Crossing Boundaries, whatever that means

How much for happy?

On a quest to at least buy a few souvenirs for friends before they all thought I was being inconsiderate, a group of girls and I ventured out across the street from our hotel and into the underground shopping plaza. Even though the malls were literally a road away, it took ten minutes to actually get there because of the ways streets and lanes were divided and partitioned with rails. Every time you needed to cross the road, you’d walk to the end of the block instead of leaving where you want to go.

The underground plaza was small but filled with little shops selling women’s clothes, shoes, accessories, trinkets, toys but also many small food and snack stores. Luckily for a lot of us, shopkeepers were much less adamant on getting our attentions unlike the ones in Beijing. Crowded as usual, I couldn’t help but wonder if the locals are actually happy with their lifestyles here. Almost everything about Shanghai is commercial; you can shop everywhere and eat whatever you want at little costs. But is it a fair price to trade with how much they work and study just to have their little leisure?

As a middle class Bangkok-er, I live a good life when I go back to visit the homeland. Still, I’m curious how hard people have to work to earn enough spending money just for the fun social activities that are everywhere here. These thoughts are sporadic, curious and doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I’ve no idea where else to spill them.

Anyways, back to what I did see in Shanghai:

The day we visited the financial center, I had to find an HSBC bank to get more money before I become completely broke. Rainy advised us to go to the mall across from the TV tower because she believed there is at least an ATM branch there but she was unfortunately wrong :( However, upon entrance I noticed a Thai style shrine along with Thai flags all over the front of the mall. Rainy also didn’t understand why, but I found with my own research that a Thai corporation financed the creation of this mall. Thailand Expo was also held here not too long ago, which made me feel at home for a second. Unfortunately, the battery on the camera died right before I got a photo with elephant statues whose skin was imprinted with coins.

The financial center wasn’t too exciting to me. We had just come out of a lame lecture with a pretentious business advisor who blabbed about nothing (he did offer free pringles though) so I was about ready to go back to the hotel and roam on my own. In that financial area, we were given a little less than an hour to walk around but couldn’t go inside due to lack of time (and money for tickets). By this time it was so close to the end of our China seminar that although I’d love the trips, I couldn’t wait to take things at my own pace and sleep in a few nights.

The Great Wall of Bargaining

(Before, I start, I know I’m way behind in these Mainland China posts, but I really do want to go in depth with each experience so bare with me that the entries are not timely whatsoever!)

We spent a few days before our trip to the Great Wall lectured by various professors, left to roam an urban art district, visited the Olympic Village where the 2008 games were played and shopped in a tourist market. None of these particular events were that exciting because they were either not very interesting or we weren’t given enough time to appreciate anything. Also, I do not enjoy getting left out in the cold, so imagine my feelings that after wanting to sit in a hot bath from the freezing wind, we were dropped off at a street to walk mindlessly for an hour. I love art and museums, but that’s a total summer thing.

With that, I’m skipping to the main event.

Before the great wall, I knew I needed real shoes after sliding and falling on the Xi’an city wall with my cheap, vintage $10 shoes. But when in Beijing, there were no place better to shop than where the locals did. Using my one semester of Mandarin 101, three of my lady friends and I ventured to a mall where I fell in love with a pair of zipper boots. The shopkeeper asked for 450 yuan ($65.22 USD) and I immediately rejected and walked away. Our strategy was to keep walking back to see how much lower she’d offer, then we pretended to be interested with shoes at the stores surrounding her shop. It was a bit mean but I was on a budget, so as soon as I yelled “100 yuans ($14.49 USD)” to her and she finally gave in after the fifth walkby, I bolted in the store and tried the boots on. Size 37. SOLD. She asked us where we were from, and when she learned we were mostly Americans, she complimented with “You guys are good.”

I don’t have asthma, but it sure felt like I did as I began to walk up the Great Wall of China. At the beginning we were given the choice of paying for a cable car ride up to the top, but my grandmother insisted before I came to China that if she can make it, there is no reason I should not go up by foot. Although I am sure she took her sweet, sweet time in a nice, warm weather and we were given a few hours in deep freeze.

It started with a large group who decided to also walk up, but minutes later I found myself slowing down to catch my breath. Luckily, I was with three other girls who were willing to take their time with me as I fought through my sore throat which became a burning hole in the neck the more I gasped for air. Also, I was not alone; another groupmate was also suffering throat issues perhaps in a worse condition than mine. Though the closer I saw the top of the walls, the more encouraging it was.

I say this with the least exaggeration possible, but never in my life was I ever so proud of myself. Here I was on top of the manmade great wall after riding around the Xi’an wall just a week ago. I might be a skinny little girl, but inside I am an unfit, fat person. Nothing was more physically accomplishing than standing up there, knowing I’d finally made it.

At the very top, I caught up with a group of friends who decided to take photos. Wanting to make it into one of them, I ran into the photo but slipped and fell flat on my ass in the process. Needless to say, the boots did not help me whatsoever. Face in the sky, I laughed, but my tailbone hurt for weeks. How’s that for making grandma proud?

(Photo by Shirley Wong)

The wall felt endless. Being on this wall is definitely an experience of a lifetime. I do hope to revisit and perhaps strike a similar pose in another decade.

For the return trip, I paid for a toboggan ride down which was not only fun but gave me another great view of the mountains. Though I could not feel my fingers or my thighs by the end of the ride, it was totally worth the 45 yuan ($6.52 USD). We ended the great wall trip with a Chinese version of hackysack, where the beanie is replaced by a feathered weight. I never got good at the game, but it was a nice way to start putting sensations back in my toes after “skidding” down the great wall.