I had been to Chongming before but never made it to the wetland park. It promised to be the first warm weekend of the spring and so I blocked out all of Sunday for the expedition.
Thanks to the workmen in the flat underneath my bedroom I was up early and having breakfasted, I grabbed a coffee at Starbucks and then got the metro to the Science and Tech Museum on Line 2. I had forgotten which exit I needed and got out at exit 1 which was a big mistake because I was then disorientated and walked around in circles until I found the bus station at exit 6.
Buses run every 25 minutes to Chongming and I arrived just in time to get the 9:25 bus. 12rmb is a bargain for a journey which takes an hour and transports you physically and metaphorically into another world, through a long tunnel under the Yangtze to Changxing Island then long bridge to Chongming Island.
I tried unsuccessfuly to negotiate with an illegal taxi driver at the bus station t my destination – the police showed up as we were walking to his car and we split and walked in opposite directions. And all for the saving of 10rmb – hardly worth the risk. I hopped in a legal taxi and 60rmb and 19km later I was at the gate to the park.
It cost me 80rmb for a peak time ticket to the wetland park and then another 200 rmb deposit for a bicycle. If you’re thinking of going there with only your phone for money, make sure you have Alipay because Wechat is not accepted for entrance ticket or for the bikes or the shop.
In fact, for the bikes, you need cash only and so I was stumped – I never carry cash nowadays. But I really wanted a bike so I walked up to a friendly looking woman with her child and an elderly man (perhaps her father) and asked her whether she could give me cash in return for Wechat money.
She thought for a while and I was worried she was going to say no – she looked less than enthusiastic but in the end the old man gave me cash and I handed it over to the bike lady in exchange for a heavy white bicycle with a rusty chain and a bell which sounded the whole time unless you held it with your right hand.
The wetland park is large and has a lot of waterfowl, swans, geese, ducks and I saw the unmistakable bright flash of a kingfisher too. There were buildings dotted around the park too, with lake views and outside seating but all of them were unoccupied and looked like they had not served food or drink for a long time.
Leaving the park I enquired at the gate about the public bus I had seen on my arrival and was told it wasn’t due for another hour. Reluctant to call the taxi and spend another 60rmb, I decided to beg a ride to the nearest town with people leaving the park. After half a dozen failed attempts a young couple took pity on me and dropped me off at a town (Yan An?) near the bridge.
I had a lunch of egg fried rice (my default food in unfamiliar places) and then hung around for another half hour waiting for the bus to Nan Men where the ferries leave for Shanghai. For 9rmb you get an hour and half’s ride the length of Chongming Island, past allotments bursting with vegetables, fruit trees, canals, office blocks, low level housing and manufacturing units.
At Nan Men there is a Starbucks and I killed an hour there while waiting for the 5pm ferry. Again, 18rmb is a really small amount to pay for this hour long journey across the Yangtze River. I love a country where public transport is so good and so cheap.
The last leg of my journey was the number 29 bus and then metro line 1 home. It had taken me 11 hours to do the round trip but what a gret day out. It’s so close and so keep to get to and when you’re there it really does feel like another world.