FROM CHARMINAR TO CHINA
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dishes had eggs included in them. There were no such vegetarian dishes that could be ordered in China – only eggatarian. So we could only order some fresh fruits. We gulped down the fruits in a hurry eager to get out of the place as soon as possible. Mr. Hao my father’s business friend who accompanied us had informed us that almost all the restaurants would be the same. Luckily dad had brought along the ready to eat packets. We asked for some hot water. We dipped the packets in hot water and had pongal for lunch.
Mr.Hao then took us around the city’s Museums, galleries, restaurants, etc. that had emerged in the past few years. Shanghai seemed to me a place with a fabulous and optimistic style and attitude.
Our tour began with the Jade Buddha Temple which was built during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1875-1909) with its priceless collection of jade statues from Burma. The construction of the temple is in the magnificent architectural style of the Song Dynasty. There are monks currently living in the Temple and the Temple houses the Shanghai Buddhist Institute. Then we stopped at the Fresh Water Pearl Gallery. We could see the process of pearl cultivation.
People Square is a spectacular space in the heart of the city. It is a vast green area including plants and trees, and surrounded by great buildings on all sides, where you may feed the lovely doves to pray for the world peace.
The visit to Shanghai Museum was a real highlight. The museum design is in keeping with Feng Shui principles. It housed a great permanent collection and hosted various exhibitions with over 120,000 pieces including bronze ware, ceramics, paintings, calligraphy, sculpture, ancient Chinese coins, jade carving, ancient furniture, and western art, which showed five thousand years of the history of China.
Mr.Hao taught me some Chinese expressions like Nǐ hǎo which means “Hello”, Zǎoshàng hǎo literally means Good Morning, Xìa wǔ hǎo! Which means Good Afternoon, Wǎnshàng hǎo which literally means Peace at night, Zàijiàn which literally means See you again.
The city is vast, but easily accessible thanks to the Metro rail system. Tickets were sold through vending machines, which have the English language option as well. In case of any difficulty, one could always ask someone in the queue to help them. The taxi was also an easy mode of travel and several cab companies have a free toll free number for language support. Many youngsters could also help as English is now taught in schools and colleges.
The most romantic place in Shanghai is the Bund. Best part is both sides of the Bund have their own visual and scenic appeal with the riverside promenade or pubs lining it on one side, and other side has massive colonial historic buildings with amazing fine dining options. The evening sun sets and the neon lights make the city look both dazzling and ethereal. There are several river cruise options to explore as well. There was also an underground tunnel which took us from one end to another of the Bund.
As part of our trip we had to travel to the interior of China. As we had been travelling by car passing through many villages or towns of China we noticed the amount of oranges, rice and sugar-cane being cultivated on the mountains. The people also looked primitive. The scene here was not much different than our own villages in India. The houses, culture, farming, etc made me feel as if I was visiting an Indian village.
On one of our trips to a place called ‘Chengdu’ – I could attend a local traditional trade fair – wherein I could pick up a lot of art and culture pieces made by hand. In particular I picked up a wall hanging of “Hua Mulan”. Legend portrayed Hua as a loyal, healthy and bravery image. The South – North dynasty Royal court needed to conscript because of border confrontation. Hua Hu (Hua Mulan’s father) was too old and sick to join the army. And Hua Mulan’s younger brother was too young to fight against the enemies. Only his daughter Mulan could go to the war instead of him dressed as a man. Mulan spent her twelve years to win the battle and went back home eventually.
The best places I enjoyed visiting were the Shanghai tower area; the Nanjing street. We did a great bit of shopping at the ‘Chepo’ market in Shanghai and collected a lot of clothes and items of Chinese style. In all this Mr.Hao helped us in the bargaining. The major hurdle was communication as they all spoke Chinese and very few urbanites know English albeit not with great fluency. We asked Mr.Hao if we could get some Feng – shui items like the laughing Buddha, golden frog with a coin in its mouth etc but he was not aware of Feng – shui. He said that he had not even heard of Feng – shui and asked my father what it meant. I was hungry by this time and Mr.Hao took us to some Indian restaurants in Shanghai and Chengdu that served Indian food.
Shanghai city looked like any western city. People were on their toes always and courteous. Life looked mechanical in every way. The most thrilling experience was travelling from Shanghai airport to our hotel at ‘Pudong’ by a ‘maglev’ – Magnetic levitation train, the world’s fastest futuristic passenger line train which travels at a speed of more than three hundred kilometers per hour. It just took seven minutes to reach our destination. Mr. Hao jokingly told us that the Chinese would eat anything that crawled on the earth except human-beings and anything that flew except aero planes. I laughed at that. Shanghai is synonymous with shopping and has the world’s largest pedestrian malls on East Nanjing street, stretching to West Nanjing street, which is the most popular commercial street. Xujiahui and Huaihui cater to the elite with all the major brands selling exquisite stuff. Shanghai is also known for the world’s largest fake market - selling all brand look-alikes, which makes it lots of fun. Shopping for bags, apparel, footwear of Guess, Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Hugo, Boss, Ralph Lauren, Chloe is a must do. You can also get fake Mont Blanc pens and Ugg boots.
Real designers would be in for a major shock if they visited markets below the Science and Technology Museum. Hongqiao pearl market and shopping centre sells stuff from Hong Kong. There have been many raids but the business continues due to heavy demand from tourists the world over. The shopping experience is like a big drama with lots of haggling and arguments and the final act of becoming friends again with the shopkeepers.
People not used to bargaining will certainly feel awkward. Luckily for us Mr. Hao did the bargaining wherever necessary. I also heard the word original fake there which was pretty amusing. Qipolu is another place for getting interesting things at throw-away prices. For some real ancient China experience, you have amazing places like Tian zi Fang on Taikang Road. Tian zi Fang is a maze of small streets with ‘Shikumen’ style of houses- a hub for artists and their studios. It also had several restaurants with world cuisine and a place to buy souvenirs, ornaments and handicrafts.
Then we took the ‘Dragon Air’ flight to Beijing. Here it was Thomas and Michelle who picked us up at the airport. The climate in Beijing was very hot at that time. The city had a lot of similarities with New Delhi. Beijing looked more traditional and primitive than Shanghai city. Here in Beijing we were put up at the ‘Grand Hyatt Beijing hotel’ which was situated right in the heart of the city, located in the ‘Dong Cheng’ district. It was a few minutes drive away from ‘The Forbidden city’ and ‘Tiananmen square’.
Thomas and Michelle left us to rest for a while and said they would be back at lunch time to take us out. Having refreshed and changed ourselves into lighter clothing we could do with a light breakfast. There was a coffee kettle in the room. Dad used this to heat the water required to get the ready to eat packets ready for breakfast. We had Hyderabadi biryani and Paneer butter masala and then we had a light nap. Then we got ready and were waiting for Thomas and Michelle to arrive. They arrived dot at the promised hour and took us around the city. They took us first to a hotel which had a big fish pond. One could select the desired fish which would be cooked and served instantly. However being strict vegetarians we could hardly get anything to eat except for some boiled vegetables seasoned with pepper and salt.
Thomas and Michelle asked me if there was anything in particular that I wanted to buy here in China. I remembered that mother had wanted us to get pearls which we had been unable to
get till now. I had not come across them as yet though I had been to the Hongqiao pearl market in Shanghai the crowd there just made it impossible for me to do any shopping. Michelle informed me that as we were from Hyderabad there was not really the need to buy pearls from China. There were better pearls available in Hyderabad. In fact they referred to Hyderabad as the pearl city of India. Michelle also informed me that she bought pearls whenever she had been to Hyderabad.
But patriotism aside, I wanted Chinese pearls and told her that I would want to buy pearls here as a souvenir of my visit to China. So they took us to the Pearl Market which was a four storey building with small stalls on the first few floors and full sized western style stores on the top floor. Lower quality pearls and jewellery were sold in the small stalls on the third floor and exclusive pearl stores were on the fourth floor. I selected a string of black pearls for mother and a string of pink pearls each for myself.
With the shopping in Pearl market done, we went round the city for a while. We noticed that the whole city was well planned and the roads connectivity was based on the Ring roads. The fifth