This is completely different to what I imagined. Shanghai seems mostly quiet to me. Cars, scooters and buses are mostly electric; hardly any honking, even the traffic lights don't make a sound. I can even hear birds chirping. - In my imagination, which is based on utter ignorance and mostly ignorance of China, Shanghai was a huge hustle and bustle, traffic jams, a kind of chaotic mess, very loud, lots of people. Shanghai is the largest city in China - and one of the very few Chinese cities that I even know by name. Shanghai is also said to be one of the largest cities in the world, with around 30 million people living here. That means more people live in Shanghai alone than in the whole of Australia. Noise, people, unfamiliar smells were without question part of Shanghai in my imagination. But that is not it, at least not only that.
After a flight of over 12 hours from Auckland, I now have about 36 hours in this metropolis. I want to use the time, especially to see the Jewish Refugee Museum and the former Jewish quarter in Shanghai. That is also the only thing I know about Shanghai. During the Second World War, the city was a safe haven for Jewish people from Europe, especially Germany and Austria. Many lived here until the first post-war years. They were also largely considered displaced persons. More on that in the next post!
A large part of the waterfront promenade in Shanghai is a large, connected garden; trees, flowers and blossoms in full bloom, plus 26 degrees, the sun is shining, it's warm.
I let myself drift a little from my hostel “near” the Oriental Tower, the famous TV tower. Running, running, running.
I look for smog, after all it's China, I think prejudiced. There is some, but not excessive, says my eyes, my sense of smell confirms. I know it much worse from Southeast Europe, for example, I compare and think about which other metropolises I know. I can hardly remember such peace and quiet as on this riverside promenade in any other city of this caliber. In my mind Singapore is above all incredibly clean. I would not have associated peace and quiet with Singapore. LA stuck in my mind as annoying, loud and above all dirty. Moscow, New York,... Hmm. This peace and quiet along the river in Shanghai amazes me and if I could google it, I would now like to read more about the city. But that doesn't work without a VPN client. (VPN: a special service add-on to also use blocked websites like Google, I'll try to describe it).
There is quite a lot of activity on the Huangpu River; one large ship after another, but even that is rather quiet. The river is certainly not clean, but it is not dirtier than the Elbe either, says my unprofessional eye.
I don't speak a word of Chinese, I know nothing about it and I'm already smiling in front of the first metro map: Yes, okay. This will be exciting! At least I can trust my sense of direction. "It'll be fine," I tell myself, knowing that I'm blessed to a large extent with a sense of direction. Google Maps doesn't work in China (without a VPN client). So, like I did 15 or 20 years ago, I printed out my route to the hostel, a photo of the entrance sign, the route to the Jewish Museum, and my booking confirmation in English and Chinese/Mandarin.
It's exciting - but also very funny. I think I understand better what it's like for people to travel in countries that use Cyrillic script, for example. When I was in Russia for the first time at the age of 15, I could at least read a little. It wasn't that foreign to me. I remember that I was the only one in the German group on a student exchange in Perm in the Urals who could read Russian: where things were, where the nearest toilet was, what the street was called, and even asking someone questions, saying please and thank you. She didn't feel, see or even notice the foreignness that the others described at the time.
Here in Shanghai and years later: being absolutely, almost blind and not being able to read or understand, that makes travelling very different. You feel, I almost feel a bit stupid, lost, somehow small(er) and dependent on others, on their language skills and, above all, on their patience and willingness to help.
I'm not nervous or afraid, but I notice that I'm more stressed and tense than usual when I travel. I've at least left some of my independence and the ability to immerse myself in another country behind at the airport.
Hardly anyone pays with cash in Shanghai. Visa cards are only accepted in a few places, and if they are, then in tourist traps. People pay here with WeChat or Alipay, with apps on their cell phones. I downloaded WeChat beforehand because I know someone through email who knows someone who offers city tours of the former Jewish ghetto. But he only has WeChat and WhatsApp, and as I said, some email programs only work to a limited extent anyway.
So here you use wechat. The app can also be used for payment. However, you have to download it first, as Google Playstore doesn't work either (of course). OK, I did that before I left. I feel safe. A few days ago I read that Wechat will magically get the app function for payment in China, but it won't be displayed outside of China. "OK," I think, "everything's fine." My quick internet search confirms this.
Mistake.
Turns out I'm there.
I have to laugh at myself a little. Yeeeeeah, okay. “This is going to be exciting, Sarah,” I think.
Wechat only works for payments with a Chinese SIM card, as someone in the hostel awkwardly translated for me. “Just use Alipay, it's better” is the tip. OK, then I'll just download this other app.
Hmm, doesn't work.
I am confused.
The pages don't load.
It dawns on me that I only have the Google Playstore on my phone for downloading and that doesn't work... I would have had to download that outside of China too. Not easy...
So this is going to be a bigger travel challenge. "Good thing I brought some granola bars with me," I think. What a pity about the Chinese food I wanted to try and the taste list that a cleaner from Shanghai wrote for me at Auckland airport. "Beginner's mistake," I think. I have to laugh a little, then I get annoyed for a moment, then I'll just manage without. It'll be fine. You can pay for metro tickets with Visa and at the real tourist traps too, the hostel is paid for. So these 36 hours should be OK. So I'm sitting in Shanghai, extremely exhausted, with a large coffee from Starbucks and my New Zealand granola bars. Different from what I had imagined, at least.
My very long walk, almost a march, takes me along the river bank. Then through a “tourist tunnel” with kitschy light effects and music to the other side, along the so-called Bund and further and further criss-crossing through the city.
My feet hurt, I'm tired, it's hot. I'm at the Jewish Museum in a few kilometers, I figure. OK, I'll do that today too. (To the museum: next post)
A Chinese museum visitor about my age is obviously excited to meet me in the museum as a "Westerner", and from Germany at that. He wants to improve his English with me. When I later go from one coffee shop to another and ask if I can pay with Visa, I am repeatedly politely told no.
The Weiße Rösl in the former Jewish quarter has recently reopened. During the Second World War, it was a central meeting place for German-speaking Jews and then stateless people in Shanghai.
Photo from the Jewish Refugee Museum.
The café is designed for tourists from "the West", my last chance for a coffee. But there is no luck there either. Visa cards are not accepted. I give up. I go and see my museum acquaintance. He realizes what my problem is, shakes his head, laughs and invites me for a coffee; asks if I can speak a little more English with him.
He repeatedly emphasizes that Shanghai is not China and is very different, very open, he says, to foreigners, to new things. He wouldn't want to live anywhere else in China. That's what an acquaintance of a distant acquaintance who has lived in China for over 25 years, originally from the USA, told me. First he lived in Beijing, now in Shanghai. There is no other metropolis that has so much to offer, he says, culturally, commercially, humanly. Shanghai is the place where you want to live.
Of course, 36 hours are not enough. There is still a lot to explore, especially the different districts of the city, which have their own history of occupation(s) and colonialism.
Asia has never really appealed to me as a travel destination, but I would definitely stop there again next time. Especially when the journey is so long, one or two nights along the way are extremely pleasant!
I can also recommend China Southern as an airline, they recently started offering very cheap flights between Europe and Down Under via China. Why not use the transfer option?
It's just strange: I mean, I've never travelled with an airline that had security guards on the plane and on the journey and who go on patrol every now and then...
What else strikes me in Shanghai in a nutshell:
There are a conspicuous number of cameras everywhere (!)
There are a striking number of prohibition signs everywhere
My favorite: don’t release any fish.
PS: Shanghai without a payment app is doable, but not recommended to be imitated!
PPS: Visa payment is possible everywhere in the airport security area and I was able to try out a few things. I am happy to pass on the tips from the nice cleaner at Auckland airport: The soy milk, whether cold or warm, is REALLY good! The most important thing to her was that I try it. "It can't be compared to the soy milk outside of China," she emphasized several times.
