上海石化人造沙滩

Weather: Foggy

Temperature: 29°

My former Hin Hua classmate, Lantat called me this morning. Lantat is currently working for a construction company in Shanghai. He asked me whether I want to meet him. “Of course” I said, since I had no idea what else to do.

At 12 noon, I took the subway (地铁) to Jinjiang Park Station 锦江乐园 where I was told to wait for Lantat there.

When Lantat showed up he was with a Shanghai friend called “老吴”. I had no idea where he wanted to bring me but I guess I’d just follow because any place is new to me. He pointed at the way I dressed (yeah Hawaiian suit again) and said great. “We are going to swim!” he said.

老吴 bought us bus tickets and after waited for nearly half an hour, we were heading to Shihua 石化 in Jinsan District 金山. It just so happened 金山 is my father in law’s name.

It took us nearly an hour bus ride to reach Shihua. When we were there we are greeted by another Shanghai friend called “小蒋“. Since my surname is Toh, they called me “小杜”.

The place we were going is上海石化人造沙滩 or Shanghai Shihua Artificial Beach. Why is it artificial? I asked 老吴. He said since the seawater in Shanghai is seriously polluted and not safe we can only swim in artificial beach.

老吴 and artificial beach

小蒋 and artificial beach


Lantat and artificial beach

Enjoying the "sea"


Yes, the artificial beach is very “fake”. The sand is very coarse and there is no wave. The water is dead stagnant. For a boy who grew up in Terengganu, I have seen the best beach on earth.

Though I find this artificial beach horrible, there were many visitors happily enjoying swimming in the “seawater”. Worst still, this artificial beach is privatized. It is gated and you need to pay RMB30 to get in.

This set me to thinking, we Malaysian are thousands times luckier than Shanghainese. If we want to enjoy a sunny weekend on the beach, all we need to do is just to drive to Morib, Port Dickson or Pantai Batu Buruk, Pantai Sutera in the east coast. No entrance fee is required. Once you park your car you can run straight to the sea and start swimming.

If we do not take care of our beach and sea which we always take for granted, I am not sure whether the day will come when Malaysian government has to build artificial beach for recreation.

I had a great day on the beach. Being a Anak Terengganu, I have swum in the sea for a thousand times. But I guess our Shanghai friends enjoyed more. They seldom get the chance to enjoy the sea. They have to travel one hour and pay for the tickets to be here. So they cherished every second and enjoyed themselves to the fullest.

When we decided to quit the sea and head to the bathroom for shower, I experienced severe culture shock. There was no door in the bathroom and EVERYONE takes shower NAKED! It is basically you “appreciate” my “stuff” and I appreciate yours. I was thinking of a way out. But my two Shanghainese friends merrily took off their swimming trunks and proudly showed me their 宝贝儿. I was soaked in “seawater” and I desperately needed to take a shower. What the heck 死就死啦! I resigned to a far corner, took off my pants, tried as hard as possible to cover my 宝贝儿. This was my first time taking shower nude in a public toilet in front of more than 50 people!