China trip

Back from China: 10 days in 4 places. It's my first time in Shanghai, though not in China. First and lasting impression? Beware, Hong Kong. The big city vibe is palpable, the cosmopolitan feel is there. Give'em Chinese a decade or so, and they will surpass Hong Kong, in being the global city of Asia-ex Japan, in every sense. For now, Hong Kong probably still leads in the financial sector and probably some professional services sectors but Shanghai has clear upside, given its size and location. The younger generation, defined as mid-thirties and below, are a whole new breed different from their parents' generation. Certainly more civilised, considerate and cultured than the long-held stereotype of spitting, uncouth country bumpkins. Still plenty of these around certainly, when we went to Huangshan, Nanking and even Hangzhou but the country is becoming more civilised, even in an environment ever-increasingly fuelled by capitalism. They really have to do something about the pollution though; Nanking was a horrible experience due to the bad bad air and we just cut short the trip altogether and ran back to Shanghai. Nanking was skippable, though it was good to experience first-hand CPC's nation-building efforts with the massacre memorial museum. The whole place was a huge propanganda extravaganza, more a nation-building tool for the CPC than to really commemorate anything. The photo archives were not as "chillingly gruesome" as some people have described; I thought the photos from Iris Chang's book had a more "yikes" factor. Hangzhou was just another big Chinese city, we realised, as the throngs of people, the smell and the air hit us the moment we stepped out into the bus station. These long-distance bus stations are truly a great way to experience "real China". Until we moved to the area surrounding the West Lake. Ah, that had the fabled Jiangnan feel which Qianlong was so nuts about, if you managed to shut out the noise and crowds. The misty weather helped, and the lovely willows caressing the waters of the lake.. mmm.. Had a lovely meal as well, the best meal in fact since stepping out from Huangshan where we had to eat cup noodles. Had some Hangzhou specialties like 莼菜汤 (a kind of duckweed from the lake cooked in clear soup with a slimy gelantinous texture)， 桂鱼醋(Chinese perch steamed with Zhejiang vinegar, most excellent with the soft texture and sweet/sour sauce) ，龙井虾仁 (small shrimps stir-fried with Longjing tea leaves, most ordinary of the lot) etc. The day-trip out to a nearby canal town 乌镇 was alright, except that it was raining quite heavily AND we had to run after the bus. But with all the canal towns overrun by tourists and like all the sights we went around in China, most of the the time domestic tourists made up 90% of the people there, it was not easy to tease out a "romantic feel" which these towns are famed for. Huangshan was the loveliest and best part of the trip, thanks to clear blue skies and bright sun, although we were roundly whacked by the mountain for attempting to trek down 4.5km without stopping. "Clever" us underestimated the time needed to trek downhill and it got dark before we hit the foot of the mountain. Towards the end, my wobbly legs were "walking on clouds" but had to hurry on nonetheless or spent the night in the mountain. But because it got so late, we could really appreciate the silence sans crowds and was truly awed by the majesty of the mountain. The tourism mechanism was well-oiled and functioning, sucking away half our budget for the entire China trip, though the wonderful mountain views and sunset more than made up for the bleeding of our pockets. Can appreciate why Huangshan is so named: the Emperor's Mountain. And I will never look at pine trees in the same way again: the Huang Song (黄松) is in a class of its own, forget the xmas pines and think bonsai. Thank God for Kammy who advised us to book our hotels online through a reliable operator C-trip (携程) cos all the lodging on Huangshan were too local and not online. So here's a tip: book your domestic tour stuff through C-trip online, they are great and cover pretty much everywhere in China. And for helping buy our night sleeper train tickets Shanghai-Huangshan, which was comfortable and totally un-nightmarish, contrary to popular saying. Trains and train system are really quite ok and efficient, not too far from first world standards. But of course, in my heart, the Japanese network is and always will be King. The dinner with Kammy and the girls from the office in Shanghai was excellent, though a tad pricey: am now quite a fan of Sichuan food. Spicy yes, but the flavours are so complex, you'd probably taste something different when you have the same dish again. Mmm.. Shanghai is a great food place, way ahead of Singapore. In fact, Shanghai is in my opinion ahead of Singapore, after taking into consideration all ingredients that constitute a global/cosmopolitan city. We really got to buck up man.