Shanghai Part II: Studio Begins

The evening of June 16, we checked into our class' designated hotel. We had directions to meet at 6 for dinner and we ate in the hotel restaurant a Chinese dinner that was not unlike typical American Chinese food. With some of the long lost classmates, we attempted to get a drink at a top floor high rise bar with a view. We found one and rode a series of elevators to the bar only to find it empty, not even a bartender. Yet there were people there who looked like they worked there but were lounging around. No one asked us if we wanted a drink, so we simply walked up to the window to take in our river view. No one said a word to us at all, not even a motion that 'we're closed.' We attributed our lack of being kicked out of the closed bar to our Westernness, which seems to come with some privileges every now and then. The drinks were wildly overpriced anyway. After trying another riverfront bar which we discovered had no cocktails, our collective craving, we left and went to the family mart. A $1 bottle of Chinese Vodka and our favorite fruit juices made for a nice drink so we took our juice boxes up to the riverwalk and enjoyed the cool night air and extravagant city lights from the Bund district, the original international hub of the city.

The following day we had a bus chartered to take us around town. We started with a Chinese breakfast in the hotel - a great selection of foods and some surprises (looks can be deceiving in food too!) Our first stop was the Jinmao tower, built in 1994. We went to the skydeck and peered through the smoggy sky to see a hazy view of the city. The tower is in the Pudong new area which has only been built since 1990 and is a mass of skyscrapers on the east side of the Huangpu River from Shanghai. The whole district is evidence of the staggering pace of development here and is still full of cranes and towers under construction. I can't emphasize enough how mindblowing it is. Before 1990 is was rice fields.

After lunch we visited the garden, but didn't have enough time to explore it as I would have liked. We walked through the old city to get there, which was fun but overly touristy. The afternoon consisted of a visit to an architect's office (an MIT alum) to hear about their projects and work in China in general. We visited their first project - a very successful high-end commercial development made from an old french-built housing district. A really beautiful urban design but overpriced everything, including Starbucks which (all of them here) sells drinks for 50-100% more than they cost in the States.

Our second day together we visited the Urban Planning Institute, which is a museum of sorts. A scale model of the city with working lights charmed everyone and the movie-in-the-round of Shanghai's development projects dizzied us. We visited several other interesting sites, including a 1933 butcher complex that is now a commercial redevelopment. Dozens of narrow cattle paths ramp up in spirals which make for a fascinating architectural composition and a recently added glass floor on top allows one to see the lines and curves of the concrete structure from above.

With class, we have been eating our meals all together mainly at hotel restaurants. There is consistently double or more the amount of food that is necessary. Most of the dishes are delicious, flavored with garlic, peppers, and nice sauces. But the food is so heavy; we are all getting tired or mushy oily vegetables, deep fried tempura coating, and lack of fresh fruits and greens. I can't bring myself to buy extra things at the grocery store when there is an abundance of free food for us.