Paul Hammond's Blog

I am back in Shanghai, and this evening, by pure chance, I went to dinner at Zapata's Mexican Cantina.  As far as I could tell, there were very few prostitutes.  The security guards are obviously doing a great job at "sorting things out".

I have had the pleasure once again of staying the weekend at my good friend Simon's house in West Cork in Ireland.  Simon's family is fantastic, the best bunch of folks you could ever want to meet.  His kids are great, and there is always something funny that happens when I am there.

Euan is 3.  He is the cutest and happiest kid in the world.  He also has a mischievous streak a mile wide.  He gets everywhere and into everything, and it is usually while you are not looking.  The first time I was over here, he managed to microwave a gameboy and the telephone handset.  He was 18 months old at the time, and managed to drag a chair to the kitchen counter, open the door and load the items and then turn the microwave on at the switch and turn it on!

Simon's wife Esther has just come and found us in his office with the latest piece of mischief.  At some point in the recent few weeks, Euan has managed to put some toys onto a plastic plate and put said plate into the Aga cooker in the slow cooker section.  Esther has just brought in one of the metal shelves with a now half-melted assembly of toys making a fantastic piece of abstract art.

Constituent parts of the art include a tamagotchi, two dummys, Thunderbird 2 and a toy train.  Photos follow.

Just in case you cannot make out the individual pieces...

 

I have actually been back a week, but have not had a chance to post since then.

I really enjoyed my trip to Shanghai.  Apart from a 10 day visit to Ko Samui in Thailand back in 1998, I haven't visited anywhere east of Copenhagen before.  Shanghai was very much how I imagined it to be; a noisy bustling city with neon signs and large adverts and a city syline crammed with skyscrapers.  Interspersed with that were the touches of traditionality that you would expect to see in China.

I haven't spent long enough there to really give you a deep and meaningful write up, so I will just stick with some bulletted and random observations!

Some things I liked/enjoyed:

• The metro journeys were 20p each (bargain!), and more importantly the carriages are air-conditioned.  Now, why can't London just buy some of the Shanghai tube trains for the Underground?!
• Some of the English translations of signs were very funny.  You can see an example here.  Other favourites include "Jumping off the platform is not a way into the tunnel" and the taxi sign that tells you "drunkards and schizophrenics must be accompanied by an adult".
• The food was excellent and cheap.  Although, to be honest, I did steer clear of the Sparrow Gizzards.
• The DVDs were cheap too.  They *seemed* legal enough... 
• The apparent attitude to risk of the people who live in Shanghai; i.e. they don't seem to care too much.  People just casually walk wherever they want to, without looking, and bikes and cars and taxis just avoid them.  It is fun to try it, although a little scary on your first try!
• The store in the mall next to the Microsoft office that sold mostly Disney branded merchandise - called "I Love Trendyland".
• Learning simple phrases, such as "hello" and "goodbye", "thank you" and the obligatory "can I have a receipt please".  I had no desire to learn Mandarin before, but being in a country where I was almost powerless to communicate made it seem so much more important than for other countries I have visited.

Some things that are not so good:

• Being literally soaked with sweat within 10 yards of leaving any air-conditioned space.  Gross.
• Despite the above and the fantastically warm temperatures, there is a haze the whole time.  I think we saw the sun briefly once.
• PSVs (or Personal Space Violations), particularly on the metro and in the Xiang Yang market (which deals in fake watches, DVDs, bags etc).  The guy I was travelling with got virtually pulled over by one chap in the market trying to get him to change direction and see his stall!
• Having said I liked the attitude to risk above, as a vaguely nervous passenger, actually getting IN to one of the taxis can be a scary experience.  Amazingly you do get used to it quite quickly.

Some general observations:

• If you go to France or Germany, when you see a sign you can often infer roughly what it means.  Is it a street sign, directions, an advert?  In Shanghai, you have no chance at all - there are no letters or words, just Chinese characters.  It is all just a blur, and can really contribute to a feeling of being "a bit lost".  Many important signs do have English on them also so you can generally find your way around, but it is the trivial things that do not have translations that can make you feel more "home-sick". 
• Surprisingly the cost of electronics was much higher than I thought it might be.  I could actually buy certain things cheaper in the US than in Shanghai.  I suspect I could get a better deal if I didn't look like a tourist...
• There were plenty of Western companies - Starbucks, KFC, MacDonald's and Pizza Hut - for those of you who don't feel adventurous enough to try the Sparrow Gizzards.

I *may* have to go over there again to continue with the work I was doing this time around.  If so, then I am thoroughly looking forward to going and learning more about the culture and customs.