Week 6 - Tunas...and touring

Shanghai Museum stairs

This week, a group of 7 SHOU employees traveled to downtown Shanghai for 5 nights to attend the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission meeting for temperate tunas, albacore in this instance. I am 100% sure this meeting would be of interest to people of fisheries backgrounds only. Many countries coming together to talk about the science of assessment and then reviewing the technical document before submitting it to the science committee who will then recommend it to the managers. I will just say, with respect to the meeting, that I contributed some, mostly on language, and that was enough to feel validated in attending. My roommate for the meeting was a Ph.D student at SHOU from Cameroon, Richard. We had many interesting conversations, about the scientists at the meeting and his country, mostly, but also spent most of the week trying to decide who was generating the most stares from Chinese locals on our walks around the town at night (the Chinese are pretty famous for staring, I guess). Once the meeting was over, we were barred from another technical meeting, which was confidential, leaving us to fill the time on the 

I like dinosaurs!

town. The first night was just a walkaround for us. “Wanda Plaza” (?) just walking around a mall, getting out of the hotel and stretching the legs. But, as Richard left to attend personal business, I was given a grand tour the next day from some SHOU students. I went to the Shanghai Natural History Museum, Shanghai Museum and Shanghai Aquarium, all in one day, which was something. I took >500 photos and killed the battery of two phones doing so. So that was another thing. It was a pretty great day of touring.

                Let’s start with the Natural History Museum. I am pretty sure they had everything included in the building. From pre-Cambrian Era to present and even exhibits on the near future. Just an astounding array of exhibits. We spent 3.5 hours there and we were moving fast, as to complete all three stops during the day. I could have spent a month in that building, I am sure of it. Fossils, skeletons, tons of taxidermy (most of it good), videos, pictures…it was really comprehensive.

                The next stop was the Shanghai Museum. This museum focused mostly on ancient artifacts and relics of Chinese culture. Bronze, stone, jade, currency (China issued first paper money), calligraphy, paintings, furniture, and official seals through the dynasties, there were many exhibits to visit in this 4 story building. I 

Jade Carvings...pretty good!

admit I am not necessarily so interested in seals, currency, calligraphy and these types of items, so the hurried nature of this visit did not necessarily dampen my mood much.

I mean, when you are looking forward to the Shanghai Aquarium, it is easy to stay positive. Another massive building with many exhibits, some of the standouts included the ray tank, filled with many playful rays to delight the spectators; the seal tank, which maybe was not big enough, but still saw seals swimming laps; the penguin display, which lacked an underwater viewing arena, but still, penguins; and then the crown jewel, the world’s longer underwater tunnel, complete with rays, turtles, groupers and sharks. Really a tremendous exhibit to finish the 

Rays in flight

aquarium tour. Some things that struck me were the amount of pictures being taken. Maybe this is because I haven’t been to an aquarium in the cameraphone-era, but I still feel like it was excessive. There were even stages for pictures to be taken: white shark, penguin and…giraffe? It’s true. Also, most everyone was banging on the tank glass to get whatever critter was inside to present themselves in an active way. You may not be surprised to learn that this was ineffective and annoying. Also, I should mention that China has probably perfected the gift shop. There is always a gift shop and patrons always browse. The trick is, most only take pictures with the gifts. Good way to game the system, I suppose. Anyway, it is a business idea, I think.

Inside 'Linnaeus' Labortory

After pictures were taken, we, being my two student-guides plus myself, met up with others at the famous (I guess) Super Brand Mall on the river for dinner, before taking in the city skyline, including a now close-up of the Pearl and Shanghai Towers and looking back across the river to the place I had been previously (Nangjing Road and People’s Square).

Note: During this trip I discovered Banana Juice (delicious) and deep fried chicken feet sole (fine, but chewy).