Shanghai Shanghai 1

A brief interlude in Kunming was a sort of buffer zone between the regional somewhat backwaters of China in Yunnan, and Shanghai, which in comparison seems like another planet. Kunming felt pretty modern and cosmopolitan when we got in from Tonghai...Now is seems positively provincial (which is exactly what it is ;) ). Shanghai, more of an epilogue to a China trip, is very distinct from the rest of China.

It is partly the colonial history- Shanghai doesn't have a long history as a Chinese city, and didn't exist as a city until the Europeans came and settled it as a strategic port. So it has a really different feel with all the European (French and British mainly i think) buildings from the early 20th C. The new part of Shanghai- Pudong- the one you probably see in postcards with the distinctive skyline, is on the other side of the river, and was only built from 1991!

We spent the first night wandering along the Bund, looking across the river at the spacey skyline, with the old Banks and Cutsoms Houses, and Gentlemans club type buildings on our side. We found a cafe/ bar in the old signal tower building. Walking inside to the heating was great after a month of cold weather yet nowhere to get out of the cold (Yunnan is the warm province right, how come it's still 1 degree at night!). We felt it a bit surreal having creme brulee and coffee, overlooking the city, in a plush cafe...thinking how far away this seems from the villages we went through in the same country so recently.

Yesterday we looked at the Bund in the daytime- got accosted by people selling junky gadjets and toys, the latest novelty crazes in China, people selling photos etc...Some of them a bit annoying. We saw some people making BBQ squid on a small BBQ and as we thought of having one, saw them run off with the BBQ, squids still sizzling! Some of the toy sellers with frames for selling things also ran off, others just shoved everything into their bags probably. Then came the police! Three chubby men in a little buggy car came along looking for all the illegal vendors. None to be found of course, and there was no way the police were getting out of their buggy to find them. Had a peaceful 10 minutes with no one trying to sell us stuff, and then, like bacteria recolonises as soon as you washed your hands, they came back! It would be so easy to crack down on this activity that it seems the police don't really care, or aren't trying seriously (or a completely incompetent!). Everywhere in Nanjing Donglu (a particular street) people come up and try to sell you fake bags, clothes, dvds, cds etc. Haven't done any serious shopping yet, have to get mentally prepared first!

In a cafe, shall continue with Shanghai later...just letting you know that I'm having great fun here. It's quite exciting being in a city of 15million people, has a real buzz!