The weather in Shanghai got pretty nasty today... it rained all day and the temp. dipped into the low 10C's/high 40F's... I learned that the weather in Wuhan is not any better... even colder!I cannot believe the phenomenal metamorphosis that has taken place in this great metropolitan city of 20 million when I was here last... only 10 months ago!! Three major hotels have opened in the city center and the the world's largest electronic billboard is in operation now in Pudong on an entire building (next to JinMao... currently, world's tallest building) overlooking the Bund.
The Peace Hotel on the Bund.... both wings are currently closed for some major renovation. It was a major disappointment for my mother because she couldn't see the grandiose hotel she saw when she was ten years old...not that it had changed much after all this time. However, she was very happy she got to walk on the Bund.
70 years ago, she and her family sailed on a junk for many days on the Yangtze and landed in Shanghai. Back then, she told us it was a grassy muddy harbor with fishermen, traders, merchants, beggars and very wealthy white people living across the bund and driving "carts with two eyes" (Ford model T?).
I didn't feel the kind of affiliation I felt for Shanghai when I was here last year. This trip with my mother is a lot different... I think it was the nostalgia of my mother and her parents disembarking from their boat on the Bund seventy years ago and... the fact that I realized that I have more connection to this city than a cousin and a niece merely living here. This morning, I find myself telling my cousin.... that I would consider moving to Shanghai some time....
The Peace Hotel on the Bund.... both wings are currently closed for some major renovation. It was a major disappointment for my mother because she couldn't see the grandiose hotel she saw when she was ten years old...not that it had changed much after all this time. However, she was very happy she got to walk on the Bund.70 years ago, she and her family sailed on a junk for many days on the Yangtze and landed in Shanghai. Back then, she told us it was a grassy muddy harbor with fishermen, traders, merchants, beggars and very wealthy white people living across the bund and driving "carts with two eyes" (Ford model T?).
I didn't feel the kind of affiliation I felt for Shanghai when I was here last year. This trip with my mother is a lot different... I think it was the nostalgia of my mother and her parents disembarking from their boat on the Bund seventy years ago and... the fact that I realized that I have more connection to this city than a cousin and a niece merely living here. This morning, I find myself telling my cousin.... that I would consider moving to Shanghai some time....
Exotic Cuisines of Shanghai....
2 comments:
No kidding, moving to Shanghai! Makes me want to go c what d fuss is all about... Haven't u met nasty vendors/shopkeepers yet? Blog more, esp d on d food!
Hey Happy Birthday!Ur're prob. in some remote village with no internet? Call me when u get to KL.
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