We Are The Aliens in The Picture

         I’ve never seen so many snaphappy people.  Chinese people love to take photographs, especially of themselves with cool backdrops. Yes,  Americans are masters of this - hold the Iphone at arms length , grin and post on Facebook asap.  Incredibly, the Chinese might have us beat at this. Maybe it’s because of the Bund.   A walk along the Bund in Shanghai is sort of like walking along the rim of the Grand Canyon.  No matter what time of day or night, no matter what the weather conditions, it’s serious eye candy.  It’s sublime. On the East side of the Huang Po River, erected in a spasm of insane construction between 1994 and the present, stand the most absurdly neon skyscrapers and space needles on the planet. I am told that during the orgy of building, it was difficult to secure a crane in China.  Shanghai had them all booked.

Glen, Moon and Pudong Skyline.

Photo of first Pudong construction.  Compare with 2011 pix.

Nothing can rival the spectacle for sheer carnival shlock, for Blade Runner post- apocalyptic glitz. The west side, more sedate and stately,  with more European style buildings also comes alive under effective lighting of the building faces.   I felt magnetically drawn to stand and gaze, like I might somehow store it up the for later.  This doesn’t work.  You can’t capture that kind of awesomeness, in your mind’s eye or with a camera.  (see below) But that doesn’t prevent anyone from  trying. Cameras are nearly as numerous as people in China and Shanghai’s Bund has its share of shutterbugs for sure.  It’s requisite if you visit Shanghai, you simply must have a photo, or several dozen photos, of you and your traveling companions in front of that electric backdrop. Cameras constantly click as though punctuating the hum of perpetual motion on this neon boulevard.

Blade Runner-esque Pudong skyline
East side of Huang Po River, Shanghai

 

Another view of the infamous skyline.....

West side of Bund - nicely lit European construction from early 1900's

Early in the morning I’m watching tai chi, kite flying and badminton on the Bund.  It’s like the town square...a gathering place for all ages.   

Close-up of Kite

A very cool kite.

    

Tai chi, early morning on the Bund.

Bund Fun

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A tiny wizened mostly toothless lady approaches, gesturing toward my camera.  Hmmm, I wonder what she wants?  I aim my camera at her. Maybe she wants me to take her picture and show her?   She grabs my sleeve and pulls me toward the railing.  She’s wiry, but I’m pretty sure she can’t throw me over. She does manage to steer me to a position near the photo kiosk whose function is a bit of a mystery to me.  OK I guess she will get me to buy a photo of myself in front of the cloud enshrouded skyline.  I am powerless to resist  and still not exactly sure what’s happening, except that I am holding the hand of this cute diminuitive lady and someone at the booth is taking a picture.  I wander off, perplexed.  Shortly she reappears, proudly displaying an 8 x 10 glossy.  I look like a giant beside her in the photograph.  But of course I will buy one.  I start to reach for money mumbling some Mandarin phrase for  “how much.”  She shakes her head ….NO, No, bu yao.  Finally it dawns on me.  The little lady wants a picture of herself with the laowai!!, the white person.  I imagine she is in Shanghai for a holiday, probably wearing her best outfit and that she will display this photo along with the other sites of Shanghai to her friends back home.     I don’t know whether to be flattered to to feel like a sideshow freak.  Either way, it's OK .  She walks away quite pleased with herself and I have a memorable experience.

I took a picture of the picture :)

She was a sweet person.  Very happy and friendly; okay a little pushy too :)

                                                                                                                                                             Chinese infatuation with snapping pictures does not begin and end on the Bund.  Oh no.  The Shanghai history museum in the ground level of the Oriental Pearl building, houses some surprisingly well crafted exhibits of early life in the city.  Here I witness toddlers, teens, children, grown men and women climbing over exhibit barriers, to pose for photos,  Its pretty funny.  It also exemplifies a surprising characteristic of Chinese people that I observed more than once-
they don’t follow rules and they cut in line.

This is one of the exhibits depicting Old Shanghai.
A Chinese Teen would sit on the handlebars for a photo!

A bit less intrusive, but they just have to get in the picture!!
 This was at the Shanghai Aquarium, which was quite nice btw!))

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It’s our first morning in Beijing.  After a reasonable night’s sleep at our reasonably priced (read “very cheap, I’m on a pauper’s budget) Chinese hotel, we are now standing in the middle of Tiananmen Square.  Anyone who has not been in a cave or sleeping under a log for the last couple of decades of course knows the significance of that “People’s Square”, so I don’t need to go into that.  Prior to that most dramatic event on June 5 1989, most Westerners had likely never heard of the place ( no surprise, Americans can’t name seven continents, sigh).  Today it is among the top 10 things that you must see in Beijing and on this day it is swarming with activity.

Tiananmen Square (The People's Square")  Note the picture of "The Chairman" Mao on the far wall.

We stand out in this teeming throng.   I had anticipated that in a city of this size, there would be lots of Caucasians.  Not so.  in fact, myself with sort of ash blond hair and my fairly tall, chrome-domed brother are starting to feel like celebrities!  (picture Bruce Willis and Betty White)    People ask to have their photograph taken with us!   I kid you not. This is a first for me.  It feels odd and amusing.  And, like the incident in Shanghai, a good reminder that here in China we are the aliens.

No one would take a second glance at this
Bruce Willlis look-alike!

We don't look like tourists do we?

Glen later points out to me that , I have been oblivous to the fact that ever since we set foot on the ground in this country we have been stared at!  "It's your hair"  he says.  "No I think it's yours"  I reply.  :)

 Chinese Booze - as promised, but first a few random comments:

Please note: The topics in this blog are in no particular order . They do not consist of a sequential journal of my sojourn in China.

ALSO: The first entries of this blog are pretty basic: transportation, food, booze; fear not! I’ll eventually tackle politics, the economy and the environment! Woohoo!

Addendum to the last post: Did I really write that entry about food in China without mentioning scorpions on a stick? On our first day out, walking between Bandung Hutong and the Forbidden City, I saw them. For some silly reason I didnt take a picture. We were on a tear to get our itinerary under way and I thought I’d probably see these things all over the place. In fact, this was the one and only time that I saw them, but it left an impression ( as Mr Don said Chinese people eat everthing!”) If you google scorpions on a stick”, you will see lots of photos, such as this:

Crunchy scorpions on sticks:  high protein, low cal, crunchy snack!

Finally - let's consider ethyl alcohol, Chinese style:
Three penis liquor. comes to mind.
I assume that I have your attention now. Of the varieties of alcohol that we sampled in China (part of the cultural experience, don’t you know!?) Three Penis is the one I’ll always remember ...and I never actually took a sip! Go figure.
In addition to ingesting a broad and esoteric range of food substances, as previously noted, the Chinese, not surprisingly, have created some delightful alcohol products. I discovered this early n my trip. In fact, on the flight to Beijing, the two Chinese gentlemen with whom I practiced my wobbly Mandarin skills (see entry # 1)  started right in withTsingdao beer, so I figured I should do likewise ( "when in Rome, or on the way to China....”)
Tsingdao is not a remarkable beer. I must digress briefly to a trip to Germany during which Mitch and I spontaneously documented each daily beer tasting event.

I can't find the amusing video that Mitch made of the beer tasting  :(  if/when I do locate it I will  post it here.  Just fyi, it consists of grinning photos of us holding various frothy glasses of German beer, accompanied by some German marcing music!  BTW, our favorite was Arlberger - a great whie beer!

Germans make good beer. (Perhaps you have heard of Octoberfest?) They make ...interesting beer. Even the one weissbier that we had at the German castle that I might have described as not great, possibly even bad, was, at least interesting in that it was a unique sensory experience. I relate this to state what is perhaps obvious: it’s hard to live up to German beer. Nevertheless, I drank several Tsingdaos and found them acceptable, even refreshing. It’s a light tasting inoffensive brew. Plus it’s made in Qingdao (pronounced the same way as the beer; is this maybe the Pinyin spelling? That’s a topic for another entry) And it comes in a spectacularly large bottle. To add to the excitement, each time I ordered one, I used this cool little ring bottle opener. 

Just as the seller was about to open the bottle, I politely waved their opener away and opened the bottle with my bare hand! At least that’s the way it appeared! ( Wow! It’s as exciting as having a secret decoder ring!) I am so easily amused! And, so evidently, are the Chinese. This silly little trick never failed to result in a broad Chinese smile. It would have been really sweet if they had been amused enough to give me a freeTsingdao!   But wait a minute. What am I complaining about, beer is very cheap in China, maybe 6RMB, or the equivalent of $1 USD for that large bottle!  Needless to say, since I still becoming accustomed to my newly acquired  pauper status, this inexpensive beverage became a staple.

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But what of hard liquor and the fruit of the vine? Every country seems to have its hooch or moonshine. In Brazil, it was Cachaca; in Peru, Pisco; in France, Calvados; in Tanzania - Konyagi. ETC.   (I’m really not a complete lush; I just like to try out the stuff that the locals imbibe; it’s fun and I do it mostly in moderation, for educational purposes of course!)

So what was China’s version? At Frands’ birtday (see entry # 2   ) Glen was chatting it up with the kid from Tenessee who filled him in: “Three Penis liquor.” Yep, it’s brewed with, just as the name suggests, 3 penises. Penises of what species, you might want to know. The bottle that Glen bought specified on the label: Cantonese dog, seal and deer, if I remember correctly. You probably don’t need to strain your imagination to discern the special properties that this particular hooch might confer upon those consuming it!    And one more point worth mentioning: it makes a great stocking stuffer!

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It was our last night in Shanghai. I had not had a glass of Chardonnay, my preferred poison, since leaving the states.  Wine was not readily available by the glass and buying a whole bottle to drink by myself could only lead to disaster so I made do with the aforementioned beer. 
 Glen and I stopped by the hotel bar where I tasted the best Chardonnay ever ..and I have tried a lot of Chardonnays. Dynasty Winery makes it. (good name for a Chinese winery don’t you think!?
Here's a link to their web site:
http://www.dynasty-wines.com/en/default.htm
I tried desperately to find a bottle to bring home; even emailed the company after getting home to see if I might find an American distributor. Alas, no reply. Maybe I need to send my message in Mandarin.
I won’t even try to describe the bouquet, color, legs, but my mouth is watering just thinking about that wine!   I wonder...was the Chard really that good? Or was it just the particular biochemisty of the moment? (have you noticed that wine/beer etc taste really really good sometimes. And the very same beverage quaffed on another occasion just doesn’ t cut it? I attribute this to one’s particular fluctuating chemical status as wine molecules contact olfactory and gustatory apparatus. Maybe. Or maybe it’s just a bad bottle?) Whatever.
I must procure a bottle of this stuff....to determine...was it really that good???? I’ll let you know when I find out.