Sorry, I have been gone.../Shanghai.

Apologies, apologies, apologies, but if you read on through the next few entries, you will understand why I have been out of touch and not just remiss. Over the first two entries I

will continue where I left off in Beijing and then continue my tales of where I am at this

moment.



Lucky me, I was sent on a 'business' trip to Shanghai and had a chance to see this modern

architectural city albeight in the rain! The trip to this large modern city is simple, check in

fast, but the waiting for the flight itself, long. Be sure to choose the correct airline to avoid

delays and be served more than a 'local' snack on your travel.



Upon arrival in Shanghai, depending on whick airport you come in at, the dsitance to the

city is around 45 minutes. The purpose of my short stop over in this particular city, was

to give a full day writing workshop to a major corporation and the hotel booked was the one

that would also be used for this purpose, so was not completely centrally located in the main

city. The long drive in to the accomodation, was peppered with different sites. I must admit

I could not contain my disappointment at my first glance of this 'cosmopolitan' city. The areas

we passed were a mixture of rundown and modern. It was the strangesgt sight and for the

first time, I could appreciate the Government's decision to tear down most of old Beijing and

replace it totally with new, for this mish mush, mixture of the two, was extremely strange

and took away from the beauty of each individually and showed the weaker of the two up in

a very unsightly way!



The hotel. one of the Crowne Plaza chain, was welcoming and business like, the room large,

airy and pleasant. On this trip I was accompanied by a senior colleague and we decided to

go out and explore the city. Like a good adventurist, I had planned carefully the sites that

I wished to see and enlisted the help of the concierge in deciding what would be the nearest,

most practical and enjoyable in the rain. Both due to distance and wish, we decided to visit

the local 'flea market'.



Driving through the rainy busy streets, peering out at the strange combinations of buildings,

with antennas or helmets appearing to be perched on their rooves, was rather exhilirating

but made me feel that I was stuck inbetween a time warp of two ages, both the futuristic and

the long past. We arrived at the entrance to the alleyways that led into the market and begun

to browse with no particular treasure in mind.



With the rain starting to pelt down, probably our best bargain of the day, was arguing for an

old slightly leaky umbrella, for 10 yuan!! Clutching some treasures to mark our trip and

not the customary memrobillia, we made our soggy way back to the hotel. But not so fast!

As we begun our journey back, my companion realised that she had misplaced her glasses

at a stall in the market and after some sign language and persuasion, we returned to search

through the market. Running through the rain, unable to pick my way through the heavy

raindrops, I was unsuccessful in my endeavors, so returned soaked to the skin, to change

and rethink our next plan of action.



We decided to stay local and once we were refreshed, went to the local shopping center.

There is no question, that in every major city of China, there are shopping malls in every

corner of the city, with prices ranging from the moderate to the most expensive! We were

surprised to find, favorably, a different kind of fashion (not clothes) in this city, but on

observing the women's dress, could not fathom why this city was considered the better

dressed and more modern.



An important tip for all you glasses wearers. In China, maybe because so many need to

enlist the help of eye glass wear, the choice and facilities are large. Should you require

special narrow glass, to make your glasses look more normal and not magnified, this

requires some weeks of ordering, but if your number is low, it can be immediate. Seeing

my companions discomfort on losing her glasses, we stopped at a local optician and found

an appropriate 'temporary' solution for just 40 yuan!



Feeling happy, refreshed and optimistic, we spent the next hour and a half happily browsing

through the accessory department of the local store. Hungry and ready to eat, we returned

for dinner and a good nights sleep. The next morning, after eating a european style breakfast,

I gave a successful 'writing' workshop, to a very receptive and co operative audience. It was

then with a happy step that we left this city.

The opportunity for me to see and visit Shanghai, even though for a limited period, made me

realise how happy I was with my decision to live in Beijing and appreciate the efforts that the

government had made in decorating the city to be the most welcoming it could possible be for

the forthcoming olympics, whereas I had found Shanghai to be the complete opposite, but

nevertheless interesting. I have to also comment, that even though my Chinese is limited

to just a few words, I found it almost impossible to converse and give the simplest directions

there, without the use of sign language!