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We then began walking east on Nanjing Lu. This is a pedestrian walkway that is lined with shops. Some of the shops were filled with Chinese shopping and shopping. We started with the “Big Four”. Department stores from bygone days. One, Shanghia No. 1 Dept. Store remains true to its origins. The others have been converted to different retail. Walked down to Century square. Bought two cigars and continued down Nanjing Lu. A nice stroll. There are little toy-like trolleys running in both directions carrying Chinese from one end of the pedestrian mall to the other. More about these later.

The mall ends three blocks short of the bund, but we soldiered on. Took a right on the Bund after looking at the Peace Hoetl and the Palace Hotel. Both built by the Sassoons who had a large presence in Shanghai. Both appeared to be undergoing restoration. Just not with the fever pitch that most Chinese construction projects have.

The bund promenade was closed, but we walked down the street side ogling the wonderful buildings. We popped into a few lobbys that were beautiful. No. 12, Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank was particularly nice. The inside has a mural depicting eight major financial centers and below that pictures of men illustrating the virtues in Latin. In this building, I struck up a conversation with a young Chinese man. I’m not making this up. He said his name was Jerry and when I asked about its derivation he said that he was a big fan of the cartoon “Tom and Jerry”. We talked about the murals and he accompanied us down the Bund looking at buildings. When I asked what he wanted do for work, he said he wanted to be a guide for Chinese in new Zealand. Of course, he’s never been to New Zealand, but hey, why not dream big.

For lunch, we looked for a dumpling place, but did not find one. Eventually we went to a place at 136 Sichuan Rd. Only Chinese. No menu and certainly no pictures. They cooked at a station to the right. We ordered by pointing to dishes. We had noodles with bok choy and small bits of pork. Excellent. We also got a chicken leg with rice and a soup with clear noodles. Also, very good. The rice was particularly flavorful. With two cans of soda, the bill was 26 RMB.

Walked back to the Meridien back on Nanjing Lu. A Dominican cigar. While I was smoking it, a young Chinese man began talking to me. He worked for a chemical company in Tianjin. In on business. We talked about China’s environmental concerns. He claimed the government was getting better after the Olympics.

For dinner, we went to New Heights at 3 on the Bund. This is a building with an Armani store on the bottom and several restaurants on the upper floors. New Heights in on the seventh floor. It has a very nice view of the river and an oblique view of Pudong. Throughout dinner, we watched the fantastic neon show on the buildings. Several of them had changing displays that beckoned the approach of the holiday. We had duck spring rolls, vegetarian lasagna and pork tenderloin with a sesame sauce and a delicious eggplant eggroll. All were very good. For dessert, we had tapioca pudding with mango and coconut ice cream. The bill was with an added tip was 650 RMB. That’s approximately 24 times what we paid for lunch. Nonethelss, it was casual and chic with a knockout view.

Now, at 6:30 p.m., we went down to get a taxi. The line was nine customers deep and not moving at all. We waited 10 minutes with only one cab and decided on an alternate plan. We took the trolley down Nanjing Lu and walked the rest of the way. 2 RMB each. We got there 20 minutes late, but no problem.
Another different custom in China is the umbrella coverage issue. Whenever you enter a hotel, restaurant or museum, they provide a plastic sheath for your umbrella. While your there, the water drips down into the end of the sheath. It’s very handy for protecting from water drips. Of course, it wastes an incredible amount of plastic. By the end of our stay, Beth and I may have each used about 50 of these plastic sheaths.

Up early, went for swim in the very good pool. Steam bath, very good for pandas. We had arranged to meet a young Shanghai woman in our lobby at 7;20 a.m. This connection was made by Beth. She had eaten XLB’s in Chinatown in Boston and was seated at a table with a Chinese woman. Beth mentioned that we were going to Shanghai and the woman gave beth the phone number of a close friend. We called her when we returned to Shanghai and arranged the meet. She was very nice. A trainer for a large bank, with a husband and three year old. Beth, being Beth, had brought a few books for the son. They were well received. It was interesting to talk to a native.

It was raining hard so we planned an inside day.

OK, this could have happened to anyone. How was I supposed to know that there are two museums with the name Shanghai in people’s Park? A simple mistake. We wanted to go the Shanghai Museum We went to Shanghai Art Museum. . In a beautiful old building, but the paintings were repetitive propaganda. All of them had smiling workers going about their difficult tasks. I can assure you that this is never true in Boston. If anyone, and I do mean anyone, even elderly women, has a difficult task there is endless whining, complaining and moaning. The only smile is the supervisor standing around watching someone else do the dirty work. Therefore, I did not regard these paintings as New Realism. Plus, they weren’t very good. Even the gift shop was tedious.

To regain our vim and vigor, we went to Jia Jia Tong Bao at 90 Hong He Lu. We had two recommendations, Ekscrunchy and Shanghianese. It’s a right at the Park Hotel off of Nanjing Lu. We had the crab and pork soup dumplings and chicken and pork soup dumplings. We used the YJ’s method of biting off the top, letting them cool and popping the rest in your mouth. Delicious. Light. A perfect lunch.

We then went to MOCA in People’s park. It had a wonderful very modern exhibit with lots of video and interactive displays from Belgians and Chinese. Afterwards, we walked in beautiful People’s Park in the rain (obviously Beth’s idea). There’s a great pond with huge lotus leaves.

Back to the ranch for further planning. Tried to make massage reservations at Dragonfly, but were defeated by circumstances. We went to Mei Gong instead. Beth had gone to Shanghaiexpats.com and searched for massages. This place was recommended highly. It’s near the Mayfair Hotel at the Zhongshan Park metro stop. It’s at 1315 Dingxi Lu.

The subway trip out there was amazing, it was the night before national Day and everyone wanted to return home quickly. It was during rush hour and People’s Park is a transfer station, Lines 1,2 and 8. It was jammed. Beth made a tactical mistake and wore flip flops to avoid getting another pair of shoes wet. She had to watch her toes. Jammed into a train, off we went. Four stops later we exited and walked forever to the Dingxi Lu exit. Found the place.

These were wonderful massages. The best we’ve had in China. Beth had an hour foot and an hour Chinese. I had an hour physiotherapy and an hour Chinese. Beth loved her massage. My masseuse has fingers like pliers. Apparently her English did not extend to the word “softer”. When I started crying, she let up a little. I was very relaxed afterwards.

Walking back to the Metro, we popped into Daniang Dumplings for Pork with Chinese Celery, vegetarian and bean curd and chives. Two drinks and the entire bill was 18 RMB. These were good.

The ride back on the Metro was a lot less intense.