The Shanghai Saga!

The latest from the one with the pea-brain and the birdsnest for hair

Chloe - Tribe of 1

Chloe - Tribe of 1

Saturday, 15 January 2011

1 January 2011

After arriving in Shanghai, Nik and Anna took us out to eat. There is no tipping in China - at all. Therefore, the service is often awful. No one smiled, but we pointed to colourful pictures and ate a nice meal of spicy aubergines, green beans, scrambled egg and warm cucumbers with rice. They came with bottles of Tsingtao that were nearly a foot tall - and all for 400RMB (called kuai by the kids, kind of like quid!) Which is 4 pounds to you or I! So eating out is VERY cheap almost everywhere but the very swankiest places. If you are very concerned about the provenance of the food or its general treatment, then China probably won't be your kind of place. Absolutely nothing is wasted, nothing looks pretty, everything is chucked in and from what I've seen in one day - animals possibly don't have the best of lives before they meet their maker.

After eating we got a cab to the club where Nik had been booked to DJ - LUNE. Lots of clubs are on the top floor of tall buildings - the same is true of nice bars too. Lune was at the top of a building in the heart of the brightly illuminated French quarter, and was a smallish room, totally lined with cushions, crazy lights and big windows. There was waitress service - and you can still (of course) smoke in China. Nearly everyone does, it seems. Measures are done by eye and are very generous - so after two rums and no sleep I was up on the stage having a good old boogie with one very drunk Chinese friend of Anna's, whose boyfriend had to carry her home not long after midnight.

We saw in the new year whilst Nik played a classic - Anything Goes - sung in Mandarin by the actress in Indiana Jones at the start of the one where it is 1930s Shanghai. That is a very annoying actress - Kate something? But an excellent (if little bit racist) film. Rick and I did a lot of dancing and jumping around - we both made friends! Me, a girl from Beijing who goes out with someone who works in Annas office, and Rick with a bloke who found out he work on Films and now wants Rick to come into the animation class that he teaches in one of the Colleges to do a lecture! He was very profuse. His name is Gordon and he is originally from Stoke. I liked him.

Rick and I are both objects of some curiosity over here. Especially Rick, who is stopped frequently by people remarking on his height. A group of school girls giggled a lot and a whole family took particular delight in marvelling at him. Generally, people just stare. They have been looking lots at me too. Not sure that I can blend in well anywhere really, but loud clothes plus loud mouth and big blonde hair seem to stick out too.

So far we have done a lot of walking - last night and today we took a cab across town, the most expensive journey cost 160 kuai (yup - 1 pound 60p)! So what feels like a luxury at home is one of the very cheapest things to do.

Yesterday, I was standing next to a man on the metro who was eating watermelon seeds and spitting the pips onto the floor. A vivid picture, but no one batted an eyelid.

Today, we slept in. We were so tired, but wanted a leg stretch, so we walked all the way across town and saw some sights. The best sights of all, however, were to be had in the supermarket.

There is literally EVERYTHING here. And everything is cheap, too. Electronic goods of all description, posh face cream brands, makeup, all foods and drink... There is a lot to be had.

There are tanks and tanks of crabs, frogs, toads, squid, eel - ducks by the dozen, plucked and lying there in a heap. People just use nets and help themselves to the things in the tanks, and grab the rest of the bits by hand. Hygiene is not a massive priority here (seriously - you should see the toilet situation) but is also a bit like going into the Gap, in the sense that there are hundreds of employees just standing all the way along the aisle, so if you go to even look at anything or pick anything up you are given the hard sell. Makes me a bit scared, as all I can say is hello and thank you.

The best bit is that the shops constantly play music - very loudly - all the time. Today, it was mad children singing. On the tube I heard military music. That might of been the residual paranoia though.

There is a club in town called Obamao and a place called Mao's Kitchen who's slogan is 'I'm a Mmmmaoist' or 'I love Communism - it's tasty' or something like that. I will be taking as many pics as I can!

Anyway, tonight we got a dvd from street seller for 50p - it is the not yet released Black Swan with Natalie Portman. We watched that snuggled up on the sofa - after eating rice and veg all stirred together.

I hope you all had a brilliant New Years Eve.

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