By: Dahlan Iskan
Where did you spend the New Year last night? Until 20:00, as this writing concludes, there’s no consensus.
Most prefer staying put. The family’s travel goal isn’t to celebrate the New Year.
My wife certainly chooses to sleep—just like in previous New Year nights. No different from regular days: lights out by 20:00.
Since noon, Isna Iskan has been advocating: don’t go anywhere. Anywhere will be too crowded.
He had the experience of spending New Year’s night in Shanghai. In the riverside square. Across from the Shanghai Tower: it felt like you couldn’t breathe. Millions crowded the road leading to that location: Nanjing East Road (南京东路). Especially on the riverside square.
Going to another location? It would be the same. Better to avoid the hassle and rest in the room.
So, I agreed with my daughter-in-law, Bu Dahlan: Mas Tatang. He is a musician. The two of us will go to Old Jazz—after finishing this article. Not because of New Year’s Eve.
Almost every time I’m in Shanghai, I enjoy Old Jazz. In one corner of the room in the Peace Hotel—not far from the riverside square. That is if you can navigate through the sea of people along Nanjing East Road.
On ordinary days, around 40 people enjoy Old Jazz. Mostly elderly people. The performers themselves are quite old. If their ages are averaged, they’re around 82 years—because one of the six players is 97 years old.
That’s the oldest jazz music club in Shanghai: founded in 1929. Since the Peace Hotel itself began operating.
No New Year’s Eve.
No party.
On the last day of 2023, we had lunch at Lanzhou Lamian restaurant again. Xinjiang skewers again. Young goat again. Additional goat dumplings. Goat soup. Goat fried rice.
After eating, our feet felt strong again. Then, we walked to the subway station. Destination: Zhang Yuan (张园). In the new spelling, it’s written 张园.
This location is new. Cool. In the middle of Shanghai. Not fully completed yet. Its appearance is like Xin Dian Di (新天地) in another part of Shanghai, but different. This is classic-modern. Not old. Young people will surely like it here. Every corner is interesting for photo spots.
Zhang Yuan is not far from the world’s largest Starbucks. The one that used to be in Disway. Of course, we also made time to enter Starbucks. While passing through. Enjoying its small room.
From Starbucks, it’s close. Just cross the street. Past the G-Walk offering various MSME foods—with kiosks resembling those in America.
Apparently, that Starbucks has become a strong tourist destination. So, it was strengthened by building a new tourist location next to it.
Time was running out. The cold evening had arrived.
That was the last sunset of 2023.
A bustling sunset. In this location, it looked like a festive day. Walking in this location felt like an endless catwalk. Almost everyone walking dressed like a model ready to be photographed anytime.
This city looks beautiful because of the beautiful people passing through. Beautifully dressed, I mean.
Look at their winter clothes. Look at their women’s boots. Look at their hat models. No one is dressed casually. No one is without makeup.
Winter makes women appear more stylish. Especially in this year-end winter.
My conclusion: a city becomes beautiful if those who pass through it are also beautiful.
So, for mayors who want their city to be beautiful, it seems necessary to provide incentives for women who want to pass through with a beautiful style. Or give them a subsidy of IDR 400 trillion.
Just imagine if those passing through are shabby, sweaty, without makeup, participating in elections might feel lazy.
Watching the ‘fashion show’ had to be ended. Night was approaching.
The last day of 2023 was entirely spent seeing how Shanghai rises after Covid-19.
Apparently, during Covid, various new projects were completed. So, when Covid passed, many new things emerged.
Not everything can be seen. Night quickly arrived. Not written yet. Not chosen comments yet. So, we rushed back to the hotel—a three-star hotel like Ibis in Indonesia. Also in Beijing, the ‘management’ of this trip chose a simple hotel—just as long as the location is strategic.
Actually, I complained a bit about this hotel. Not about how comfortable it is. But the distance between the bed and the wall is too narrow—for morning dance exercises.
Often, my feet kick the edge of the bed. Making my wife startled. What can be done. In winter like this, it’s impossible to exercise in the park. Even though eating, sleeping, and exercising are equally important.
Complaints about the hotel are only kept in my heart. After all, I’ve committed to obeying the travel management rules. You too, please, don’t leak this complaint to them.
Actually, this hotel in Shanghai is easy to reach. From the People’s Park subway station (人民广场), just three turns. But last night we got lost. To the turn filled with people queuing. Oops, they turned out to be queuing for young goat skewers. Filling the side of the road. I read the sign above it: Xinjiang Goat Satay. That’s why the music is similar to Arab music. Only the language is Xinjiang.
My wife couldn’t be stopped: jostling on the side of the road. Buying Xinjiang satay again. Queueing. While watching people dance to the rhythm of the music.
The satay was brought back to the hotel. Along with Xinjiang bread the size of a chair wheel that my wife sat on. That was our dinner on New Year’s Eve 2024.
While having dinner, I imagined reading the comments on Disway that I would choose.
I feel, this year, if there’s the best comment, it is the comment written by Lagarenze 1301 on Mother’s Day. That’s my “Comment of the Year” choice. (Dahlan Iskan)
