May 20 - Morning
Explore Shanghai

5/20 - I had an early breakfast at the hotel. The offerings were quite extensive, including both Western and Chinese food. For this first meal, I had some fresh fruit and bread. This was the first of many times when watermellon was part of my meal. For this time of year at least, watermellon was available at every meal. I found the fried breads to be a little rich for my taste but did enjoy Shao Mai (dumpling with sweet brown rice).

As I had no planned activities on this day, I decided to try using the subway to get to Pudong, where the conference would be held. It turn out that my hotel was right across the street from Peoples Square, which featured one of the main subway stations in the city.

The day was warm and a little muggy as I stepped across the street to the square. I decided to take a photo of my hotel.    The square itself was quite extensive including green space, a plaza and statuary.

I found one of the several entrances to the subway and went down to the first level, which consisted of numerous shops and a ticket window. I had picked up a subway map at the hotel that indicated that Pudong was two stops away on the #2 line. I went to the ticket seller who had no English. She offered me a box with two compartments labelled "3" and "4". I learned later that the subway system has two zones, one costing 3Y and one 4Y, and that I needed a 3Y ticket. She finally gave up in frustration and sold me a 3Y. The sign to the train were in both English and Mandarin, so I didn't have any difficulty finding line #2. Morover, the signs on the walls above the tracks were quite clear about which direction to take, and the trains ran frequently. I was able to get one in the right direction and get off when I needed to. Access to the trains are by tickets that you put in a machine. When you get off the train, you put it in again. I was a little confused, because when I left, I needed to put the card in a different slot than the one I used getting on, which would retain the card. The subway system also offers magnetic cards on which you can record enough money for several trips, but I did not explore this possibility.

Anyway, I came up in the Pudong station and lucked into the correct exit facing the Oriental Pearl Tower.      This is an impressive attraction that straddles a sort of amusement park with blaring music and lots of people.   

Once I oriented myself, I could see what I thought was the Convention Center in the background, so I decided to wander in that direction. While doing so, I was accosted for the first of many times with the offer to buy a Rolex. There were also numerous chance to buy postcards.

A five-minutes walk brought me to the Convention Center, and the posted conference signs indicated that this was indeed the correct place, so I felt confident that I would be able to successfully commute on a daily basis, all for 3Y (about $.25) each way.

I had in mind next to explore the Bund, the restored waterfront area on the other side (West side) of the river. Unfortunately, there was no convenient pedestrian bridge. But I had seen on the map that there was a tunnel for tourists, and I set about trying to find it. My map was unclear, and although I saw a street sign for the tunnel, it too was vague. I wandered around for about thirty minutes before I lucked into a meaningful sign. In fact, the access point for the tunnel is on the other side of the park that fronts the Convention Center. The cost is 30Y for a one-way ride. The ride itself took about 5 minutes and featured a light show that probably would have appealed to kids. It left me across the street from the Bund, and I had to figure out that crossing the street meant taking an underground walkway.

The Bund features shops and impromptu kiosks. At one of them I decided to purchase a bottle of water. When I pointed to it and asked the price, I was told 5Y. When I held up a 10Y bill, the price quickly jumped to 10Y. I held out for 5Y and eventually was able to complete the purchase. Once again I was offerred Rolexs and postcards, but mostly I just looked at the views and the people, such as this one across the river to Pudong.  

I first strolled northward along the boardwalk and, eventually at the North End of the Bund, I came to the Bund museum, which featured an interesting tower and a bowl-shaped, depressed sandstone sculpture housing a museum. 


Outside the museum, I was approached by a local named Forrest, and although I feared another hawker, he spoke very good English and said he was a proffessor of caligraphy at a local university. He showed me the museum and only at the end did he ask if I was interested in purchasing any of the student art on display "for the benefit of the museum". When I declined, he quickly desisted.

I then began working my way southward. The Bund was quite broad, and in places multi-leveled, so I avoided seeing the same views. One of the sights was an aerial view of some river turtle.    And another was an impressive statue of Chairman Mao. 

I decided that I would walk Nanjing road back to my hotel. Nanjing road is a major East-West route that from the river to the hotel was pedestrian only. It was filled with shops and people and somewhat reminiscent of the Ramblas in Barcelona. I walked with ocassional water breaks about two miles until I got back to the hotel without incident.