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MAY 2007
> JUNE 2007
old shanghai
here be dragons!
buddhist nunnery
solo piano in shanghai [CLICK PIC TO PLAY YOUTUBE CLIP]
Frustrating time last night at the supposed jam session at JZ, meaning there was no jam session. Saw a great big band however, with impeccible musicianship demonstrated by the massed horns. Life here seems very relaxed and expat (not necessarily a good thing), and looking around the audience, aside from a few Chinese, we could just as easily be in one of the more expensive, trendy bars in the UK.
Mon 4th June 2007
It's great to be tourists instead of teachers, and we've had the opportunity to look around Shanghai quite a bit. The city is being demolished and rebuilt at a startling rate. Even though the new-build is extremely impressive in its size and modernity, it is very sad that, in the near future, practically nothing will remain of what was once Shanghai. We have heard that a similar fate is befalling other parts of China, too.
Yesterday we had the chance to see some of the old Shanghai before it disappears forever. After a mouch around some of the endless markets of old Shanghai town (where, incidentally, I was able to get a new battery for my watch, having tried in vain in Mongolia for a year!), we visited Yu Yuan Garden. This extraordinary place was spared destruction during the Cultural Revolution because of its PRC history - a key communist meeting took place here - thus saving it from the fate of countless other treasures butchered by Madam Mao and the Gang of Four.
Yu Yuan Garden is famous for its double dragon heads, which are indeed splendid. There are quite a few other dragon heads dotted around, plus some exquisite gargoyles and enormous amounts of landscaped stone. Despite its proximity to the hustle and bustle of the nearby markets, the garden has an air of upmost tranquility, which was further heightened by a surprise (at least for us) concert of Chinese traditional music in an inner courtyard of the complex. And so for half an hour, we - and not a few tourists - sat and listened to music played on the pipa, two kinds of wooden flutes (not sure of their names!) and a bell orchestra, which reminded me of the Gamelan orchestra at Birmingham Conservatoire. Despite the wholly unneccesary rendition of Auld Lang Syne (I'm not joking!), it was a magical experience, and we were a little sad to leave its walls and move on. But there's always more to see...
Next we visited a Buddhist nunnery, tucked away down one of the myriad side roads. Don't ask me how to get there, I can't remember to save my life, but again, like the Yu Yuan Garden, it was a zone of calm and tranquility, and some fantastic statues, including a mighty one of the buddha (see left). The nuns were very friendly and were preoccupied with playing with a small dog that seemed to have the run of the place. It felt like a different planet to the one we are so used to. Again, we were sorry to leave!
Tues 5th June 2007
I finally got my hands on a piano today. It's been over two months since I last played one in Ulaanbaatar, and it was long overdue. We were shown to a Yamaha Music School (tucked away in yet another posh shopping mall) by a friend of a friend, who is working as a music teacher at one of the International Schools in Shanghai. For a little over £2, I had access to a Yamaha baby grand for an hour. It felt great to play again, and I was able to do some recording (two improvisations) and also a small amount of composition (two new tunes), so I was very happy about that. Click the picture to the left to view an excerpt from "Orfeu Negro" on YouTube (opens in a new window) and click on the headings below to listen to the two new compositions and the two improvisations recorded today:
1. Sad, lost
2. Shanghai, Shanghai
3. Shanghai Improvisation #1
4. Shanghai Improvisation #2
Wed 6th June 2007
Well, we've had a great time in Shanghai and now it's time to leave. This afternoon, we're off to Beijing and then on to Muscat, Oman for a couple of months, to check the place out and to be near to Dubai for our arrival in August. Really looking forward to the experience, although not so much to the heat, which we've got to learn to cope with since it will be the same in Dubai (45-50o Celsius, apparently). The opposite end of the scale to Mongolia, for definite!
[diary continues at: TRAVELS OMAN]