As always, me complaining = cats

The summer travel train keeps on going.

I am going to title this entry "Full of Surprises". It has a short backstory to it, and it's my blog, so I'm going to tell you. Ella really wanted to visit a beach this summer, so after the last entry in Ningbo, we had planned to go to some islands near Shanghai for some island life. BUT, it turns out, because we are black sheep from Shanghai, we faced a series of "Nos". To start, I feel I need to shortly remind people that China is a bit crazy with "dynamic zero COVID". You need to show a travel code to go everywhere which shows where you've been. And, after the lockdown we had, everyone is terrified for any case pops up on their watch. I mean, aside from the public health reason, almost assuredly it will be career ending for the local authorities that let it happen. Still, we were already in the province, had checked official regulations, and just to be extra safe have been testing every 48 hours. So first, the island hotels said "We don't think you can come here.", which is not great. And a call to the port confirmed it - somewhere along the chain had decided nobody who has been to Shanghai within two weeks can come. Ugh. Fine. The city with the ferry, Zhoushan, has some nice beaches as well. We'll just go over there. And it turns out yes, you can go there. But the area with the beaches, again, someone decided you are not allowed there, unless you have been out of Shanghai for one week. Argh! One week was 4 days away, and we did not really feel up to waiting around for our Shanghai travel code to clear. Fine. You don't want us, we don't want you. Zhejiang is on the sea, there are beaches, right?

Our research says yes, but they're probably not worth it. We found one about 4 hours away, and the photos made it look kind of muddy. We also considered the worst case scenario that we would show up there, and some overzealous security guard would not let us in. So we just decided to cut our losses, decided this whole beach thing is not worth it, and we'll just go home. However, I did have a Plan B, although I wasn't exactly thrilled about it. You see, Shanghai actually has a beach. (I mean, its name, "Shang" means "on", and "Hai" means "sea".) But here are some of the amazing things I have heard about Shanghai's Jinshan Beach:

"Muddy cesspool"

"Crowded mess of terribleness"

"Cheap copy of a beach"

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy"

Especially after living in Thailand for years, I was expecting to be extremely underwhelmed. But still, I thought, if we went with friends, we could make it fun, at least poking fun at how bad it is. So we packed the cooler, met up with good people, and headed out.

First surprise - There is a train almost directly to the beach from Shanghai South Station, which operates basically like a metro - so no checking in, no buying tickets online, or anything. After some initial confusion on where the entrance was, it really was easy peasy, although the trains leave about every 30 minutes as opposed to the metro's 2 minutes. It's a high speed line, and despite the coast being about 55km away from the city, it only takes about 30 minutes from end to end. The train was really comfortable and pretty empty - we even got to share a table to sit together. It cost us all a whopping 10 yuan ($1.70). We arrived in the afternoon, and checked into our hotel.

Second surprise - the hotel was actually really good, way beyond what I'd expect. In truth we didn't have many options on hotels that accept foreigners that were near the beach, so it was more or less this one or one much further out. I know Ella and I would be okay with it no matter what, because we are absolutely not fancy travelers. I mean, motels would be fancy for us. I was a bit worried out traveling companions though, because well... they probably have higher standards. Turns out no, this hotel was pretty affordable and quite nice. It even had a robot butler, which, I am glad that's a thing in China now. It also had the longest straight hallway I have ever seen in my life, which I was pretty excited about. While that is all well and good, it was very new and clean, with a pretty decent Chinese breakfast buffet that we took advantage of the next morning. But now, it's off to the probably very underwhelming beach.

Third (and best) surprise - the beach was way beyond my expectations. I guess it was because everyone undersold it so much, but honestly, it was really nice! Heck, I've been to worse beaches in Thailand. I've also been to considerably better beaches in Thailand, but still I'd give this beach a 7/10. Supposedly they imported all the sand from Hainan island in the south, but hey, who cares - it's here now, and it feels soft and nice on my feet. There was a breakwater offshore, so the waves were pretty small, but still, you had the beach sound. You could even go swimming, which is like "Duh?" but honestly, China is strangely weird about that. They had lifeguards in chairs on stilts literally about every 10 meters, that I think if you started to drown they could just reach down and pick you up. You also couldn't go too far out, maybe chest deep at most. But hey, it's a beach! And a pretty good one! Even though it was a Tuesday, there were a fair number of people, but it wasn't super crowded. Fortunately we took a walk just 100-200 meters away from the gate, and we found a spot with plenty of room. After the sun went down and people started to filter out, we had a big stretch the beach basically to ourselves. Heck, they even have a few restaurants near the entrance, which are a bit overpriced but did sell seafood BBQ. And hey, this is still holiday, right? We got a few very large sticks of grilled squid, which was surprisingly good. But not wanting to make a full meal out of it, we tried our luck to order delivery from a restaurant outside. They delivered it, along with some beer, to the gate, again with no fuss. We spent the afternoon and evening chilling, eating, and drinking a ridiculous amount of beer. It was honestly one of the coolest holidays I've had in China, sitting right here in Shanghai this whole time.

But unfortunately, at around 9 an employee came up to us to tell us the beach is closing. After hanging out there for 5 hours though, that was fine. We went back to the hotel to decide what to do next, and thought we might as well go to a bar. Truthfully, Jinshan is not a night life place, so our options, again, were few. But with the girls wanting to rest, the four guys went out to the one bar on the map nearby.

Hello surprise number four.

This bar is not a place foreigners come to. In fact, I would bet money we are the first foreigners who had ever been there. It is very nondescript, sort of hiding under an apartment building next to a bridge in an unassuming part of town. There were only three customers in there, although, again, Tuesday night. The owner spoke in broken English that he has Kirin on draft. One of my friends ordered a large, which you would think is a pint or so. Nope. It is Oktoberfest style large, one of those giant steins as big as your head, for 30 yuan ($4.40) I had already consumed a ridiculous amount of beer that day, and saw he had bottles of liquor, so I asked for a gin and tonic. He said the other bartender is not here, and he doesn't know how to make it. I mean, despite the name also being the instructions, I really did not want beer. So I jokingly asked "Can I make it?"

"Okay!"

So here I was, behind the bar, searching for his gin, which I finally found hiding behind some other bottles. I did eventually find it, but more surprisingly I also found a dog. He was a very friendly and old dog who probably would sprain his tail from wagging it so hard greeting new people. Now up one self-made GnT and a new friend, the surprises did not stop. It turns out the bartender, the owner, was from Inner Mongolia and used to play in a band. He went up on stage, got a piano, guitar, and belted out a mix of English, Mandarin, and local dialect songs. He completely killed it, which, wow, did not expect that! He asked if any of us play, which, one of our friends definitely does. Said friend is quite talented actually, and gave a great performance for the three very surprised Chinese people in the bar, and then eventually just us, because we shut the place down. As the owner was turning out the lights behind us, he walked us around the bar, showing us all the posters of his band from their glory days, and all the art he made that he decorated the bar with. Truly an awesome dude that would fit in so well in Thailand.

We tried calling a Didi, but after waiting about 10 minutes, there were no takers - unsurprising given the time and place. We had resigned to a 30 minute walk back, unless we lucked out and found some rental bikes. (Small) surprise number five. No sooner than when we said that, we turned a corner and there were exactly four rental bikes for our group. After a very ridiculous bike ride back, and a rougher morning with a lot of coffee, we got back to Shanghai a little after lunch, almost exactly 24 hours after we left. 

In fact, we liked it so much, we did it again about a week later. Still the same procedure, although even better this time we all got to the bar. It was essentially a repeat of last time, with some new friends. So yeah, I guess you could say we're a fan of Jinshan City Beach. Who knew? It gets a bad rap, which is undeserved, at least for a weekday. I suspect on the weekend it will be nuts, so maybe that's not the best time to go. But I'm going to be the lookout for school holidays that are not work holidays, because it's a great and convenient getaway.

 

So, summer travel is over. Time to settle down and get back to work, right?

Nah... there is still time left, even though a giant deadline is looming large. Not only is the semester starting soonish, I'm also booked to do the final module of the DELTA. I've mentioned it occasionally on this blog for the past 4 years (oh god, we started that long ago?), but the DELTA is a Cambridge English teaching certification. This is literally the highest you can go besides a PhD I guess, which I have no plans on doing. Actually, starting this one, and knowing what the other two modules were, has been filling me with an unusual amount of anxiety. I'm going to be doing it while working, which I would only attempt because I'm taking it on a more spread out schedule, and I'm teaching the exact same classes as last year - so no need to prepare things again. Still, maybe as I get older, I have less and less desire to be back in school or do professional development. So I am eager to finish this one, only because, again, there's really nothing higher to aspire to. Not to say I'll never do another cert, but, certainly none as intensive I hope.

While there is a lot I need to get done before then, that is still 3 weeks away. So let's start by wishing Ella happy birthday! She wanted to go to the zoo, which I was also pretty keen on. We had visited the zoo once before, years ago, in the winter when my parents visited. Honestly, not the best time to visit, but then again, the middle of summer also isn't the best for different reasons. But still, with plenty of sunscreen and water, we set out, and saw some cute things... and not cute things. Of course pandas are often the main sight to see in China, but after Chengdu I doubt any other panda encounters could compare. And yeah, I was right. Go to Chengdu to see pandas if you can, because that is a pretty great experience. Pandas in other zoos just kind of sit there and eat bamboo. You might say, well, "what else would they do?" and fair point. But the ones in Chengdu were quite active and playful, so, yeah, that's a better than a zoo. I mean, look at this guy - kind of okay I guess, but just eating and chilling. Fine I guess, but do you know which panda is cuter? Red pandas. I'm going on record here, giant pandas are dumb bamboo trash bins. Red pandas on the other hand? Adorable cat bears. Science, I know you're busy with things like, curing cancer, but if you can find the time to make house red pandas I'd appreciate it.

Anyway, for dinner that evening we went to The Cheesecake Factory, which was incredibly indulgent as always. I know that may sound weird to many Americans, but getting a giant plate of things cooked in pounds of butter is not a regular thing in Asia, for better or worse (probably better to be honest). Stumbling home with a full stomach and a box of leftovers, I was still eager for a holiday somewhere else. But of course, with China being China, our choices were limited to the provinces that will accept us black sheep. In truth things are a little more open now, but we had talked about visiting this place when things weren't, so by golly we're sticking to it. It's not exactly a far away destination, the next door province of Zhejiang. Obligatory, "I've been there before." In fact, I lived there before. Zhejiang is the province the city of Hangzhou is in, my first home in China. Ella and I have been to Hangzhou before on a day trip, and although there is a bit more to see there, we decided it's probably not worth the time just to see the scattered sites that half of us have seen already. So instead, it was off to Ningbo.

Alright, actually, I've been to Ningbo before as well, although I have to go waaaaay back in the blog to find that entry. And to be honest I don't remember much about Ningbo. It was a quick day trip 10 years ago with some coworkers, and we had a local that more or less shuttled us around. As fast as China develops, a decade ago is basically the same as saying a century ago. I remember seeing a temple in the mountains. Nice at the time, but by now I've seen enough temples for several lifetimes. Now Ningbo is a town of 8 million, not far behind Hangzhou's 12. The first day we arrived we took a nap before heading out to see the night markets. The first, at the drum tower, is pretty nice with lots of food. It is small though, and seems to just be a place to eat more than anything. We then went to the South Bank walking street, which was architecturally a bit more interesting but pretty sleepy. Finally we went to Mr. Box, an eclectic art and drinking sort of area made out of shipping containers. Unfortunately most everything was closed on Monday, and we got caught in a downpour. We took refuge under a bridge until we found a place that had a sign, in English, that said "Barbecue and Beer". And just like The Sound of Music, ~these are a few of my favorite things.~ That BBQ and beer place would turn out to be one of the best kept secrets of Ningbo. It was Korean style where you cook at your table over hot coals, with cheap draft beer to go around. Now full of meat and beer, we went back to the hotel only to be given a complimentary cocktail for the night. Yes I will, thank you. After a night's sleep, we set out to see what Ningbo really had to offer.

I think our favorite thing was probably the Ningbo Museum, which was really well done and one of the better museums in China. I would have been happy with just that, but when we got there we saw their temporary exhibit was the dinosaurs of China. A big yes to that!! They had a lot of animatronic dinosaurs moving around, so I was beyond thrilled. I don't care how old you are, a roaring T-Rex robot is just pure happiness.

After being a little disappointed with the lack of Ningbo nightlife from the previous night, we took another shot and went to the Old Bund with low expectations. It turned out though, that this is where all the cool stuff was hiding. First it had an Art Museum which Ella of course liked. There is also a very nice looking church that was actually having mass when we arrived. That's pretty unusual in China nowadays, as most have been closed apparently for COVID reasons. After mass a woman talked to us a bit about the history of the place, which was nice. For me though, the view of the river and the packed bar street was the draw of The Old Bund. The bar street was really busy and full of cool places, even on a weeknight, so that was a pleasant surprise. We managed to find a bar owned by a very outgoing Italian guy who has possibly the largest, fluffiest, and most friendly dog I've ever met. Honestly, it was so fluffy I don't know where fur ended and dog began. Ella was thrilled to pet this fluffer, who was also eager to pose for photos. On top of that, the food and drinks were great and pretty inexpensive. Later the whole family came back, and the owner's daughter of about 3 years old gave the dog a big hug, and practically disappeared into a pile of white fur.

But we managed to see a few other places in Ningbo, like the Ningbo Bang Museum, basically about how Ningbo people are great businessmen and women. It was a very nice building and put together well, but hard for me to get excited about how one Ningbo native started the largest matchstick company in Asia. There was also Tianyi Library, which is the oldest library in China at over 500 years old, containing writing over 1000 years old - which I do appreciate, for example when I look at a badly weathered inscription and think "This is 5x older than my entire home country is." But practically nowadays it's just a little Chinese garden, which I have seen countless of. And unfortunately I'd say those were all the noteworthy sites in Ningbo. It's a nice place for a day, two days at most. And for us, it's pretty convenient to get to. However, it isn't really a destination in and of itself. Which actually, I want to sidebar and talk about for a bit.

 

 

 

 

I feel a lot of places in China I have described as "nice for a day or two". In fact, if I were to make a list of places that would fit that mold, it would probably be: Changsha, Haikou, Wuhan, Dongguan, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Guilin, Quanzhou, Kunming, Xi'an, Chengdu, and probably several more I'm missing. I don't think China is really so unique in this, honestly Cincinnati, Colombus, and Cleveland would probably be described the same way, however I do think they have a uniqueness to them. Conversely in China, I think things are getting to be very samey, and I'm starting to get over it. I have seen enough temples, gardens, local art galleries, and provincial museums to last a lifetime. And most are not bad really, they're just... well, more or less the same (except for robot dinosaurs, of course). Part of the reason is just being limited to domestic travel for the time being, I'm seeing a lot of them together. But even if they were spaced out, I think if I put all my "Chinese temple" photos together without labels I would not be able to tell them apart.

So that begs the question why do it? In fact, after feeling a solid "eh it's alright" about Ningbo, and also after a few beers, I had a really long think about that on this trip. In the end, I think I have a pretty multi-faceted answer as to why I travel. The first is that I have a sort of completionist personality, so I want to "finish" seeing China, as ridiculous of an idea as that is. But even so, I feel we've done a bang up job so far. There's few people outside of China, or even within, who have been to more places in the country than we have. The second reason I want to travel is completely shallow, that I want to be wordly. If I meet someone from Ningbo, I like to be able to say "Hey, I know your hometown, The Old Bund is great." It's an instant way to appear as a cool person with stories, and also make an instant connection with the other person. The last reason is that I like to see/experience unique things. That's why I loved the bamboo bird pirate from Guangxi, because it's such a ridiculous thing that I'll remember for the rest of my life, and it's a good bar story.

This last reason is most important though, because it's the most inherently fun. That list of places in China earlier...none of them really had that weird, ridiculous moment, so unless I refresh my memory on this blog they'll probably all blend together and again, feel samey. So, what next? Do we keep traveling? And yeah, probably. Given the current circumstances, I don't think I can really change that. Normally I'd say it's time to shake things up and take a holiday to another country, but right now that's a very troublesome, expensive, and lengthy quarantine process. But who knows, it may get to that point. The other option is to leave China permanently, which I'm not opposed to, but then the question is to where? It's hard to beat the salary versus cost of living, not to mention the comfort of Shanghai. Then again money isn't everything. I don't think anything is going to change any time soon, but I do think after this lockdown, and the lack of exciting domestic getaways, it's time to keep my eyes open.