperately.

SUZHOU (city of bridges):
01. We left the hotel in Nanjing at 5 in the morning. I had slept maybe half an hour, and about three hours the night before, and three hours the night before that. I was exhausted, and depressed, but WE MUST ALL MOVE ON. Between all of us on the trip, there was so much luggage that they had to stack them inside the bus. So Grace and I sat next to a towering pile of suitcases.

02. We made a brief stop in Suzhou, to visit one of the gardens there. There are so many of those in Suzhou, I can only imagine what they must look like in the spring, with flowers in bloom and the sky clear.

03. We also visited one of its many bridges (there are approximately 1000 in the city), and Gary, Samantha and I stood on top of the railing like we were invincible.

04. Back onto the bus, and on our way to Shanghai, all of us ready to drop off.

SHANGHAI (the lipstick of China):
01. Shanghai is very, very commercial. There was so much to see, but we only spent two days there. At night, all the lights come on and it’s like home, but so different.

02. The hotel? Beautiful. Fabulous. GLORIOUS. But. See, imagine a map of Shanghai. There’s our hotel, right, at the very bottom of it. And then there’s downtown, above it. And then, there’s the rest of Shanghai. Can you imagine how out of the way we were?

03. The first night we were there, we went to Roger’s old university, and nearby there’s this mini shopping-mall, kind of like a multi-tier plaza. We ate at Blue Frog, a hamburger joint. My American cravings: satisfied. But it took us half an hour to get there by taxi. Traffic was horrendous. At least the cabs here are cheap cheap cheap, even though it was more expensive than Nanjing’s. We also went to People’s Square, but we went really late, so everything was closed (WHAT IS THIS, CITIES SHOULD NEVER SLEEP), but there was this vendor who was trying to sell these wheels that you attach to your shoes to turn them into roller skates, and of course Grace makes a big deal about lowering the price, and soon everyone wants a pair as a souvenir to someone, and we make such a spectacle that we eventually attracted the attention of the local police, who come and chase the vendor off and break up our group. By then, we’re late, and we have to run to catch the last train– ANOTHER THING. What is this last train business. TRAINS SHOULD RUN 24/7. We didn’t have time to buy tickets, so we talked to the attendants and they just let our huge group in. But see, you can’t exit the subway stations unless you have a token, because while you scan it to enter, you have to insert it at the turnstile to exit. So, haha, we ended up paying the attendant at our stop to let us out of the station.

04. The next day, we were all over. We went to Jin Mao Tower first. There’s this elevator that goes straight up to the 88th (what a good number) floor. We got a panorama view of Shanghai, and I only wish it wasn’t so foggy and that it was nightttime.

05. Then we went to the Fabric Market, a place (indoors) where you can get a custom tailored suit for 70USD. Also, lots of scarves and ties and belts and coats and dresses and every fabric-related thing that you can imagine. And right outside, they had some really good street food: we had some sweet potatoes, and two different kinds of pancake-looking things. I wish I remembered what they were called.

06. Afterwards, we met Roger’s friend, Ting, for lunch at this Taiwanese restaurant. I think it was the best meal of the trip, hands down. On par with the stinky tofu. And that is saying a lot.

07. Then Grace and Roger went to get their hair cut. At the place that Ting took us to, they wash your hair while you’re sitting up. They squirt water and shampoo into your hair, and then they lather, all while you’re sitting in front of the mirror. Then they lead you over to the sink to rinse it off. Or maybe this is how it is in all hair salons in China? Haha. While waiting for Grace, the rest of us went to this Hong Kong style dessert restaurant. I wanted to steal their plates, they were so awesome.

08. After Grace’s hair was done, we rushed off to our farewell banquet at the hotel. We were late, of course, but Grace always makes us late, so no one was surprised. It was the night of the Inauguration back in America, but I missed it because Isabel and Debora dragged me out to play pool with them, Gary, Angela and Jaslee (Grace and Roger met Ting to go clubbing [though Ting didn't show up in the end]). The pool hall was– smoky. But everyone smokes everywhere in China, so we were all used to it. Some of the people there were really, really ace. Angela and Gary were really good, too. Some of the poses they pulled while aiming their cuesticks were hilarious.

09. The subway in Shanghai? Counts down the exact second the train arrives at the station. ACE.

10: TRAGEDIES: a) NO XIAOLONGBAO. I can’t believe I went to Shanghai and didn’t have any xiaolongbao. There just wasn’t enough time. WHAT THE FAILURE. b) WE DIDN’T GO TO THE BUND. What the hell, what the hell. I so wanted to take that boat ride at night. GUYS, if any of you ever go to Shanghai, THOSE MUST BE THE FIRST TWO THINGS ON YOUR ITINERARY.

11. Also, I’m kind of sad that we didn’t get to see the suburban parts of Shanghai, because I hear the neighborhoods there are beautiful.

12. Plane ride back, sat next to a complete stranger and discreetly watched him work on his excel worksheet. He spoke Cantonese. It made me smile.

AND THAT’S THAT, GUYS. I’m sorry for how bad I am at this whole blogging business. What an ugly word, blogging. No wonder I have no affinity for it!

… I miss China. That’s really all I can say to end this.

SO HOW WAS MY FOUR MONTH LATE POST. WORTH THE WAIT, I HOPE. Until next time.