Scammed in Shanghai

Marcia our lovely tour guide on the Kareoke on the last night of the tour
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Shanghai as a city is very different from Beijing and Xi'an, a bit short on cultural sites - but this is made up for by neon lights and shopping.  Shanghai is a new city by Chinese standards, being built mostly through trade with Western countries from 160 years ago.  But strangely enough, in Shanghai you can more easily see the contrast between 'old China' and 'new China' as old neighbourhoods surround the high rise buildings everywhere - even if old is only measured in parts of centuries, as apposed to parts of millennia.  In Beijing old China is being bulldozed to make way for huge roads, or hidden behind fences, and in Xi'an tourists don't go beyond the commercial area of the walled city.

Old and new Shanghai
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Our hotel is in the middle of town, near Nanjing road which is a long pedestrian mall, fantastic for strolling through at night as it is lit up by crazy neon signs and beautiful buildings.   On our first day Marcia took us on a walking tour through Shanghai.  First stop was the Bund where the western countries set up shop in the 20's and 30's and their buildings still remain.  It is beside the river, and gives you a great view of the "Shanghai of the future" - crazy tall buildings and towers on the other side of the river.  Close to the Bund are markets selling 'antiques', culture items, food and much more, making it an interesting place to wander through.  Marcia also took us through a 'local' area, to show us where the poorer Chinese people live, which was interesting though I felt a bit uncomfortable about people taking photos of these peoples everyday lives.

like a Chinese Venice, or so people who have been to Venice were saying!

The Venice of China?
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The next day we had a day trip to Zhouzhuang - the 'number 1 water town of China'.  It was very pretty - like a Chinese Venice, or so people who have been to Venice were saying!  It is a network of houses, pathways, bridges and temples set in canals off the Yangzte river.  We could wander through old houses of rich people to see how they lived back then - very well by all accounts.  The only draw back was knowing that the people who used to live here were forced out in the 1980's to make way for the tourists, they now live in apartment blocks just outside the boundary of the town, and make their money by selling tourist kitsch to visitors.

Futuristic Shanghai
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That night we all went out to experience some of Shanghais night life - quite an experience it was.  After dinner we got a taxi to the French Concession, where we had been told that the best night life was.  Our first pick of a bar was a tacky American indian themed nightmare - full of older Chinese men listening to a live act consisting of some guys singing ballads to a key board accompanist.  We got out as soon as we could finish our beers.  Across the road was a completely different type of bar - live music again, but this time consisting of beautiful scantily clad girls belting out songs by Guns n Roses, Evanessence, Black Eyed Peas and more, accompanied by their band.  They were actually very good.  If you ignored the dancing girls wearing even less writhing above them, and the young Asian girls sidling up to the Western guys in the bar.  But we had a great time making fools of ourselves dancing around while the more reserved Chinese in the audience looked on.

Another Starbucks moment - a queue of about 50 people trying to get into one. i didnt join.
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The rest of my time here so far has been spent looking through markets, trying to avoid getting scammed.  You cant walk anywhere without being offered beautiful bags and watches for the beautiful lady, a much preferable selling technique to the ladies in the department stalls who scream at you "spot spot!" pointing at your tiny tiny pimple and brandishing their miracle spot busting creme.  Or getting stopped by "English students" wanting to practice their English, and seeing as we are all great friends now how about joining them for a tea ceremony or an art exhibition.  Some of them are very ingenious, but they are very handy if you are a bit unsure of where you are!  I have to admit that i got scammed buying a cheap memory card for my camera - knew that $20 for a 1GB memory card was too good to be true, but someone on my tour got one that was good.  So off I went to buy one as well, making sure that my camera says that there were over 550 photos on it, and that it saved the photos properly.  Only problem is half an hour later the photos have deteriated, and some don't work out at all.  Another lesson learned...