The British Pavilion at the World Expo. The pavilions for almost every country (except the crappy U.S.A. pavilion, which looked like a Honda dealership) were interesting and kind of amazing -- even though the lines were so long we couldn't get inside any of them

(This is part 4 of a 5-part series.)

Shanghai: Mexican food, a rainy World Expo and a ride on the bullet train straight north

We took a van from Sanming to the Fuzhou airport, and paid 1,500 RMB for the privilege, which is about 1,000 RMB (or $140) more than we should have paid, but we were running late and I was exhausted and not in a position to argue, since I had not planned the van in advance and had to rely on a friend to book it for me.

The sun was finally out full and it was hot, but we stayed cool in the van and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. We arrived in Shanghai in the late afternoon and checked into our hotel, which was the luxurious and very western Aston Hotel, or, in Chinese, the Pu3 Jiang1 Fan4 Dian4. The Aston claims to be the first westerner-run hotel in Shanghai, and it seems to fit the part. The building is old European-style architecture and looks like something from England or France (sorry, my architectural knowledge and therefore language is pretty tepid here). It’s European-y. And comfortable. And has a good western breakfast. The only problem is that most of the people who stay there are not Chinese, so it’s kind of like a foreigner’s hiding spot in Shanghai. If you visited China and you only stayed at the Aston, you wouldn’t really have visited China.

The ritzy restaurant in the lobby of the Aston Hotel. The hotel was great and comfy -- but the waters in the lobby were 25 RMB (you can walk out the front door of the lobby, go a block to the left, and buy the same water for 1 RMB)

As a consequence, we ate western food for dinner both nights in Shanghai. Which was actually great. The first night in Shanghai we went out for Mexican, after I had complained our whole trip that there was no real Mexican food in China. It turns out, I was wrong. There is one real Mexican food restaurant in China, and it is called the Cantina Agave, and it’s located somewhere in Shanghai not far from the French Concession. We ate nachos and burritos and tacos and taco salad, and everybody’s meal was good, and my uncle and I had a couple of shots of tequila. As always is the case when eating western food in China, the bill was a king’s ransom compared to what it would have been for a Chinese meal, and probably almost as big as the bill for the unbelievable meal we had in Sanming. But it was good Mexican, and I think the whole group was craving something other than Chinese food for the evening.

Cantina Agave! Delicious Mexican food in China (perhaps the only delicious Mexican food in China)

We only stayed in Shanghai for 48 hours, which was not long enough to see a whole lot of the city. It was just long enough to see that the pollution is pretty bad (about a half-mile visibility on the day we arrived) the tradmark Oriental Pearl Tower building is really just a dirty cement monstrosity, the cab drivers are maniacs, and the foreigner/food scene is awesome. We also saw a road rage incident in which a Chinese guy driving a car rammed an unmanned motor scooter and proceeded to plow the scooter with the bumper of his car all the way to the sidewalk. (The driver of the scooter cut him off, and when the car honked at the scooter, the scooter parked in front of the car, got out, and walked to the driver’s window to confront him, so really he had it coming – but still this was after I had had two shots of tequila and a couple beers, so I responded by snapping a lot of pictures and shouting mocking obscenities at the driver of the car.)

I think the thing that set me off about this driver (of the car) was his reckless disregard for all the people standing around in the street. No one got hurt, but someone could have...even if it is hilarious that he put that jerk motor-scooter driver in his place in the most direct possible way

Our last day in Shanghai we went to the World Expo. But we didn’t get there until late in the afternoon because most of our group was by now suffering from diarrhea, including me. And by the time we arrived, the place was packed and the lines for all the interesting countries’ pavilions were all over three hours long. So we walked around, saw the interesting buildings and the huge, huge Expo campus, my mom bought a T-shirt, I bought a cap, it rained on us, and then we left. It’s hard to say that the Expo was a letdown, because I knew the lines would be long and I knew we didn’t have enough time to really do anything, but still – it’s a long way to go and a lot of expense to see a bunch of fancy buildings that are just going to be destroyed in a few months’ time. Even if we could have gone inside, I have a feeling I would have felt the same way. But maybe not. A follow-up trip to Shanghai might be in order to confirm.

A snapshot at the Shanghai World Expo!

The highlight for me in Shanghai, however, was the fabric market (mian4 liao4 shi4 chang3). On our first full day in Shanghai my mom and pops and I went there to look for gifts and cheap tailor-made clothes, and it did not disappoint. I had heard on ChinesePod.com that you can get custom-tailored men’s shirts there for 80 RMB, or about $12, and I wanted to check it out because it’s hard for me to find shirts that fit my fairly thin, tall frame.

It was awesome. The fabric market is just a huge marketplace where individual tailors stand and shout at people passing by and try to get them to stop and order a suit or jacket or shirt. You basically just go in and find a tailor and negotiate a price (you want to do that first – they will try to draw you into making decisions about your clothes before you name a price, because that gives them a huge advantage in the negotiations, i.e. you’ve already made all your decisions with them and you don’t want to go to someone else and do it all over again), they take your measurements and the following day you can pick up your custom-made piece.

I got a lot. I got a beautiful brown wool overcoat that fits me perfectly for 350 RMB, a little over $50. I got a 3-piece blue suit with thin lapels that looks pretty modern and cool and fits me perfectly for 650 RMB, or almost $100. I got two dress shirts, one black, one blue-and-white-striped, for 80 RMB each (about $12 each) and a casual blazer for 300 RMB (around $40). And an extra suitcase to carry it all for 200 RMB (around $30). The only adjustment that needed to be made when I picked up the clothes was the sleeves of the suit, and it took about 20 minutes. Everything else was nearly perfect. The pants of the suit, especially, fit me better than any pants I’ve ever owned. In total I spent around $250 for the clothes, which is a laughably small amount considering what I’ve been willing to pay for awkwardly fitting, relatively ugly clothes back home when I couldn’t find anything better. So, in summary, the Shanghai fabric market has officially replaced all other clothing stores in the world in my mind. (The address is: 399 Lujiabang Rd; see the link above  for more info.)

The Shanghai skyline. That big pointy building is the Oriental Pearl Tower. And yes, it's not that far away, but it looks like it is, because of the smog, and the smog seemed to be at least that thick for the duration of the trip

We picked up the clothes on our way to the Shanghai northern train station, to board our bullet train which would take us to Beijing overnight. The bullet train goes 124 mph (200 km/h) and travels the 800 miles (1300 km) from Shanghai to Beijing in about 10 hours. It wasn’t cheap – the tickets ran about $130 USD to buy in advance, about the same as what plane tickets would have cost – but it was interesting and I slept incredibly well. There’s something about sleeping on trains that I love, and the bullet train was the best. It’s the white noise, partly, and also the rocking motion that the train makes – it all combined to create excellent sleeping conditions. So after boarding I immediately fell asleep and woke the next day with the train almost in Beijing and my pillow covered in drool. (Note: when you board the bullet train, you take all your bags on you, as with normal trains in China; you don’t check them, you just stow them under the sleeping car berths.)

The bullet train (D train) rocketing north toward Beijing