Hooters China: A Post LONG Overdue

So Moglie did such a good job these past few months writing about our trip to China last November, that I felt little need to blog about my experiences there, or my trips to London and Zambia that followed. She's been reminding me that I still need blog about the trip, and at the very least post about our trip to Hooters in Shanghai.

So, what would motivate us to visit a beacon of American "culture and cuisine" in the megalopolis of modernity Far East?

One word: MarfDirt (Hi Marf!).

Knowing that he is a big fan of Hooters Restaurants in the US, we wanted to send him something special from our trip to China, we thought we'd get him a Hooters Passport stamp and t-shirt.

Well, finding this place wasn't exactly easy. Even though it opened in late 2004, it seemed like many people didn't really know that it was there at all. It's quite a long walk from the train station, and you really have to know where you're going. The restaurant is located inside a pretty big shopping mall. It took us a while to figure out how to get to the restaurant, but along the way we found Dairy Queen, and took the opportunity to each have a cone for our efforts. It must've done the trick, because it wasn't long before we found the place!



I've since read articles that say you need a reservation to get a table if you plan on coming in before 10pm. I guess that now that it'd been 4 years since the opening, it's no longer the case-- we walked into a sleepy restaurant practically overstaffed with tiny, scantily-clad Chinese girls in tiny orange running shorts, and flesh-toned pantyhose (those things must be a nightmare in the summer!).

We were ushered to a table almost immediately by the seriously friendly waitresses. We peruse the menu, and really it's pretty Hooters-standard, and we know why everyone goes to Hooters in the first place: WINGS! That was exactly what I wanted to eat, buffalo wings and a coke.

While we were eating, we noticed that there was one other person in the restaurant. The waitresses started serenading him with the repertoire of "hooters favorites." I managed to catch them on film, so check it out.



When they saw that I was recording their song to another patron, they quickly filed over to serenade Moglie and I with one of my favorite old-time songs:



China's Hooters girls really love their jobs! And while they may not "measure up" to your typical American Hooters Girl, these girls bring the dedication and pride in their work that the Chinese are known for...you just don't find that among many Americans in the service industry anymore. In one article I read , the waitresses really enjoy what they do, and look at it as an opportunity to practice their English, meet people, and earn tips when normally tip-making is not allowed. When the restaurant first opened, 80 of 1,000 applicants were selected. Apparently Hooters China prides itself on finding beautiful, open-minded Chinese girls to put in their tiny tanks and shorts. At first, many people were concerned about the dress code, arguing that it was too scant for Chinese taste. Although looking out onto the streets and in the clubs of Shanghai, you'll see many more women wearing even less than the Hooters girls in Shanghai.

When we finished our meal there, I took a picture with a few the girls before buying Adam's t-shirt. I think that finding this restaurant was really one of my favorite (and surprising!) parts of Shanghai (besides the pearls, and the hostel, and the shopping, and everything else I liked about it), really it just adds to the list of reasons why Shanghai was one of my favorites.

Shanghai and The End

Ok, frankly, I'm a little disgusted with myself that it's taken me so long to put up all my China posts and since I still have to back blog about another trip I've already taken AND have two more coming in the next month...I'm not actually going to say anything more about Shanghai. I am only going to give you some pictures with captions. Enjoy.

These pictures are all of the Shanghai harbor and Bund area. It was actually a very nice walking area with hawkers selling all sorts of interesting toys, gadgetry, and food.









These pictures are of the other side of the harbor. This is Shanghai's ultra modern district Pudong, including the Jin Mao Tower where Lauren and i indulged in expensive drinks and food, the Shanghai World Financial Center (second tallest building in the world), and the Oriental Pearl Tower.


The Financial Tower is the one that looks like a giant bottle opener and the Jin Mao is the Empire State-looking building.






The Oriental Pearl Tower.

Good bye China! I'm so happy I finally got to meet you.

Shanghai Old City

On our second day in Shanghai, Lauren and I hopped on the little shuttle from our hostel to go to I don’t remember the name of the park. You love my attention to detail and ability to retain information don’t you? Go on, you do. The little bus dropped us off on the side of a dusty street seemingly nowhere near a park. We were, however, near a lot of shops (like two full streets of them) selling, you’ll never guess, Christmas decorations. Christmas in Communist/Capitalist China is garish, full of glitter, shiny tinsel and streamers, fake trees, Santa Clauses, huge plastic candy canes, funny hats, and even a few angels.

One over our horrified fascination (and after Lauren pulled me out of a store of “sparkly” jewelry) we accidentally stumbled across Shanghai’s “Old City.” While it was on my to-do list I had no idea it was anywhere near park what-its-name. It also was not what I was expecting. Honestly I am not sure what I was expecting. I knew it was a shopping area but I guess I thought that the Old City would be, well, old. And while beautifully reproduced in the Jingnan style…this was clearly a modern area. I fell in love with it here and took an absolutely ridiculous amount of pictures.



















































We were quite thrilled to discover Dairy Queen!! Although, tragically, it was far too cold that day to really seriously contemplate getting a hot fudge shake.



(Told you I went overboard with the pictures. This isn't even a quarter of them.)

We also saw, although did not visit, the tea house on the lake where the famous Willow Ware china pattern was inspired and became popular (if Frommer’s can be believed over Wikipedia).






































In our wanderings we finally did find the entrance to the park (I looked it up, it’s the Yuyuan park) but declined to go in. The entrance fee was far too steep to pay in the winter but if you ever get there in spring/summer it is supposed to be fabulous.

After we left Old City we started wandering. The little bus from the hostel dropped us off here and we were not exactly sure how we were going to get anywhere. Using the not to be trusted Frommer’s city map as a guide, we wended our way out of Old City, past yet more Christmas shops, a McDonald’s McCafe (we don’t even have those!), across several frightening cross walks, eventually a large bridge after playing tightrope walking on busy street curb, and FINALLY found ourselves dumped out on the pedestrian area. Exactly where we wanted to be so…yay us.