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Because the hockey game was on so late (1 am Shanghai time), we were unable to catch the metro but luckily there was a metro-labeled passenger van parked near by. We all shuffled in and were brought to our destination for zero charge. We tried to insist on paying the driver, but he was having none of it. The bar was a small place on the fifth floor above a hair salon and a restaurant, but definitely had a Canadian contingent and English menus, so we assumed we were in the right place. Being the patriot I am, I ordered myself a Canadian Club, which is really not the smartest drink when you are watching a stressful one-goal hockey game. But we won, we had fun and that’s all that matters.
Shanghai has an embarrassment of touristy sights, so on Saturday our Professor-supervisor extraordinaire Dr. Gregg and his wife Paula took it upon themselves to show us around before they head back to Canada. Gregg and his wife have been coming to Shanghai for about twelve years, so they are well-tuned on what to see in the city.
Our first stop was the legendary Yuyuan Gardens, Shanghai’s most popular classical gardens. As is the wont with most popular things, Yuyuan Gardens has been converted into a popular tourist destination, complete with souvenirs and peddlers of anything you might imagine. The classical Chinese architecture is slightly cheapened by an old woman selling decorative chopsticks inside, but the effort is still appreciated. I will have to go back on a nicer day to have a better tour of the actual gardens themselves, as we had many sights to see and this was only stop #1. If you need Chinese souvenirs, this is the a place to get them. I bought an ice cream cone. It was delicious.
Someday I will have a picture of all these sights, but on Saturday I had to leave most of the photography to the others. I’ve been trying to charge my camera for the past week, and on Sunday I finally realized that it doesn’t charge, it takes four AA batteries. That explains the dead camera, but does not explain my stupidity. Expect an increase in photos from here on out.
I was able to score a 2014 Canadian Olympic Weber jersey and two pairs of Ray-Ban Wayfarers for a total of about $75 CAD. Which is not bad, but I sensed that I could have worked them down on the sunglasses because they were quick to accept my final offer. Next time I go back I will be thinking much cheaper, since I have some experience and will be able to haggle with confidence.
We took another walk up through East Nanjing road, to see the streets and walk through People’s Square. Many of the biggest and best Western shops are located on this road, and at nighttime, the road is shut off to cars and is lit up like a Christmas tree. Think of it as Shanghai’s Time Square. Dr. Gregg and Paula took the girls to teach them how to buy pearls (very accessible in Shanghai), while Tyler, James and I took the chance to get off our feet for a few minutes and people watch. I began to play a personal game of “count the white people” but I lost count around 25 and realized that the busiest area in the most cosmopolitan city in China is more than likely to have a few white people. Foreigners are nothing out of the ordinary, and reports of gawkers and local people wanting to take pictures with us whiteboyz have sadly been false (SO FAR!).
We decided we didn’t want to waste our first Saturday night, and found an overpriced bar with a private cubby-hole of a room to get cozy and have some drinks to plan our night. We went with the “play it by ear” strategy which went about as well as expected, but we ended up having a pretty good night overall. We eventually found a place called "Voice Bar" which we expected to house karaoke, but instead found an nearly-empty bar decked out in club lights and filled with employees. We did end up finding some new Chinese friends to boogie down with (having to still recover from the night before, I left the boogying to others and spent my time there relaxing).
The one sore spot of the weekend was the Filipino feed that the bar showed the game on. The game had British announcers (“—you can see Duchene’s application of force to propel velocity on that attempt!”) and would insert commercials WHEN NO COMMERCIALS SHOULD EVER BE INSERTED. Like, between whistles right before the puck drops. They don’t seem to understand that Olympic Gold Medal games are Canadian Christmas that only comes twice every four years (shout-out to the Ladies!). We ended up missing Crosby’s goal to put us up 2-0, but at least we didn’t have to listen to Glenn Healy. Ended the night with a win and some new friends, so I would call it a pretty successful weekend overall.