My 上海 Saunter
I finally made it to Shanghai 上海 soeng6 hoi5! As one of my friends reminded me, I have been talking about visiting Shanghai for a long time. It's all in my plan to slowly work my way upward through China. First I went to Shenzhen 深圳 sam1 zan1. Then Guangzhou 廣州 gwong2 zau1. And now, finally Shanghai!
I've read some books about Shanghai in the 1920s and 30s (the exciting flapper times), so that's always been the image of Shanghai in my mind. Jazz, writers, the French Concession, the Bund. All that fun stuff. Not sure if the writers and jazz is still there (probably?) but at least the Bund and the French Concession (oops, the former French Concession) are still there.
Of course, Shanghai is well outside of Cantonese land, so I tucked my Mandarin Lonely Planet phrasebook into my backpack as I was packing. You never know when you're going to need to say "I feel like going to a ballet" or "If you come to Scotland you can stay with me."
As I mentioned in my airplane post, I know very little Mandarin. Pretty much all of it has been picked up on the few trips to Taiwan when I was fumbling around with the Lonely Planet book. It's only been in the last year or less that I've been picking stuff up from hearing people speak or from announcements or movies or whatnot. But that process is very slow.
Case in point. This summer, I was helping out with a youth camp. One of the leaders, also American, had spent some time in China and speaks Mandarin (don't ask me what level; I can't tell). As we were preparing a slideshow for some songs, she had written down 多少 do1 siu2. I was confused because I thought she was going to write "how much," 幾多 gei2 do1. After some discussion and a consultation with a Hong Konger, we settled on 幾多 for the slide. But my subconscious remembered.
As I stood in front of the bubble tea stand, I remembered. I may or may not have forgotten to change from a "cheen" sound to a "chien" sound for the money part, though. Oh well. Baby crawls. That was pretty much most of my trip when I didn't have friends around translating. Saying the words I remembered and trying to twist the sounds into something more Mandarin. It worked most of the time? At least I got the kind of bubble tea I ordered, so that's good.
Sometimes I would try my best only to mess up. I sat in Grandma's Kitchen, apparently a Shanghai favorite, repeating to myself "Ni you mei you xishoujian?" But what tumbled out of my mouth when the waiter came by? "Ni you mei you sai2 sau2 gaan1?" The waiter did get the idea, though, and pointed me out the door. Thankfully a 洗手間 was to be had out the door, and she wasn't just kicking me out.
Another exciting part of the trip was getting to hear a bit of Shanghainese. I've always loved the way Shanghainese sounds. Once I shared a table at the Hong Kong airport with a couple speaking what I suspected to be Shanghainese. I asked the lady, "上海話 soeng6 hoi2 wa5?" She grinned and nodded at me, but our conversation was halted before it even began at my lack of fluency.
Sights-wise, I had a great trip! The weather, about five degrees cooler than Hong Kong, lifted my spirits. Yu Garden with its dragon wall was beautiful, the Jewish refugee museum was interesting, Tianzifung was Insta-worthy, and the view from an 87th floor hotel was great (although the drink, in contrast, was less than great). Speaking of which...
Food-wise, I was less than lucky. Got stuck in a tourist trap (expensive and the straw soup dumpling was not really edible). Was given 小籠包 siu2 lung4 baau1 Shanghai soup dumplings that had been sitting out too long (I saw you give the nice steaming ones to the other customer; don't think I didn't notice!). The red, braised pork was delicious but ended up being too rich and too much for one person, so it made a reappearance that night.
At least all of the bubble tea I ordered was pretty solid. And, happily, bubble tea 珍珠奶茶 zan1 zyu1 laai5 caa4 is almost the same in Mandarin and Cantonese! Bubble tea tastes good in any language.
Overall, a solid trip. If I ever make it back, and I sure hope to, I'll have to learn some Shanghainese. Like, how do you say "bubble tea"? Gotta learn the important things first.
I've read some books about Shanghai in the 1920s and 30s (the exciting flapper times), so that's always been the image of Shanghai in my mind. Jazz, writers, the French Concession, the Bund. All that fun stuff. Not sure if the writers and jazz is still there (probably?) but at least the Bund and the French Concession (oops, the former French Concession) are still there.
Of course, Shanghai is well outside of Cantonese land, so I tucked my Mandarin Lonely Planet phrasebook into my backpack as I was packing. You never know when you're going to need to say "I feel like going to a ballet" or "If you come to Scotland you can stay with me."
As I mentioned in my airplane post, I know very little Mandarin. Pretty much all of it has been picked up on the few trips to Taiwan when I was fumbling around with the Lonely Planet book. It's only been in the last year or less that I've been picking stuff up from hearing people speak or from announcements or movies or whatnot. But that process is very slow.
Case in point. This summer, I was helping out with a youth camp. One of the leaders, also American, had spent some time in China and speaks Mandarin (don't ask me what level; I can't tell). As we were preparing a slideshow for some songs, she had written down 多少 do1 siu2. I was confused because I thought she was going to write "how much," 幾多 gei2 do1. After some discussion and a consultation with a Hong Konger, we settled on 幾多 for the slide. But my subconscious remembered.
As I stood in front of the bubble tea stand, I remembered. I may or may not have forgotten to change from a "cheen" sound to a "chien" sound for the money part, though. Oh well. Baby crawls. That was pretty much most of my trip when I didn't have friends around translating. Saying the words I remembered and trying to twist the sounds into something more Mandarin. It worked most of the time? At least I got the kind of bubble tea I ordered, so that's good.
Sometimes I would try my best only to mess up. I sat in Grandma's Kitchen, apparently a Shanghai favorite, repeating to myself "Ni you mei you xishoujian?" But what tumbled out of my mouth when the waiter came by? "Ni you mei you sai2 sau2 gaan1?" The waiter did get the idea, though, and pointed me out the door. Thankfully a 洗手間 was to be had out the door, and she wasn't just kicking me out.
Another exciting part of the trip was getting to hear a bit of Shanghainese. I've always loved the way Shanghainese sounds. Once I shared a table at the Hong Kong airport with a couple speaking what I suspected to be Shanghainese. I asked the lady, "上海話 soeng6 hoi2 wa5?" She grinned and nodded at me, but our conversation was halted before it even began at my lack of fluency.
Sights-wise, I had a great trip! The weather, about five degrees cooler than Hong Kong, lifted my spirits. Yu Garden with its dragon wall was beautiful, the Jewish refugee museum was interesting, Tianzifung was Insta-worthy, and the view from an 87th floor hotel was great (although the drink, in contrast, was less than great). Speaking of which...
Food-wise, I was less than lucky. Got stuck in a tourist trap (expensive and the straw soup dumpling was not really edible). Was given 小籠包 siu2 lung4 baau1 Shanghai soup dumplings that had been sitting out too long (I saw you give the nice steaming ones to the other customer; don't think I didn't notice!). The red, braised pork was delicious but ended up being too rich and too much for one person, so it made a reappearance that night.
At least all of the bubble tea I ordered was pretty solid. And, happily, bubble tea 珍珠奶茶 zan1 zyu1 laai5 caa4 is almost the same in Mandarin and Cantonese! Bubble tea tastes good in any language.
Overall, a solid trip. If I ever make it back, and I sure hope to, I'll have to learn some Shanghainese. Like, how do you say "bubble tea"? Gotta learn the important things first.
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