28 August 2012
My bag arrived
My bag got here from Sydney. According to the tags it came via Hong Kong and Taiwan. I have never been so happy to brush whats left of my hair in my life. I then celebrated by shaving and using the Malin+Goetz moisturizing cream Qantas put in their amenity packs.
Thrilled with the results of my makeover, I was considering doing some eyebrow re shaping, but thought I had better go and get my train tickets instead. This time I remembered my passport.
In the evening, I went to a place called Xujiahui, I have been there before at 9AM in the morning, before anything opened. At night its a fairly crowded area with many interlinked shopping malls. So theres not much to tell.
What I did see however, without getting a photo, is heaps of people jumping the metro barrier. Its a bit of a farce, security guards blow their whistle and wave their baton but everyone ignores them calmly. Theres also x-ray machines at every entrance you are supposed to put your bags through but no one does.
The chaotic and hot Shanghai train ticket office. Every line has its own loudspeaker system. The usual Chinese queue rules apply.
1. Barge straight up to the window in front of everyone and make as much noise as possible.
2. Get yelled at by everyone in line and grabbed and pushed to the back.
3. Periodically push to the front again and plead your case with everyone as to why you get to push in.
4. Be moved to the very back, losing your place.
5. Explain to those now in front of you that your rightful place is in front of them.
Multiply this by 3 or 4 people trying this simultaneously in each line and it becomes confusing to remember whos pushing in and who isnt. Once they start crossing lines it becomes a debacle.
Mcdonalds in China has also adopted the slider hype for mini burgers. Only theres are a bit different. I havent worked out whats actually on them, I may have to go to Mcdonalds!
Xujiahui at night. I took more photos for myself to enjoy as I know no one else does. The text on the globe is animated, it says 'Giant globe has animated text'.
Rather than show you my dinner, I will show you it being prepared. It may be a foodcourt but everything gets made from scratch while you wait, with a lot of yelling. I ordered beef and lotus root but was given something else. I actually think I was given someone elses order, I showed my receipt but the chef insisted.
I got a heap of mystery meat of all different colors, possibly bullfrog as that was on the menu elsewhere. It was nice enough, I couldnt eat it all.
I couldnt eat all my dinner so I thought I would have dessert.
Unfortunately this was some nice looking fruit with cubes of grass jelly, which would have been great. But once I ordered it a series of sauces was poured over it for no good reason which turned into a thin brown goo.
The grass jelly was nice though, you can really taste the grass.
Wandering around back streets near my hotel, I stumbled upon an illegal card game. I think they were playing for real money, everyone was deadly silent.
For no good reason, they have set up in the middle of the road, leaving barely enough room for a car to pass.
The game was thrilling, as every now and then the men would gasp, and eventually a cheer erupted. I lurked in the shadows hoping it might turn into a fight when someone played a 5th ace, but left dissapointed.