RadioRorySome final thoughts on Shanghai….
Close your eyes and think of a famous world city.
Did it have a soundtrack? That quintessential piece of music that is associated a city? Try to picture Paris and not hear that accordion playing or “O Sole Mio” in Venice, London’s “Rule Britannia.”
In real life, cities don’t have soundtracks. At least not the one on TV and in the movies.
While riding subways and seeing theme parks in Shanghai is great, it didn’t feel like the China I’d imagined.
Then you go to a place like Yuyuan Garden (Yu Garden as it’s known). It’s about five-acres of a Shanghai commercial district with a 400-year-old history.
It’s the architecture, willow trees, and ancient symbols you always associate with China. The crowd is a mix of tourists and local kids who apparently get dragged there by their parents. It’s busy, making it tough to feel relaxed, but the grounds give you the China experience you spent 15-hours on a plane to get.
That same experience can be found at Jing’an Temple. The original temple dates back nearly 800-years, but it was lost in a fire in the 1970s and has since been rebuilt. During the Cultural Revolution, the site was used as a plastics factory. Today, a large white jade Buddha more than 10-feet tall is a popular draw.
There are three large halls and a residential building for Buddhist monks is attached. It’s very welcoming, even letting Catholic-school educated guys like me light incense.
On the other end of the spectrum is a place like Shanghai’s Bird &Cricket Market.
No, no. No, no, no. No.
An English-speaking guide took me and some friends through this place which may represent the worst China has to offer (legally). First, it was almost 100-degrees so my patience was limited. Add in the noise of thousands of screaming crickets and it became unbearable. Now add smoking shopkeepers, caged ferrets (most were alive), caged birds (more likely to be alive), and bad souvenir shops and I start to envy the decaying ferret.
The main attraction to this actual flea market is the cricket fighting. Two crickets are put into what looks like an ashtray and physically prodded to fight one another. The fast-moving action lasts slightly longer than a UFC title match and one lucky bug is recognized as the winner. Now comes the process of selling you the winning cricket plus a cage, etc.
I’ve squished many a bug in my day, but what kind of existence is it when you make a living by keeping and fighting crickets for the benefit of tourists. I could not get out of this place fast enough.
To end things on a positive note…
The world-famous Manchester United soccer (football) team was staying in my same hotel for an exhibition game in Shanghai against Dortmund (Germany). Folks we met are with the team’s big sponsor and hooked us up with tickets and a pregame party with food and drink. I was more interested in checking out Shanghai Stadium than the exhibition game (judging by the quality of play, so were the players). Heck, I had to Google Dortmund to find out what it was. Glad I went, glad we left early, even happier to discover the adjoining Shanghai Brewery.
