Shanghai Noon on the Day of Wander Part II

After surfacing from the market, I evaluated my resources. Though I had spent more than I wanted to, I did have a couple hundred in my backpack for an emergency, and I figured the crew couldn't be too far since we hadn't even been separated an hour. But, that didn't do anything for my phone, which I would need in case they contacted me, and I still didn't know where I was. Perhaps, since I had my charger in my backpack, I could find a McDonald's where I could charge up and take care of both problems.

So I set out towards a street that seemed to lead back to the city. At this point, looking around actually made me even more confused; there weren't any buildings other the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum for quite a distance, and none of the buildings I did see on the horizon were familiar. I couldn't even see the Shanghai tower. I was surrounded by trees, a memorial of sorts, a couple decorative flower patches, and an abandoned attempt at recreating the Space Needle:

They didn't even anchor it proper.y!

The directory on the corner didn't help at all; it was all Chinese and didn't even seem to have a bus route. But, it did seem like I was a bit of a walk from any place that I could use as an oasis.

Then, finally, Ross called me to see if I was done shopping.

I was definitely done shopping, so he told me the crew was chilling in Century Park, not far from the museum. Well, hanging out in at the park sounded better than wandering around in the city, so I took a picture of the unfinished UFO and, following Ross' direction, turned back the way I came to find this Century Park.

(Though I never understood that half-finished spaceship, to this day I hope that it finds its parent, which I believe is the Pearl of the Orient. Maybe together they can rendezvous with those weird buildings from Seattle, then go back to Mars, where they will be awarded gigantic medals for the service they performed on our planet.)

I found out later that Century park is the largest park in Shanghai, but that sure didn't make it easy to find. After exchanging texts with Ross it took me about 30 minutes to find it. (To be honest, I was walking in a straight line, but I don't think I ever passed a sign to indicate it was the right straight line.) And it was a proper "over the river and through the woods memorial" journey.

Ross said the crew would meet me at the gate, but upon arrival, I didn't see any white people. I just saw lots of Chinese walking along the edge of the park's lake. Some were also riding in bike-cars which sat between 2 and 6 people. Oh, look; that one has a bunch of foreign people in it!

They had rented the contraption for an hour, and we used every minute of that to explore the park. In China, the roads can be a bit chaotic with cars relentlessly overtaking each other with little regard for road conditions. I think the foreign teachers were kind of getting revenge for that with our bike-car. Because our vehicle had seats for four pedalers and two passengers, and everyone on the pedals was in prime pedaling condition, we had a lot more horsepower than any other vehicle on the road. We careened around that park with great vigor, swinging past other vehicles, weaving through the crowds, and making a great noise. At any given moment, the driver may have been holding a debate to see what direction we would turn next, Jess may have been gasping as yet another kid wandered toward us, and the people in the back seat held conversations about the queer park-going habits of the Chinese.

This may all sound a bit reckless, but don't worry. No matter how worried Jess got, we never actually hit anyone. Though I have to say, some of those kids were lucky their parents were watching.

After that invigorating journey, everyone was ready for lunch, which had been arranged at a restaurant called Pizza Express. Initially, I thought it was an American style pizzeria where we could pick up a pie for cheap, maybe 50 rmb to serve two or three people. No such luck, a single serving Quatrro Formaggi was 75. But at least it was made with all authentic ingredients, and it marked the authentic end of my cash on hand.

After that, I was about done spending money; I listened to see what everyone else was doing after lunch so I could tag along with someone doing something cheap. I'm glad I listened, because Quetin said he was going to visit one of the city's skyscrapers. Perfect; Quetin was a good traveling companion, I also wanted to see the skyline from above, and I knew that this excursion wouldn't cost much more than 150.

I hit the ATM after leaving Pizza Express, and we decided to go to the Jin Mao Tower. It isn't the tallest part of the skyline, but it's not far from it. Also, the price of admission to visit the observatory deck on the 88th floor wasn't as expensive as the other buildings.

From left: Shanghai World Financial Center, Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai Tower

Fortunately, the line to visit the tower wasn't very long, and after a 50 second elevator ride, Que and I were 1300 ft above Shanghai. We could see the city for miles; the smaller buildings were like Lego towers, the cars looked were smaller than Hot Wheels, and the people were too small to see.

Then, I saw the Shanghai Tower and I reevaluated my assumptions about humanity.

There were buildings that, from the streets, were very tall, over 30 stories. I am mildly afraid of heights, and when I was little, before I started rock-climbing, I would get vertigo just from looking up at tall places. There were buildings that were of such height in Shanghai. From the Jin Mao Tower, these buildings were puny; we literally towered over them, as high as a bird. But, the Shanghai Tower stood that high, yet again, above us. I felt like the view was hardly different than it was form the street; I just had a better appreciation for the details than I did from down there.

That is just how tall the Shanghai Tower is.

Humans built a tower so tall, that it can create that feeling, which makes me doubt some of the things I've heard people say we are incapable of. Perhaps a space elevator won't always be science fiction, and maybe The Avenger's Heli-Carrier won't be just VFX forever.

This is the Shanghai Tower, from the top of the Jin Mao Tower.

The hotel lobby inside the Jin Mao Tower is over 300 feet tall

After that spirit raising excursion, we returned to Earth and, back at the hostel, joined the crew for a more grounded activity; drinking. After getting started a couple cocktails at the hostel, the other guys got beers, we headed out to the Bund again, this time to see the Shanghai skyline at night.

We were too late. Evidently, the lights go off before 12.

Instead, we got logical and played charades. I'm not kidding. At 12:30 AM, on the abandoned Bund, with a worker cleaning the space behind us, we played charades. I managed to act out 'Yellow Submarine,' 'The Art of War' and 'The Road.' Somehow.

The inebriated crew eventually tired of the game, perhaps they were sobering, so Ross told us that he knew a bar nearby that we could hang out at. That bar was called Jerry's, and as Ross described it; "This is the dirtiest, dive-barriest dive bar. Ever."

I'll believe him on that; I have never seen a place with graffiti across the *entire* ceiling and walls and tables and most of the chairs and the bar itself. I would have taken a picture, but between the haze and the barely lighting, nothing showed up. They served Coke and whiskey in metal pails, and there were bongs that could be brought to tables if someone wanted more than alcohol. Fortunately, my group was content without that. After a short while, we found a table, and everyone settled in and drank.

Having an intolerance for beer that even social pressure couldn't shake, I ordered a 'Flamingo,' but I was getting woozy, so that was my last drink.

Most of the rest of that night sort of slid past, but I remember something else Ross said as someone was losing very badly at Ride the Bus at the table beside him. He told me that the most important thing to do when you're drinking is to make sure, no matter how wasted you get, you can always get home. He assured me that he may finish his entire pail of whiskey and Coke, and drink another one after that, but he would still find his way back to the hostel when he was done.

I felt like this had some importance, some application that may have been useful, some archaic meaning, some critical connotation....

But perhaps he was just really drunk.