Today was my first full day in Shanghai. I woke up a little before 11, shaved my head and met Jim and his wife for lunch. Jim, who has known me since college, did an impressive doubletake when he saw me without hair or a beard. For lunch we ate dumplings filled with boiled pork, BBQ pork, scallops and shrimp; as well as thin slivers of crispy pork (divine), chicken feet (mostly bone and skin-- not bad but nothing compared to the pork) as well as a few steamed vegetables (good, but barely worth mentioning amidst all the dead burnt animal flesh). I also drank endless cups of tea in order to compensate for the fact that I hadn't had any coffee in at least 28 hours as I could feel my brain functioning only at about 60% capacity. Caffeine deprivation is a bitch.
After lunch, my friends went back to work and I wandered. Half a block and I found a Starbuck's, apparently as ubiquitous in Shanghai as in the States. I emerged 45 minutes later running on a major coffee buzz, ready to be dazzled by the sights. Shanghai is very modern and very clean and the epitome of capitalism even though it's in a communist country. I wandered through a ritzy mall called Times Square that was completely spotless and filled with high end designer stores like Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana. There are apparently around 40 malls in the city. It's been quite a shock to shift from being on the very high end of the economic spectrum in India to feeling like I'm in NYC and totally average. This is both good and bad. There's none of that Third World guilt you get as a Westerner as people watch you with hungry eyes, but I'm also constantly reminded of the fact that I'm in a place of wealth that's way beyond my means. I can't tell if it's because it's spring (days go up to 19 degrees Celsius; nights go down to around 13; most summer days hover around 32; it's like living in Atlanta) but the color scheme sticks to drab colors, Eastern European blandness. There's a fair amount of neon, but nothing like what you see in pictures of Hong Kong or Tokyo.
So far, Shanghai feels more Western than Eastern (but bear in mind that I spent the last two months in India) and there's a surprising amount of English and a lot of Caucasian folks on the streets. I ran into an American at another coffee shop later that afternoon who told me to only spend a day or so in Bangkok and definitely not to miss Laos. So many people have talked up Laos that I'm considering putting it on the itinerary, although I'm not sure how because I only have about two weeks between the day I fly to Bangkok from Shanghai and the inception of a tour I booked through Vietnam and during those two weeks I'm reserving at least 5 days to see the massive Buddhist temple Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
On my way home before dinner, I decided to check out a local yoga studio, Y+. There are three Y+ studios in Shanghai, but only one offers Ashtanga and it's in a different neighborhood. Jim had described it as the yoga studio for yuppies and indeed everything was immaculately maintained and opulent. The flow studio overlooked the park and each spot had a mat set up with a clean white folded towel carefully placed at the top of the mat. A woman from the PR department saw me checking out a brochure and quickly arranged a tour. Both she and the woman who gave me the tour were shocked when I told them I have been practicing yoga for over 5 years. "Most people in Shanghai are beginners," admitted the PR chick, and my tour guide informed me, somewhat hesitantly, that women almost exclusively populate the classes. "It's the same in the U.S.," I told her, "but it's slowly changing." While both women happily answered my questions about prices and memberships, they could only answer my questions about the types of yoga actually being taught in only the most rudimentary way. For instance, the schedule I reviewed listed "hot yoga" amongst its classes but my tour guide did not know if this meant they were teaching Bikram yoga (I've also heard heated vinyassa classes referred to as "hot yoga"). "It's 26 postures," she answered, by way of explanation (which meant it's Bikram, she answered my question without realizing it), with a slightly embarrassed look. I wanted to know if the flow classes were vinyassa or whether they were more Ashtanga based (doubtful) but I didn't even bother asking, no way they would know what I was talking about. It also quickly became clear that the studio wants to sell memberships and isn't geared towards drop-in students. In other words, it's run like a gym. A drop-in class costs 300RMB, around $42! Yeesh. I told the guide where I was staying, a few blocks away, and I could tell she thought I'm totally loaded. Modestly-sized apartments in Xintiandi sell for a cool million USD.
My guide was very eager for me to try a class and basically insisted that I reserve a spot in advance, but seemed vaguely perturbed that I had no interest in trying the lowest level flow class and suggested I start with hot yoga (I've been taking Bikram classes for many years, it's a set sequence and identical no matter where you are, there would be no point). I signed up for a Flow 2 class for tomorrow and I'm tempted to try it, despite the exorbinant price, because it'll be an experience. Plus, the teacher's bio pic suggests some high-end eye candy. (Edit: I took the class and they didn't charge me, plus the American instructor gave me cards for 2 free classes. Not bad.)
I made it home around 5 and cranked up some tunes on Jim's massive stereo before gathering up my yoga gear to head to the gym downstairs for a self-practice. The phone rang and Jim told me we were leaving for dinner soon, so I compromised with about 45 minutes of yoga which felt great despite the cold-- the one thing I miss about the Chennai, aside from my friends in the course, is the heat.
Jim had told me about the restaurant the night before. It's called the Black Cafe because you eat dinner in complete darkness, served by blind waiters, supposedly so you get a sense of what it's like to be blind (The slogan is "No eyes required"). We chose our entree before heading into the dining room because it's a bit tricky to order when you can't see the menu. We had to leave our cell phones in a locker because no sources of light were allowed. The waiter had Jim's wife put her hand on his shoulder, with Jim doing the same to her and me hanging on to Jim and off the procession went into the room, the blind leading those who could see. The room was pitch black, I couldn't see a fucking thing. The waiter took my hand and placed it on my seat and insisted that there was a bottle of water above my plate (I never found it). I fumbled my way to my wine glass to the right of the plate up against the wall and sipped it, and very carefully returned it to the table. I found myself laughing at the strangess of the experience as I acclimated. It's hard as fuck to eat with a knife and fork when you're impatient and can't see, so after stumbling my way through the salad, I mostly ate my lamp chop with my fingers. The next night Jim admitted that he did the same. I still don't know what half of the vegetables on my plate were, but everything tasted good. I just met Jim's wife yesterday -- they only got married last month -- and she's very sweet but can be a little shy. After a couple of glasses of wine in the dark, she became much more playful and at one point silently removed Jim's wine glass without him realizing it. Jim loves his wine, so I discovered very quickly that she enjoys pushing his buttons. My respect for her immediately doubled. The "mystery dessert" tasted sweet and fruity. Dinner lasted less than an hour even with three courses, and Jim's wife insisted on leading us out of the room without the waiter's assistance, although we somehow ended-up near the table again and had to be lead out.
Next, we were off to shop for DVDs. You may be aware that Shanghai is the epicenter of pirated DVDs, most of which cost a buck or two. You can buy pirated Chinese DVDs on Ebay. Please also bear in mind that I'm a huge movie nerd who hasn't seen a new flick in the 2 months I've been in India, which is completely unprecedented. Also bear in mind that Chinese DVD pirates think globally and will expeditiously bootleg a DVD as long as it has been released somewhere in the world. Which means that you can find DVDs of movies that are still in theatrical release or in some cases haven't even been released in the States yet in any form. We bought Alien v. Predator: Requiem, Rambo 4 (dude, I thought it would totally suck but everyone says it's wall-to-wall carnage, so don't give me any shit), the new Wong Kar-Wai (I had no idea it was anywhere close to a theatrical release), No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Into the Wild, Charlie Wilson's War, etc. We walked out of there with something close to 30 movies and we probably spent less than 50 bucks. Walking through the aisles I felt like my head was going to explode from the wealth of cinematic riches at bargain bin prices. Easily the most satisfying shopping experience of my life. I felt vaguely hypocritical about giving all my hippie yoga chick friends shit for their rabid sari shopping in India, given my similar lack of restraint when confronted with temptation. The real test will be, will I be able to leave the house tomorrow now that I'm in home entertainment paradise? Definitely an open question (edit: I made it out, but only for yoga and coffee, and then returned to the apartment for Rambo 4. It was pretty good. And by "pretty good", I mean "it had at least 8 decapitations, some of them via machine gun blast." Also watched Haute Tension for the millionth time, it never diappoints).
Oh man sounds like you found your way back to america already! jk, sounds lovely doll, just make sure you come back home! miss you! send me photos please! and eat all the pork ya can for me! sounds delish!
Posted by: Diana Darling | March 04, 2008 at 08:14 AM