When we first arrived in Korea, we were driven by our recruiters to our new apartment. The town we live in is about a 2 hour ride from the airport, and since we had already been traveling for about a full day, the car ride felt like an eternity. When we arrived in Guri, I was caught a little off guard by how different everything looked. Sure, there was a familiar 7-11, but everything else felt new. Most of all, I couldn't believe how much neon there was for such a small city (Guri's population is about 300,000, but because it is so densely populated, it feels like more).
After living in Korea and quickly growing accustomed to the neon office tells and apartment high rises, Shanghai wasn't much of a shock. However, Sami and I decided that Shanghai has much more personality than Seoul when it comes to architecture. Sure, Seoul has the wonderfully restored palaces downtown, and Seoul Tower is a definite sight to see, but because Seoul (and Korea in general) has been so ravaged by war, remnants of its past are not easily caught at first glimpse.
Shanghai on the other hand, has a more diverse, if shady history. After the Treaty of Nanjing, the ensuing foreign presence left a permanent mark on the city's skyline, most notably in the most famous tourist area of the city known as The Bund.
After we had finished our day at the World Expo, we hopped on a tour boat of The Bund at night. Our travel group included a middle aged Australian couple and our guide, Maggie (somehow I doubt that is her real name). The first thing I did on the boat was buy two warm Carona's (Sami was dumbfounded I would choose a Mexican beer, but do I really need a reason?). The beer did nothing but make me have to pee in the worst way.
On the top of the boat, we met a deaf artist who carved some traditional Chinese stamps for us. They are wooden and mine has a Tiger (2010 is the year of the Tiger) on top and my name in English and Chinese carved on the bottom. Sami has a dog because she was born in 1982, which was a dog year. The way he worked with a little chisel was quite impressive, especially when he carved a miniscule "Shanghai 5-6-10" on the side of the wooden stamp. I use the stamp to mark my students' papers and they get a big kick out of it.
After the tour we took a tour of East Nianxing Rd. which just so happened to be the same street as our hotel. We jumped in a train shaped shuttle and rode around while Maggie told us all about how much she works (no days off) and a man in the car in front of us turned and stared at our white faces.
When the ride was up, we turned and walked toward our hotel, our eyes mesmerized by the neon scene all around us.
No comments:
Post a Comment