We landed at Shanghai's Pudong airport at 9:45pm and were met by our unsmiling and rather mute driver Mr. Li. We drove into the night with the air as thick as pea soup. I opened my window to take in the fresh night air, and just as soon began to sense an ever so slight stinging in my eyes. Within a matter of minutes the stinging could no longer be described as slight and as it turns out, this otherwise romantic fog turned out to actually be city smog, neither fresh nor advisable for inhaling. I enjoyed the remainder of the hour's drive to the city with the windows firmly sealed and grateful that Mr. Li's silence would enable him to maintain full focus on his driving, and I must say that Mr. Li seemed quite able to navigate at 100km/hr with just 10 feet of visibility.
Soon enough we were reunited with my dear cousin Sabrina who lives in Shanghai in full ex-pat grandeur. After greeting 4 of her doormen, Alec, Aaron, Henry and Enson (none of whom were born with their names, but picked them as all Chinese who deal with foreigners do out of some outdated baby name book no doubt left over by some passerby in the early 1970's) we deposited our luggage and headed out to a dumpling shop. We enjoyed a few different types of dumplings and learned that in China the "napkin" has not yet been introduced into main stream society. Consequently, one must carry masses of tissue on one's person at all times or risk excessive hotel laundry bills and of course the embarassment of oil stains on one's lap. Next we hopped in a taxi and headed for the Happy Rainbow Foot Massage parlour. For anyone who has yet to enjoy a Chinese foot massage, may I kindly urge you to rush out of your home and board the very next plane to China where 60 minutes of pure bliss awaits you for the remarkably reasonable price of about $7-$12 USD. Then at 1am we took our very happy feet back to Sabrina's for bedtime.
The next morning I enjoyed a killer workout with Sabrina's personal trainer "Jimmy", and then it was off to the silk markets for custom made dresses for Livvy. We also stopped in Nanjing street to enjoy some dim sum and a treat at a very chic Haagen Daz with white gloved servers. Livvy was positively joyful selecting her fabric and various dress styles. But the piece de resistance was to be found at the pearl market where Livvy set to customizing her accessories. "This is like heaven!" she quipped. Great start to our journey.
That's funny that you mentioned how the Chinese pick Western names.
ReplyDeleteAt my university there were several students' from China with some really, uhm, interesting names: Doris, Esmeralda, Edith...to name a few.
One day I asked them how they chose the names. Turns out they were watching American movies from the 1940s and 1950s.....really? Never would have guessed it! ;0-)
safe travels!
Chinese Massages = Pure Bliss....Going back to China and booking 2 hrs a day!!!
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