| May Day holiday 2008. In China, well, at Chinese universities & schools, but also some companies, you get 3 days off for May Day. Not really off, because you have to work the weekend before or after. So, essentially it's useless, but it means 3-5 (depending on when the weekend is & how the school organises it) free connected days. Enough time for my then-girlfriend to come up north again. | Maifeiertage 2008. In China, nunja, an chinesischen Unis & Schulen, aber auch in manchen Firmen, gibt es 3 freie Tage zum 1. Mai. Wirklich frei sind sie aber nicht, da man 2 Tage an einem Wochenende vor- oder nachholen muß. Also eigentlich Blödsinn, aber wenn man Glück hat, gibt es bis zu 5 freie Tage am Stück (je nachdem wie die Wochenenden liegen & wie das organisiert wird). Damals jedenfalls genug Zeit für meine damalige Freundin, wieder man nach Norden zu reisen. |
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| We met in Shanghai. The 2nd time there, for what I can remember. When I was in Shanghai the first time, I made only a few pictures from Nanjing Lu at night, while the Bund was only seen by daylight. | Wir trafen uns in Shanghai. Das 2. Mal, daß ich dort war, soweit ich mich entsinne. Bei meinem ersten Mal in Shanghai fotografierte ich nur die Nanjing Lu bei Nacht, während ich den Bund nur tagsüber besuchte. |
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| This time, at the first evening, I had obviously a bit more time to take pictures of the Bund & the Oriental Pearl Tower in the dark. As is common in China, they put up quite a light show at tourist hot spots. | Diesmal hatte ich am ersten Abend offenbar etwas mehr Zeit, um Bilder vom Bund & vom Fernsehturm im Dunkeln zu machen. Wie üblich in China gibt es eine gewaltige Lichtershow an Touristenfallen. |
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| Looks really nice, although it is of course an awful waste of money & electricity. The current lights at the TV tower are different, it seems. It's not as colourful anymore, judging from the pictures I have seen. | Sieht nicht schlecht aus, obwohl es natürlich eine grausige Verschwendung von Geld & Strom ist. Heutzutage sind die Lichter am Fernsehturm übrigens anders, nicht mehr so bunt, soweit ich das beurteilen kann. |
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| The tourist boats on the Huangpu River are also quite enlightened. A bit hard to photograph, though. You either focus on the boats, which makes the buildings blurry, or you focus on the buildings & then the boats look like above. | Die Touristenboote auf dem Huangpu sind auch ziemlich erleuchtet. Allerdings nicht leicht zu fotografieren. Entweder fokussiert man auf die Boote, wodurch die Gebäude verschwimmen, oder man fokussiert auf die Gebäude & die Boote sehen aus wie oben. |
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| The Bund at night, with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Building & the Customs House in the center. The corona building (pun intended) on the right is the Bund Financial Center. | Der Bund bei Nacht, mit dem HSBC-Gebäude & dem Zollhaus im Zentrum. Das gekrönte Gebäude rechts ist das Bund-Finanzzentrum. |
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| The nicest tourist boat I have seen there. But, sadly, also the best picture I was able to make of it. | Das hübscheste Touristenboot, das ich dort gesehen habe. Leider aber auch das beste Bild, das ich davon habe. |
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| The next day we went to see the Old Town of Shanghai, which will be covered in the next post. On the way there, we passed the TV tower again. Much better weather than on the 1st visit, so I took some more photos. This is the best one. Had a very nice one with my girlfriend in front of it, but I can't find it (not that I would have showed it here, anyway). | Am nächsten Tag besuchten wir die Altstadt von Shanghai, was in einem anderen Beitrag beschrieben werden wird. Auf dem Weg dorthin kamen wir mal wieder am Fernsehturm vorbei. Viel besseres Wetter als beim ersten Besuch, deshalb machte ich noch ein paar Bilder. Dies ist das beste. Hatte auch noch ein sehr gutes mit meiner Freundin davor, kann's aber nicht finden (nicht daß ich es hier veröffentlicht hätte). |
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| Before I end this post, another view of a mid-range Chinese hotel. Pretty typical interior, with the exception of the bathroom: | Vor dem Ende dieses Beitrags noch eine Ansicht aus einem mittelklassigen chinesischen Hotel. Ziemlich typische Einrichtung, mit Ausnahme des Badezimmers: |
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| A bath tub (with some nice memory connected to it)! That was only the second time that I had seen a bath tub in a Chinese hotel. This is highly uncommon, at least in hotels of my price range. A bit more common, though still a bit strange was this: | Eine Badewanne (mit angenehmen Erinnerungen verbunden)! Das war erst das 2. Mal, daß ich eine in einem chinesischen Hotel gesehen hatte. Sehr ungewöhnlich, wenigstens in Hotels meiner Preislage. Nicht ganz so ungewöhnlich, aber doch seltsam, war dies: |
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| That's a hair dryer. In most hotels you will find a normal hair dryer, just with a wall mount. Have no idea why some hotels choose a machine like above. Ah well, who cares... That's it for today, just very few more pics: | Ein Fön. In den meisten Hotels findet man einen normalen Fön, nur mit Wandhalterung. Keine Ahnung, warum manche Hotels so ein Gerät installieren. Naja, wen kümmert's ... Das war's für heute, nur noch einige (sehr wenige) Bilder: |
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Okay, I tip my hat to you for actually finding a hotel with a bathtub in it in China. The only time I EVER found that was in Macau (which only sort of counts as China, being an S.A.R.), and it was in the executive suite (which I was in because all the cheaper rooms were sold out on a layover I wasn't planning to have). As for the Pearl Tower, they change its color scheme (as well as the color scheme of the "Bottle Opener") every few months but lately they seem to deck it out in a rotating pattern of single colors. Last time I was there was January 2019 and it rotated about every 20 seconds from red to blue to purple and about three other colors. And finally, I know the tourist boat you were photographing. In 2019 that same boat was still giving tours, though I haven't ridden on it since May 2013 (God, has it really been seven years?)
...Now with all that said, I completely know how you felt writing this. As miserable as most of my China experience was, even I'm forced to admit that Shanghai stands out from the rest of the country as the one city where more of the memories are positive than negative. Even the worst ones are bittersweet, with the "bitter" factor only coming from the constant knowledge that the past I'm reminiscing about will never come around again. I've written about it before and every time I go there I sigh.
I despise that country, but I still do, and always will, love that city.
Actually, I had found a bathtub before: near Shaoguan in a hot spring hotel. Made from wood, you had to line it with a special-made plastic 'bag' to use it.
The good memories about Shanghai are largely related to my girlfriend. Only because of her (she had friends there) I stayed there more than once. The city is too sterile for me (though still far better than Beijing), although back in 2008/09 you didn't have to walk far to get into areas which looked like any other bigger Chinese city. Except for transits I haven't been there since 2009. But thanks for the info about the TV tower.
I prefer smaller cities where you can still find some street life, particularly food vendors.
But, well, emperor Xi made sure that I won't enjoy Chinese street food anymore.
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