Off The Beaten Path

HengShan Lu

 HengShan Lu is quite an interesting place actually. By day, the road is populated by these nice little restaurants, and coffee shops. 

By night, it is transformed. It becomes a place of night clubs, and Chinese dance bars. When I was new to Shanghai, this was one of my first pit stops, if you would call it that, with a young, German colleague. One of the nice places for dinner was ( I don't know if it still exists ), is a restaurant called "1,001 Nights". A place where you can gorge on kebabs, look gently on as the belly dancer struts her stuff. One of the belly dancers was truly brilliant, and in my later days, I would go there from time to time for a "boys night out" with some of my Indian friends. Kebabs, beer and a belly dancer mixed together in the right proportions make for a superb Saturday evening!

Back to my early days with my young and intrepid German friend, we soon decided that HengShan Lu was not the place for us. We landed on the much more exciting shores of MaoMing Nan Lu. Not a place to take your wife or girlfriend. Of course, it depends on what kind of girlfriend you have.... well, we only looked. We did not venture beyond the visual delight syndrome. 

Our favourite place on Maoming Nan Lu was a bar called "Judy's Too". Later on they opened up a branch on Tongren Lu. The branch, however, was never a match for the original. 

Those early days, and they were great early days, the place to find us on a Friday or Saturday evening, was Judy's Too. Till about 3 am! 

There were two bar girls of whom we were particularly fond. IThe first was called Jessica, I think, but the second was nicknamed "Monkey Face". Jessica was behind the bar, and would give us the occasional free shot of some sort of liquor. MonkeyFace would mix within the crowd, dance, and take beer orders. 

From time to time, Jessica and Monkey Face would get up on the bar table, and do a pole dance. At which point, the expats would crowd around the poles, their faces gazing up in religious bliss. Heaven was at hand.

If there is one point I must raise, it is that Monkey Face had the most glorious figure I have ever seen. I am not sure if this is still the case, as she was fond of her beer. She had an extremely impassive face, but she moved her body in dance with the sinuous grace of a snake. 

I think that the dancing helped to keep her in shape. 

Wherever you are, Monkey Face, my German buddy and I tip our proverbial hats off to you!

Life is funny - people whom you never have spoken to - can become a part of your life in an odd sort of way, even if they have no clue who you are!

Yes. Shanghai can be fun. 

HengShan Lu. One of the places that I loved on HengShan Lu was my hairdresser's shop. Not her shop. She was employed there! But, I stumbled upon it after a few disastrous haircuts in the normal Chinese barber shops. So, there was Anna, my French hairdresser, who proceeded to save my hair for the majority of my stay in China.

China is known for its barber shops. There are barber shops, and value added barber shops. The value added ones, to which I have never been, can be fun, I am told. Short term fun followed by long term pain. Prostitution is not legalised in China. Officially, it does not exist. Yet, prostitutes are everywhere in Shanghai and Beijing. Some pose as street walkers, some exist in barber shops, some aim to give you a massage, and some aim to teach you Chinese.

Fun yes. However, with an almost 10% prevalence of Hepatitis B in the country, brave adventurer, beware!

Enjoy the visual feast in the bars, however. Look, but do not touch was always my motto. Others would be well advised to follow it.

At The Oriental Pearl Tower

I've always been fascinated by the Oriental Pear Tower, the iconic TV tower that appears in so many advertisements of Shanghai. In many ways, this seems to typify the new, modern Shanghai; the new, modern China. 

Yet, oddly, I have never been up to the top. Really very odd. This is, after all, by some counts, the third largest TV & radio tower in the world, after the ones in Toronto & Moscow. However, none so personify the modernity of a city as do The Oriental Pearl Tower. After it's completion in 1994, it has been added to the list of the World's Federation of Great Towers. This is a distinction it does deserve, I think

Double decker elevators carry people up to the top at a speed of 7 metres per second. Fast? I really cannot say. I have not done the trip.

The picture above was taken from Puxi, the west side of the river. The Oriental Pear Tower is in Pudong, the east of the river. Pudong was, in 1990, a fishing village. Now, it is the financial district of Shanghai, with the Jin Mao Tower, and the new Financial Tower that is over 101 stories high - the Bottle Opener as some people call it.

 

This shot above, was also taken from Pudong. This time, I took it while walking along Nanjing Dong Lu, or Nanjing East Street, which is a pedestrian street. I like the way that the Tower dominates the landscape even here. The day, however, was dull and grey like so many days can be in Shanghai. However, you have it - very Chinese signs, neo classical buildings, and the Oriental Pearl! All in one! What more can you ask for..

 

Now this one was taken from, I think, the 50th floor of the HSBC Tower in Pudong. So now, we are in PuDong, looking over to the West. There you have the skyline of Shanghai. The old mingles with the new in Puxi, and this gives Puxi an altogether unique charm. PuDong does not quite have the same charm as Puxi. However, PuDong is a great place to live if you have kids, and I must say that I had a blast in PuDong. 

We were eating lunch when I took this shot. There is, or was, an outstanding Japanese restaurant on the 50th floor of the HSBC Tower in PuDong. Expensive, yes, but I can only recommend this very highly indeed. 

And finally, one shot at night. I was walking back to the hotel after one of those corporate shindigs, and I was carrying this baby camera. I had always been curious about the Oriental Pearl Tower at night, from a photographic aspect. I have, of course, seen it at night many, many times. 

Anyhow, I was there. With a camera. The rest, as they say, is a bit of dimwitted history.