This past June, I graduated from Webb Institute in New York with a degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. Before working for Applied Physical Sciences, an R&D engineering firm, I am road tripping down the west coast in an RV. Enjoy the blog and please post comments if you have anything to add. Thanks for visiting. - Simmy Willemann
About a month ago, Ms. Jocelyn Gibbons, the marketing director of Just Eyewear, contacted me requesting data on the cost of prescription eyeglasses in Shanghai. The most relevant statistic I witnessed was this bucket of non-prescription glasses. The going price was 2 RMB (0.30 USD) each in the old markets. I also asked around for prescription prices and determined that the most economic option would be to purchase rims in the States and lenses in Shanghai. Prescription eyeglass prices in Shanghai start at around 80 RMB (11.72 USD). Some market stalls even do eye exams themselves and can have the glasses ready within 30 minutes.
In the first video, note the proximity of the fireworks to us, to the apartment complex, and to the car with the alarm. In the second video, note what’s happening next door. Such chaos and danger is very common during this week, the Spring Festival. The slow trail of cars below us is the response. Yesterday, I was walking on the sidewalk outside my apartment when I saw a few guys sprinting away from me and realized they had just lit fireworks near my feet. I sprinted too, passing the cops smoking nearby waiting for the show to begin. The fireworks will continue for the whole week.
This post is for Chris Hooper in Seattle. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Sheep Head Bouquets
Valentine’s Day in Shanghai is a copy of the American holiday with a few added quirks. While flowers and chocolate dominate the event, bouquets of little animal heads are also popular. This design is based on a famous Chinese wolf-sheep cartoon.
Nanjing Dong Lu
I started couple-hunting on East Nanjing Lu to see what Valentine’s Day is like in the modern commercial part of Puxi.
Flower Vendor
I was quickly approached by one of the many flower vendors on the street. Roses went for about 75 cents each in the afternoon.
Nanjing Shop Saleswomen
At this shop counter, the saleswomen’s perpetual smiles were only matched by their continuous broadcasting into the headset while holding up red treats of some kind.
Shanghai Haagen-Dazs
This wildly popular and expensive American chain in Shanghai took the opportunity to market for Valentine’s Day.
Haagen-Dazs
The soft text in the Haagen-Dazs window reads, “Cafe — Patisserie.” Haagen-Dazs is an elegant sit-down affair. Prices are much higher here than in the States, since ice cream is an imported concept from “American culture.”
Baked Goods Couple
A couple buys baked goods together. I tried a tasty pastry from this stand that consisted of a dusty mix of sugar and finely-ground peanuts slipped into a handful of pliable dough.
Chinese Cupids
Once I left East Nanjing Road, there were flower delivery bikes on every street.
Shanghai Flower Shop
The distribution centers, local flower shops, were beautifully messy. Notice the sparkly blue roses. They’re popular but fake, like many fashionable items in this city.
Shanghai Teddy Bears
Other presents included giant teddy bears. I heard that if a girl likes karaoke, her boyfriend should get her one of these stuffed animals. I don’t understand the correlation yet.
Matching Couple Sweatshirts
A store in the Hongkou District sells matching sweatshirts for couples. Tomato and egg, for example, is a very popular lunch dish here. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any couples emerge from the fitting rooms.
Shanghai DQ Couple
Here’s a happy couple standing in line at a Shanghai Dairy Queen who gladly let me take their picture. Note the Year-of-the-Tiger bouquet.
Couple at the Shanghai Arcade
I visited the arcades, where girlfriends impatiently waiting for their boyfriends to finish shooting was the trend. An arcade employee stopped me as I was about to take a picture of a couple at a roulette table. Gambling machines are verboten here. A man with a headset guards the street elevator, the only accessible entrance to the smoky arcade.
Shanghai Couple Makes a Scene
This couple seemed to enjoy making a scene. The boyfriend kept trying to buy a rose while his girlfriend pulled him away, scolding him for wanting to waste money.
Shanghai Couple Makes a Scene
They didn’t seem to mind that I was taking pictures, but when I started laughing, the woman yelled, “See? Even she’s laughing at me!” and tugged a little harder at his arm.
Shanghai Couple Makes a Scene
When I left, they were still at it. Above, the flower dealer waits patiently at his cart.
I am writing from an apartment overlooking the Huangpu River. My ballet dancer friend, Xu Yuchen, and his family just lit a box of fireworks outside the apartment for the Chinese New Year. It is now 12:40 AM and the fireworks are still going off on all sides of the apartment building. It’s exhiliratingly stimulating to jump in a different direction each time a neighbor blasts a firework 20 feet away from you. Here, though fireworks are forbidden, anyone can get away with lighting fireworks anywhere on the holiday.
We are now in the 25th-floor apartment waiting for the fireworks to die down so that we can safely go to the temple at 2 AM to ask for blessings for the new year. From our wonderful view of the city and tonight’s fireworks, we can also see fire trucks on almost every major street. Unfortunately and horrifyingly, a nearby apartment on the 24th floor just caught fire. We can still see the flames from the balcony and I hope that no one was inside. The firemen responded quickly when the Dad called 119, but their fire-fighting methods appear a little ineffective to say the least. I will post footage of the fireworks and fire later.
The fireworks persist and sometimes the sparks hit the windows of the apartment. In the meantime, the family drinks tea and watches Chinese style ballet on the TV.
Hefang Jie feels like an extraordinarily realistic live museum. While strolling down the old street, you can see artisans showing off their skills to the curious tourists. A glass blower works at a table covered with his creations in the middle of the street. Below, you can enjoy my first attempt at editing a movie for the blog.
Hefang Jie, a famous pedestrian street off the southeast shore of Xi Hu, is the heart of old Hangzhou. Also known as the South Song Dynasty Imperial Street, it is lined with a variety of artistic souvenirs and snacks from all over China. ‘Though the street was recently heavily renovated, it is still home to century-old shops and maintains a Song Dynasty theme.
I was heading over to Malone’s, a sports bar in Pudong, to see my boss, Rob Tagg, play in a pool tournament. Above, he shoots pool in last week’s tournament at The Max, his bar. He’s the Assistant Captain of their team. Since an English-speaking taxi driver is a rare phenomenon, Rob printed Malone’s address in Chinese for me. After work, I took the metro to The Shanghai Science and Technology Museum and tried to find my way from there. I wanted to make sure I was starting off correctly, so I showed the address slip to a woman exiting the metro, asked “where” in Mandarin, and we proceeded to have a long conversation that I hardly understood a word of. She made motions for me to walk with her and seemed to be heading in what I had suspected was the right direction, so I followed and tried to make sense of the non-stop talking that I could only imagine meant, “I’m walking that way. I’ll show you where to go.” We exhausted the few Chinese words I know within the first minute. She kept repeating the word “bike” and pointing ahead of us. I guessed that she meant Malone’s was near a bike shop, but little did I know of the plans she was making. Then, after wriggling her right hand to indicate where I should walk, she briskly walked off the sidewalk to an apartment building without a goodbye. I felt a little lost at that point, not recognizing the area and seeing only desolate streets. After another two minutes of walking in relative uncertainty, I heard yells and the same woman was riding toward me in the bike lane. She dismounted with a big smile and patted her hand on the seat. Now I realized why I didn’t recognize where we were. She had brought me to her home, which was sort of on the way, to bike to Malone’s together. Not knowing when I’d get another opportunity to bike the streets of Shanghai, I got on the bike and we set off. It was small and rickety. With the woman seated on the back, I could only get moving safely if I kick-started with my foot for at least two meters. She was a good sport to be laughing and singing while we wobbled to cross the street, taxis speeding around right corners and passerby staring. I felt like a rickshaw driver and loved it. Not understanding her directions was problematic, as I had to turn around to see her hand motions while trying not to hit the carts and mopeds in the bike lane. After only about 10 minutes, we reached Thumb Plaza and she repeated a word that I couldn’t understand. She then made a rectangular symbol with her fingers and I thought she was demanding money until she said “paper,” surprising me with her English. I showed her the address slip again and she was happier than I was that we got to our destination. I wanted to tell her how much I enjoyed biking with her, but all I could manage to say was “I like” in Mandarin and point to the bike. We then went our separate ways.
Shanghai Condom Machine
Unfortunately, The Max had a team of 7 that was lined up against the home team of 15 and lost with many close matches. During the game, over the voluptuous sounds of Lady Gaga, I chatted with an Israeli from the other team who claimed he was a condom machine salesman. I told him about one of my favorite films, The Closet, a French comedy about a man who pretends to be homosexual to get his job back at a condom factory, and he seemed interested. I still didn’t believe him, so I questioned him and realized that he works for the AIDS department in Shanghai with a Chinese partner and four other Chinese guys. Supposedly, he is the sole condom machine salesman in Shanghai on a government contract needed for his line of business. He doesn’t exactly sell the machines but sets them up in locations like bars and takes in the majority of the profit. The bar gets a small piece of it too. The condom factory is in Fuzhou outside of Shanghai and his distribution project just started. When I asked if he liked Shanghai, he replied that he liked the culture and people, but that if they were smart, he wouldn’t be there. With the Shanghai Expo coming up, the city especially wants to emphasize contraception. Later, he pointed to a pregnant woman and commented in a thick Israeli accent, “see, she didn’t use a condom,” shaking his head and looking puffed up about his mission in Shanghai. Legally, condoms are supposed to be available in every public place, but that law has been ignored with the exception of a few outdoor units. There’s a rusty one outside of my building, pictured above.
I took this picture close to where I work at the World Plaza in Pudong. Look closely to discern the strip of patterned sidewalk that bypasses the manhole on the left. At first, I thought that this line of bumpy tile found throughout the city was just decoration to give the city’s streets a common look. It’s less pleasant to walk over than the flat area, so I also guessed that it could be meant to ward off the cyclists and motorcyclists who occasionally use the sidewalks even though they have their own lane.
Blind Strip
When I saw the same strip in the metro, I knew it had to have a function. A continuous blind sidewalk is common in Chinese cities, but I have never seen a blind person use the one in Shanghai. On a separate note, look at the television screen in the subway. Though the transit and wait times are relatively short compared to NYC – I’ve never waited for more than 7 minutes – screens are also located in each metro car. These days, they’ve been showing almost nonstop footage of the Haiti quake, breaking only for Chinese commercials. Lastly, note the platform-to-ceiling glass that contain people on the platform when it’s crowded and probably keep government HVAC expenditures down. Previously, subways rides and taxi fares were more expensive. Now, the government subsidizes public transportation. As locals say, “our government is very rich.” Shanghai takes good care of the people within its jurisdiction.
It is clear that the primary focus of the government is keeping its citizens happy. Shanghainese show little interest in talking about politics, which is boring to them as it only involves one party. The internet restrictions are troublesome, but not a primary concern to many. Overall, I would consider Shanghai to be the happiest city I’ve visited.
I was amused by these two street workers painting a thick line across the street in busy traffic. As cars were waiting at a red light, they knocked on their doors, making a shooing motion, as if the stuck cars could move sideways. Considering the amount of construction in the city – no where else I’ve been comes close – it is surprising that I’ve never seen a road closed down. The cars moved after I took the picture, leaving one worker happily painting his line and the other sulking with his hands in his pockets, waiting for the the next car to pick a fight with.
Construction
The existence of barriers between the public and construction projects is rare. I walk by this site every day in my 15-minute walking commute. One day, there will be a bulldozer. The next day, it will be replaced by a cement mixer, etc.
Jackhammer
Construction always surrounds you in this booming city. Under the Levi’s sign, a guy is breaking up the sidewalk with a jackhammer. Also, note the wide load motorcycle dodging the unsuspecting couple.
