Shanghai, On Board ms Westerdam
I am enjoying my first dinner at my private table in the main dining room. It is 8pm on Sunday, and we boarded just after noon. Boarding went quite easily—because of my priority group one status (this is cruise 16 on HAL). Others weren’t as lucky; people still boarding after 3pm. There isn’t much very interesting to report about unpacking and getting settled, so I will go back to Saturday—hardly seems it was just yesterday—to report on arrival at Shanghai.
Saturday, 2 March 2019
Shanghai
The flight from LAX arrives right on time at 6:45pm in a cold drizzle. Although the weather is hardly welcoming, my passage through the airport and on to the hotel runs very smoothly, with one exception. Chinese culture has always venerated the elderly and the new generations continue that tradition by allowing seniors over 70 years old to bypass most of the rigamarole of entering China, with special lines for customs (I am the only person in the line as I pass through in seconds) and easy retrieval of luggage (take that LAX).
The one snafu is that the folks from HAL, who are supposed to meet arrivals, are nowhere to be found. It takes almost one hour before I finally spot a greeter from HAL (with a helpful telephone call by the Chinese information desk). Once found, he turns out to be a gracious and helpful young man. It takes about an hour to reach our hotel but even in the darkness I am immediately aware of the stupendous changes since Will and I were here in 1994. The part of the city we drive through (even the airport) were mostly farms and empty land before 1990, with just a few tall buildings emerging by 1994. Now the area is criss-crossed by freeways, railway lines, the MAGLEV (magnetic levitation) transport system. High-rise towers etched in LED lights mushroom to crowd out the ones built earlier. Almost like a high-rise Las Vegas, Shanghai is a city at the speed of [we won’t say the word that begins with “o” because of fear of censorship and steroids are too American).
The coach passes the TV tower, the tallest structure in China (one of the few structures here in 1994), as we cross one of the nine bridges into the central part the city. We are still 20 minutes from the Longemond Shanghai Hotel, located in the former French Concession area of the city, now a middle- and upper-middle class district, packed from street-level shops to 60-floor hotels with everything anyone could desire just a few steps away (including several Starbucks outlets).
Although I did manage several episodes of sleep in my bed-like seat on the United Polaris flight, between watching "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" with Melissa McCarthy (she and film are quite good), and pleasant chatting with my neighbor, a single traveler close to my age from Bakersfield, CA; she is sailing on the cruise with her sister (about 20 or so other UA passengers as well), I am still ready for a good night's sleep in the luxury of my large 33rd floor room (with a bathroom almost as large as the sleeping area).
Sunday, 3 March 2019
Shanghai
I leave the luxury of my 33rd floor hotel room at 6:30am for a fine 2nd floor buffet breakfast offered by the hotel and paid for by HAL.
Although there is intermittent drizzle and rain, I am ready to explore a small part of the city before our noon departure to the Cruiseport. I leave my luggage outside my room for HAL pickup and head into the busy streets.
What most strikes me this morning is the ability to move around, shop, ride the Metro, talk with strangers in total freedom. Although we were ostensibly free in 1994, the guides really kept us all in check and were reluctant to let us wander from the group. Today, tourists can go wherever and whenever they please, with excellent public transportation and helpful street signage (often in English).
It's about 10 minutes walk on two very busy streets to reach the Metro, which costs about 10 cents for a single ride. There is airport-like security before entering the subway, but once on it is clean, safe, efficient, and fast.
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| Line 2 Metro Station, with Prominent Symbol |
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| Waiting for the Metro on a Sunday Morning |
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| Cars Are Crowded, Even on Sunday |
Two stops bring me to my destination (suggested by my Lonely Planet guidebook), centered at Shaanxi Avenue. Although there are many tall glass behemoths (everywhere) and shopping malls, there are also remnants and reminders of a quieter life at the end of the 19th century, including a row of three-story red brick apartments and shops. Between the buildings are alleyways like the "mews" of central London, with expensive gentrified apartments and condos. This short walking tour also passes two religious structures, the still-functioning Grace Church, and the closed, but still closely-guarded synagogue, a fine example of Greek Revival architecture.
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| Ohel Rachel Synagogue Historical Marker |
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| Greek Revival Synagogue Building |
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| Grace Church and Shaanxi Road Street Sign (with South and North Directions) |
The Westerdam remains in Shanghai over night, and tomorrow morning I will take a shore excursion that gives an overview of the city, old and new. So the next blog entry will give a more complete view of this amazing city.
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