China Pt. 1

We're left Shanghai and are looping out to sea for a few days to dock in Hong Kong. Jasper, Ellen, and I had no real plans for China, and it's a markedly different experience than Japan. In Japan, Ellen planned out lots of travel by train, stays in traditional hotels, and we spent five days straight seeing lots of places. It was exciting, but we're still recovering from the go-go-go ness of it.

Early morning as we reach Shanghai, the MV Explorer flies the Chinese flag.

Ellen had last been to China in 1996, and it was the infamous last leg of the trip where she and I took a trip to Hawaii right before we found out we were moving to Charlottesville. At the end of Hawaii, she flew to Shanghai for a conference. I flew home on crutches with a foot injury from stepping on a sea urchin. That Shanghai trip consisted for Ellen of about 10 minutes on the street and the rest in meetings. At that time, much of the skyline didn't exist, and the huge financial district that now exists was mostly fields with the big Pearl Tower (seen in the pics below with the spheres and lights). Now the city has skyscrapers everywhere, to the point that the few that are under construction are pretty much the last ones to go up–every spot of land is now built up in the central city.

Jasper in front of the Pearl Tower and financial district by day...

Financial district lit up at night.

So, we were all still a bit tired when we reached China, and it was a short two-day sail from Japan that barely got back into a routine with homeschooling classes, my two classes, and Ellen's library duties, then bam into port and off to see a new hyper-metropolis. I'm learning a bit at each port, and Shanghai made me realize that I need a day to get the feel for a place and feel a bit at ease. I've typically not felt lost in a place I've never been: I have a pretty good sense of direction and figure if I've never been somewhere it's not possible to be lost. But in Shanghai there was a feeling that the city was so big and we could only see a small portion of it, so day one was spent seeing a few random places near the ship and getting a feel for trains and subways.

In Shanghai, we traveled to the People's Square which looked to be a few city blocks on our evil deceptive map. After walking an hour and not getting any closer, we opted for the subway and took a few stops to get to the park, perhaps a few miles away. The scale of Shanghai is enormous, so we realized maps without distance scales are evil. Once at the park, it took another 10-minute walk to find the entrance to the Shanghai Museum, which happened to be free on Sundays. Nice museum with traditional artifacts including jade, currency, textiles.

As we got back on the ship, we could tell something was going on because staff were on the phones and Chinese officials were aboard. One of the professors had suffered a heart attack and passed away, so we're reeling from the news. I met him a few times and Ellen is really close to his widow. Most of the students are inland, so the news hasn't reached everyone yet. The news hit us hard because the situation is similar to Ellen's mom passing away when visiting Hawaii, and Sandy doesn't know yet, so we know how tough it is to be in that situation. The shipboard community is really becoming tight-knit, so I think it's going to be hard when the student board in Hong Kong and hear the news.

I've also gotten some good news to balance out the sad. A really close friend is coming back to Charlottesville, and my family has a new addition with my nephew Richard and niece-in-law Jussy's baby boy Cooper arriving a couple weeks ago.

Day two in Shanghai was good. We rested up a bit, had a sense of the layout, and visited some new neighborhoods, found Korean food, and invested in a watch for Jasper so he'd have a sense of the time and worry less about missing the on-ship cutoff time. Bargaining is expected in China, and most vendors don't have prices posted, but we're lousy at bargaining so we overpaid for the watch and Ellen's hat, but even then we didn't blow through a huge chunk of money yet in China. Transportation is easy and very affordable, snacks are cheap, and meal options are unlimited. There's also signs of obscene wealth next to humble, gritty poverty: the vendors pedaling with loaded trikes across the street from the Ferrari dealership, for example.

While we're between ports in China, there are about 150 students and faculty onboard rather than the usual 900+, so there's lots of room and a bit of quiet. It's a good time to reflect, rest up, and regroup.

Hope everyone at home is well, and I miss you. Please feel free to jot down a comment or shoot me an email.

Scott


Older building in the Bund near the Shanghai waterfront. I swear it's leaning a degree or more to the left if you look closely.

These are not quite the vintage Flying Pigeons we've been hunting for (Gordon, we're still hoping to grab one to ship to you), but these Phoenixes are well-used. Bonus points to the elderly Chinese gentleman for photobombing/mooning our shot.

Mannequin shop a few blocks from the main tourist drag. I wasn't sure if I could get one past the ship security.