Mobile Phone: My key items for contact during my day are internet and phone access. Last night I have tried to register my phone on the network but it wouldn't do it. I have a 3 Ireland (http://www.three.ie/) subscription and the phone is quite modern with a Samsung S3. I run the normal process of searching for networks and yes it does see three different networks and I attempt to register on each one of them but without success. Sugar! :( The same as last night. Am I without a phone here in China? Wi-Fi access works fine on the phone. I will have to deal with this one today or over the weekend.
Ironing Board: These guys are super efficient. The ironing board is a half sized ironing board without legs and a hook so you can hang it on a wall. The job is to put it on one of the cupboards and make my shirt straight. China must be the place to come to check for furniture if you have an apartment!
I'll head out of the hotel as in general I mostly like to have a look around. It is easy to head out onto Nanjing Road and look for something. It doesn't take 200 meters and I cross a Starbucks. The idea of a nice espresso and a muffin do appeal. I give in and walk in. Everyone was speaking Chinese so I wondered where the girl behind the counter would understand or would I go through the silly foreigner routine of pointing everything out with my finger... My turn. I'll try English, "Could I have an espresso?" and she replies with a strong American accent, "Single or a double?". I am relieved to be understood and at the same time disappointed not to have to interact with the Chinese language, outside of "Ni hao", I would be lost. Starbucks is maybe more famous one thing more than its coffee, its free Internet. I'll give it a go when I find a seat upstairs. Sure, there is a Starbucks Wi-Fi connection. I connect and now it is looking for a sign-in and the page is in English and Chinese. This is all too easy. As I fill in the form one value is the Chinese mobile number but, hey, I don't have one! Off I trot down to the girls behind the counter asking for some help. One of them leaves the counter somes up and looks at my problem. She doesn't have great English but definitely looking to help. I let her look at my computer and she understands the problem. I ask her could I have the password sent to her mobile and she willing complies. We try the registration and no SMS appears with a password. Let's try again and so we do and Voilà, an SMS appears, pop the verification code in and I have access. I thank her profusely. Thinking about it I probably need a local mobile just for general contact-ability (as you read earlier my phone could not register on the network) and internet access. I am very cautious of the roaming costs of internet abroad. Life is good for now, internet access and I can continue writing my book the Question Framework which I will have out for 2013.
A five minute stroll and I am back in the hotel. 'Mike' the Concierge is more that willing to help me as I enter and he hails a taxi and then explains to the driver where I want to go. This is great. I do notice that the taxi meter starts at 14 yuan! Just under 2 euros. The taxi from the airport really did one over on me. I am happy that now I am finding normal and sit back to watch the sights from the taxi's backseat. I marvel at the amount of designer names, in particular Italian, like Gucci, Versaci, we are in a rich shopper's paradise.
Where I am going seems simple enough 1515 Nanjing West Road. I believe Nanjing Road is about 5 or 6 kilometers long but I know it is on the west side and I have a number. The Taxi pulls me up to the side of the street after about 10 minutes of a drive and I am happy now that I will be in plenty of time for my meeting. I see straight in front of Plaza 66, form of department store. But the building number on the wall is 1266. Ok, I have time, a little searching should be fun! :) I begin a walk more westerly hoping that it could be the right direction to find 1515. As I pass buildings with security cards I try to dialogue with them for 1515 Nanjing Road with words and even taking out my laptop, a still cool looking Apple MacBook. No luck... I continue to walk westerly and finally come to 1500. Yes I must be close. But the very next building is 1600. SXXt! How can I figure out to get there when the numbers don't go in order. I keep going and in the middle of city here opens up this beautiful temple. Covered in traditional roof tiling and layered with Gold. Ji'an Temple is a beautiful sight as you walk along a city street.
Now I come to a major junction going west where there are queues of people waiting to cross. And there is a casual military looking uniform on the Traffic Assistant who keeps people on the path until they are given the Green man to walk. Traffic light countdown timers are in place. So you know when you are going to be crossing next.
On the left of the sign you see 2263 and on the right you see 2311. These are the very logical maximum and minimum numbers of the building that you will find on this block. Wonderful! Now I found the name Nanjing Road West (Nanjing Xi Lu) and the numbers 1515 on the left and on the right something like 1496. Since there are road works I am guessing that since this is the first building on the road, the the building I am looking for could be hidden behind the barriers behind the sign. I walk on the corner of Tongen Road (Road = Lu) and the first building is call the Kerry Center. It sounds like an official Office Building and proceed inwards with hope in my heart since there are fifteen minutes and counting that this is where my meeting is. Brilliant there is a directory of offices in the building several I recognise but not the one I am looking for. Maybe they don't have their name up? Out with the laptop and I try to explain to the security / concierge of the building who I am looking for but he doesn't know them either. I ask him for a phone to call the office because mine doesn't work here and he says I can use his mobile. He dials the number and hey presto I get in contact with the person I am supposed to meet. I need to go back up passed the temple where I already was, cross over the big road with the assistant and he will come and meet me outside the building. Yes, great! I took some coins out of my pocket to pay the man for the phone call but he reclined. He was very polite and seemed very happy to have done me this favour.
But I am still at a loss as to how the street signs work. The numbers do not necessarily correspond to the direction of the building numbers. The maximum and minimum are correct. In this case, the numbers are in the opposite direction to the way the buildings are arranged.
- Do they always put the maximum on the left and minimum on the right?
- Does it depend on the directions of the road, West or East, or North or South?
For the moment I do not have time to figure this out but street signs need study later. Let me get to the meeting. I walk back to the building indicated and wait by the fountain. The person I am to meet walks out of the building 5 minutes later to bring me in! Believe it or not I actually made it in time!
After the meeting, I have time to get back to the hotel so I think if I follow this road, Nanjing Lu, I will arrive back at my hotel. I am not sure of the distance but it would be an interesting couple of hours since i have the time today and I am full of curiosity. The route I found out later is like this, 5 km:
Great, my first wander in the day time in China. For the third time I pass the beautiful Ji'an temple, down pass building number 1500, the Standard Chartered Bank, passed the Kerry Center on my right and onwards along Nanjing Lu by foot instead of by taxi. I feel like a kid and this is part of traveling that excites me, the new, the undiscovered (at least by me) and the expansion. The roads are big, the paths are easy with people since it is working time. The number of foreigners is low. After a short while on my left I notice the Shanghai Central Shopping Center which is surround the Portman Ritz Carlon Hotel (http://bit.ly/14L6JPS and it location is http://goo.gl/maps/peb7c). It appears to be a plenty of shops all surrounding the hotel, like a shopping center but distinct form the hotel. I wonder am I seeing Feng Shui in action here. The pleasant feeling while walking around the center of seeing the sunlight, being outdoors but in an 'outdoor shopping mall'. I wander briefly through the lobby and the bar of the hotel of pure luxury! It is my first time to see a layout like this and I like it!
Back on to Nanjing Lu for the treck eastwards. This must be 5 kilometers of prime real estate because it seems to be high end shops all the way only broken by roads and shopping malls. Chinese New Year is coming up and there are Happy New Year posters and colourful red and gold displays. The year of the snake is coming. I remember looking up which of the 12 Chinese calendar animals I am and with reluctance hearing that I was a rat. Since getting back from my trip, i looked into it with more detail and since I was born early in January it turns out that I was really born in the Chinese year of the Pig, luck me! (Here is a little about the Pig http://www.onlinechineseastrology.com/Chinese-Zodiac/astrology-sign-pig.aspx).
Maybe the pig in me but I am actually a little peckish so I am keeping an eye out for something to eat. Low and behold a small Subway appears soon afterwards. That will be perfect, a quick sandwich will keep going til lunch. I walk in looking at the photos and find a tuna sub that will do perfectly but everything is in Chinese again. Even the foreigner, European looking, in front of me is speaking Chinese. The pointy finger will be coming out :) My turn and I ask in English for the 6-inch tune sub, again she answers in perfect English with an American accent asking my toppings etc. As I am waiting in line, a Chinese man with a briefcase starts talking with me saying that he is an English Teacher and asking would like to have a cup of tea with him. He seems harmless but there is this cautious side of me from the various stories that I have heard just to keep to myself. just outside the subway looks like the grand opening of a shop where speeches are being held. The backdrop is Dunkin' Doughnuts but it feels like this could be a political meeting so I continue on my way not fully understanding and that's ok.
I walk along time just enjoying watching people and next on my path is a Chinese Shopping Mall called 818.
Everything is in Chinese, even the directory on the entrance has very few roman characters. Time for a wander. I begin the ascent up the escalators finding all Chinese shops, a world onto themselves. It is lovely place. It becomes a visual experience. I am just in watching mode and go up and down the mall just taking it in. Everyone is very relaxed, laughing, socialising and living life but just in a different language. The difference is when I travel in Europe recognising characters even if I do not understand the words connects me. Here that connection will require some work. I can feel the desire to learn the language expand.
Back on to the Nanjing Lu walking now having been satisfied with more interaction. The streets continue with more and more shops, it makes Grafton Street feel like one block out of the hundred that might be on Nanjing Lu. This place must be enormous as I begin to comprehend the gargantuan size of Shanghai and China. The walk is pleasant and slowly I am re-approaching recognisable sights of Nanjing Road East.
I have built up a hunger on my track and begin a search with my eyes and my nose for lunch. Shanghai First Foodhall which appears to sell Chinese food, International food and has a number of restaurants. This is perfect, a look at Chinese foods which completely baffle me as there is no English explanation at all but I am curious and I look like a man from another planet. The next floor up is full of International food and then onto the restaurants. A Hong Kong restaurant, a curry restaurant, a thai restaurant, a hot pot restaurant, a Japanese restaurant and several places for Green Tea and Coffee. I know it is silly but after last nights experience, I yearn for the Japanese food that I know so well and in I go. The meals are very well priced at 50 Yuan for a full Sushi platter including a drink, SOLD! The waitresses didn't speak English at all but they were very patient going through the pictures with me until we agreed by head nodding that they knew what I wanted. I am sure all the staff were Chinese but the language flew over my head. "Xie Xie" which means "Thank you" and is my only vocabulary gets over used :)
Shortly back to the hotel and jetlag overtakes me!
The plan is 20.00 (GMT+8) at the Beernest (http://www.beernest.com/) and very importantly I have the address in Chinese 肇周路76号, 76 Zhaozhou Lu for the Taxi. this time I go the Concierge 'Mike' and make sure that he writes the name of my destination on the hotel card.
Taxi to the Beernest seems simple. The drives lasts about 10 minutes again.
When the driver drops me off. Again I find myself not at the right number on the road. I appear to be on the right road, great start! Here we go again I taught but this time I have not left as much time to get to the meeting. I was at building number 200 and something now which way do I go? I know the signs are unreliable so I may ask someone. Luckily the guy I was meeting also told me it was near Dong Tai Lu. Eventually, I asked someone about Dong Tai Lu and got pointed in the opposite direction to the way I was walking for the last ten minutes. At least now I am going the right way. I'll be late but hopefully that wont be an issue. I really feel like I am in back roads, open shops, mopeds in the road, a bit of the poorer area of Shanghai at least that is how it feels dark way of the beaten track of Nanjing Road. I make the perpendicular move finding myself on the same street and getting closer in number to 76. The Beernest is a very small pub, well really it is a long table with three or four fridges at the back with exported beer and some food, cheese and ham from Europe.
Delighted to meet with my new friend and apologise for my delay explaining my taxi and street sign issues :) he wasn't aware of the street sign issue so I start to doubt my issue but I will figure it out. We settle to the important job of choosing a few beers and begin eating monkey nuts in the middle of the table. We catch up ave a good chat then get joined by a Belgian guy and his French wife. We all talk about China, adapting to it, they love it and then begin to philosophise on life! A perfect evening!
As the evening ends we hear that the Beernest is going to close down in the next couple of months so this will only ever happen once. They may get a new location or they may not. The French gentleman and their wife who live more or less across the road show me to a major junction where he hails acab down for me and I show my trusty hotel card to take an easy trip to me temporary 'home'.
A great full first day in China!
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