Tuesday, August 5
This morning we said goodbye to Mum, Heather, Neville and Maree who were on flights leaving from the nearby airport just after 1pm. Colin, Lorraine, Clare, Angus and their 2 little girls were going to Karen's parents place to leave their bags for the day as they were not flying out until 6pm together with Nick and Karen, Rachel and Nick and John and Judy. We fly tomorrow so we had an extra day to ourselves.
We decided to check out a museum and some shops, and generally have a quiet day compared to the hectic schedule of the last 5 days, and also to eat some Western food! We've had some delicious Chinese banquets, but 2 a day for the last 4 days has done us in. It was also another hot day so we didn't want to push ourselves.
We caught a taxi and not far from where we're staying saw the sculpture of plastic flowers that Noelle asked our guide Michael about on Friday. It has certainly been a good landmark and quite quirky.
We were heading for the Propaganda Poster Art Museum, which was recommended by the two Nick's, and after a bit of a walk we found it in the basement of a residential building complex. This is a private museum consisting of posters saved from destruction as the political winds in China changed along with various leaders after Mao Tse Tung. It was amazing to see the posters which covered the period 1949 - 1990 as we have lived through this period and can remember Mao's Little Red Book, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. There were also posters of Shanghai Ladies from the 1930s which really show how open Shanghai was to westerners due to the influence of the British and French as well as the Art Deco movement. We weren't allowed to take photos so we've included photos of the brochures we picked up.
You could see the power of propaganda and fear of contradicting the State as people were basically brain washed to believe their way was the best and the West was evil. Fortunately these extreme views have moderated since TV and now the Internet have exposed the Chinese people to different points of view even though there is still censorship in China as we've found out. Neither Facebook nor Google work here, so we haven't been able to post our blogs on a daily basis!
We opted for a toasted sandwich, cake and iced coffee for lunch, then set off to explore the French concession on foot. We passed some lovely colonial buildings on large estates which all appeared to be owned by the State, as well as the usual array of motor scooters carrying loads of materials which just wouldn't be allowed at home. Our favorite was a balloon seller!
Crossing the road here means taking your life in your own hands (or feet) as traffic signals are taken as suggestions only by the drivers, so you need to have your wits about you. We had to cross a 3 way junction at a big intersection and we managed to do this successfully.
During our walk along Huashan Road we passed Huashan Greenland, a large park that provided relief from the heat of the afternoon, and we couldn't resist taking a photo of the "Chinglish" signboard as it described the park as being in the shape of a handgun!
We used some of the shops to cool down before wandering on a bit further, but after a couple of hours of this we decided to head back to our hotel as we had to pack and prepare to head home. We ate in the Bistro in our hotel and chose to have an early night in our nice, comfortable bed as we'll be sleeping on the plane tomorrow night on the flight home.
The lobby and Bistro at Xijiao State Guest Hotel
Pianist entertaining us in the lobby
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