An Upgrade
When we finally landed in China, we met our awesome guide, Charles. He got us together and on a bus towards our hotel and told us he had upgraded us to a better hotel!!! We were now staying at the Shanghai Hotel...seems fitting. The picture on the left is a picture of the view from our hotel. Shanghai has over 4,000 high-rises and all of them were built using bamboo scaffolding! (see below) The overall feel of the city was a lot like New York but bigger. Think Manhattan but never ending. We checked in and had to give the front desk our passports so they could make a copy of them. I was a little uncomfortable with this because I've worked at a few hotels and I really don't want my personal information floating around the front desk.
We made plans to meet up in the morning and we were set lose on the city...well if we wanted to be. I was exhausted and they fed us multiple meals on the plane so bed sounded like my best option. I wanted to Skype with Chris and let him know I got here safe but they charged to use internet and the "free" WiFi wasn't free. Thank God for Alyssa! She let me use her computer to make a quick call since she was planning on paying for it anyways. Then Michelle and I hung out in our hotel room and watched some creepy HBO special. It was definitely not an American movie but at least it was in English. The beds were so small and low to the ground and the light switches were confusing. Up was off and down was on. Every room came with a gas mask in case of emergency and that was a little concerning but I mostly wanted to have more than a few moments worth of sleep. I could still feel the motion of the plane as I layed in bed sweating because our air conditioning was broken. We opened to window letting in the noise from the busy never-sleeping streets but it didn't matter we were so tired.
We made plans to meet up in the morning and we were set lose on the city...well if we wanted to be. I was exhausted and they fed us multiple meals on the plane so bed sounded like my best option. I wanted to Skype with Chris and let him know I got here safe but they charged to use internet and the "free" WiFi wasn't free. Thank God for Alyssa! She let me use her computer to make a quick call since she was planning on paying for it anyways. Then Michelle and I hung out in our hotel room and watched some creepy HBO special. It was definitely not an American movie but at least it was in English. The beds were so small and low to the ground and the light switches were confusing. Up was off and down was on. Every room came with a gas mask in case of emergency and that was a little concerning but I mostly wanted to have more than a few moments worth of sleep. I could still feel the motion of the plane as I layed in bed sweating because our air conditioning was broken. We opened to window letting in the noise from the busy never-sleeping streets but it didn't matter we were so tired.
Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink...
In the morning we grabbed our water bottles and headed to Old Shanghai. This part of the city was beautiful!! What you see in the movies with the pointed roofed buildings, and people washing their clothes in the river, and small dogs running around the streets. It was so quaint and simple I loved it. There were good smells and bad smells and people trying to get me to buy cheap trinkets. Karmen tried a whole fried Angel Fish bone and all. We walked up and down the streets and looked at the vendors and were told about how it is good luck to buy a goldfish and release it into the river from the bridge. We took a gondola ride up the river to where we were going to have lunch and we saw some amazing sites!
I love music, it is an essential part of my soul and there is a running soundtrack in my head. For this part of my day all I could hear was It's Time by Imagine Dragons. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0idI4WiGSg
We reached our destination with some time to spare so we did what any American would do...shop! We separated and I stayed with Michelle and Mon'chel. This is our first experience haggling and I quickly found that Mon'chel doesn't have the heart for it. She can get a good deal don't get me wrong, but she has trouble saying no. This gets her and sometimes us into trouble later on. I ended up helping her get a deal on outfits for her niece and nephew then we headed back to meet for lunch.
This was our first experience with the style of eating that the Chinese are accustomed to. They order multiple family-sized dishes and split them and when I say multiple I don't mean 5-6 I mean 15-20!! While we were waiting, they brought out hot tea and our dishes. Our plates, cups, and bowls were shrink wrapped!! Dr. Teets went on to explain that they export their dishes to a different establishment to be washed and they come back clean and pre-packaged. This is so different from how things are done in the U.S. but it is a sign that what you are using is clean and that can be a good thing sometimes. I ate bamboo, and this fried corn dish that was amazing, and my favorite; eggs in rice. This is also where I discovered that Diet Coke is an American beverage. On occasion I found Coke Zero but only twice in China did I find Diet Coke...and when I did it was awful!!! Dr. Small decided that he was going to be brave and eat one of the peppers that was served with the kung pow chicken. So he artfully maneuvered his chopsticks and popped a pepper in his mouth seeds and all. It didn't take long before he started to sweat and turned bright red. It got so bad he had to buy milk to cool the burn. Of course we made fun of him for the rest of the trip.
I love music, it is an essential part of my soul and there is a running soundtrack in my head. For this part of my day all I could hear was It's Time by Imagine Dragons. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0idI4WiGSg
We reached our destination with some time to spare so we did what any American would do...shop! We separated and I stayed with Michelle and Mon'chel. This is our first experience haggling and I quickly found that Mon'chel doesn't have the heart for it. She can get a good deal don't get me wrong, but she has trouble saying no. This gets her and sometimes us into trouble later on. I ended up helping her get a deal on outfits for her niece and nephew then we headed back to meet for lunch.
This was our first experience with the style of eating that the Chinese are accustomed to. They order multiple family-sized dishes and split them and when I say multiple I don't mean 5-6 I mean 15-20!! While we were waiting, they brought out hot tea and our dishes. Our plates, cups, and bowls were shrink wrapped!! Dr. Teets went on to explain that they export their dishes to a different establishment to be washed and they come back clean and pre-packaged. This is so different from how things are done in the U.S. but it is a sign that what you are using is clean and that can be a good thing sometimes. I ate bamboo, and this fried corn dish that was amazing, and my favorite; eggs in rice. This is also where I discovered that Diet Coke is an American beverage. On occasion I found Coke Zero but only twice in China did I find Diet Coke...and when I did it was awful!!! Dr. Small decided that he was going to be brave and eat one of the peppers that was served with the kung pow chicken. So he artfully maneuvered his chopsticks and popped a pepper in his mouth seeds and all. It didn't take long before he started to sweat and turned bright red. It got so bad he had to buy milk to cool the burn. Of course we made fun of him for the rest of the trip.
Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink...
From Old Shanghai, we got back on our bus and weaved our way through traffic back towards the modern city. Let me tell you how terrifying the traffic there is...not that it's constantly at a stop but the people use their cars and buses to wedge themselves in between other cars and buses and they all use the shoulder as an extra lane. We had so many close calls my heart needed to re-start every five minutes. But we made it every time safely to our destination.
This next destination was the Huangpu River for a tour on the lovely steamer you see on the left. It is our second boat ride of the day and I am really enjoying this one.. People start taking pictures and we realize it is not just of the views but of us. Especially Michelle with her pink hair and Mon'chel with her complexion. It's an odd feeling being famous because you are from a different country. Somewhere I am in someone's family vacation photo as an attraction. People will tell their friends "Hey remember that time we went here and saw those Americans?" It's cool but weird at the same time. I guess because America is such a melting pot that seeing someone from a different country isn't as monumental to us.
The tour was slow going and hot as the sun beat down on us. After a while we went downstairs to be in the shade. It was there that I noticed that all of the buildings in Shanghai have Chinese flags flying on them...I mean ALL of them! I wondered if that was because they were particularly patriotic in this part of China, or if it was party regulations. I was too afraid to ask Charles our guide because I did not want to offend him especially this early in the trip. Also I didn't know how honest of an answer I would get for that kind of question so I was left wondering. I also noticed that almost every woman was carrying a beautifully ornate umbrella to shade themselves from the sun. In America we practically worship the sun and it's revitalizing rays so this was a different culture practice that I enjoyed seeing.
Some cultural differences I did NOT enjoy seeing: babies with holes in their pants for potty training...it's ok to go in the street, people spitting in the streets, people wearing face masks because the pollution is so bad it is the equivalency of smoking two packs a day, holes in the ground you squat over instead of American style toilets.
This next destination was the Huangpu River for a tour on the lovely steamer you see on the left. It is our second boat ride of the day and I am really enjoying this one.. People start taking pictures and we realize it is not just of the views but of us. Especially Michelle with her pink hair and Mon'chel with her complexion. It's an odd feeling being famous because you are from a different country. Somewhere I am in someone's family vacation photo as an attraction. People will tell their friends "Hey remember that time we went here and saw those Americans?" It's cool but weird at the same time. I guess because America is such a melting pot that seeing someone from a different country isn't as monumental to us.
The tour was slow going and hot as the sun beat down on us. After a while we went downstairs to be in the shade. It was there that I noticed that all of the buildings in Shanghai have Chinese flags flying on them...I mean ALL of them! I wondered if that was because they were particularly patriotic in this part of China, or if it was party regulations. I was too afraid to ask Charles our guide because I did not want to offend him especially this early in the trip. Also I didn't know how honest of an answer I would get for that kind of question so I was left wondering. I also noticed that almost every woman was carrying a beautifully ornate umbrella to shade themselves from the sun. In America we practically worship the sun and it's revitalizing rays so this was a different culture practice that I enjoyed seeing.
Some cultural differences I did NOT enjoy seeing: babies with holes in their pants for potty training...it's ok to go in the street, people spitting in the streets, people wearing face masks because the pollution is so bad it is the equivalency of smoking two packs a day, holes in the ground you squat over instead of American style toilets.
Who knew you could learn from TV?
The boat ride was fairly short and we were once again put on the bus and taken to our next stop, the Pearl Vision TV Tower. This was one of my favorite attractions in Shanghai. In order to go up in the tower you had to go through security which I am all for, but I was a little confused that you had to leave your water bottles and lighters like you do for airport security. I was confused mostly because when a precaution like that is put into place it is usually because someone tried to do some damage before and I had never heard of anything like that in the news. We went up 263 floors to the top ball and walked out over a glass floor!!! Buses looked like ants! It was scary at first and I had to look straight ahead to walk over the glass, but once I was out there it was so amazing. We had a little photo session and everyone at that level was a tourist. One girl screamed as she was dragged out by her friends onto the glass floor. I guess she was afraid it wouldn't hold all of us up. It was so high my ears kept popping but I was distracted by the view.
There was also shops and a museum AND A ROLLER COASTER in the bottom ball along with an arcade. We didn't have a lot of free time so we didn't get a chance to ride the ride or play games but we did go to the museum and saw wax re-creations of famous people and lifestyles in Chinese history. I personally didn't see how the wax figures enhanced our learning in a business sense and I would have much rather learned about the workings of an indoor roller coaster and it's operations but like I said we were limited on time. Plus China is a country so centered around it's long rich history that you can't help but enjoy and learn from it.
There was also shops and a museum AND A ROLLER COASTER in the bottom ball along with an arcade. We didn't have a lot of free time so we didn't get a chance to ride the ride or play games but we did go to the museum and saw wax re-creations of famous people and lifestyles in Chinese history. I personally didn't see how the wax figures enhanced our learning in a business sense and I would have much rather learned about the workings of an indoor roller coaster and it's operations but like I said we were limited on time. Plus China is a country so centered around it's long rich history that you can't help but enjoy and learn from it.
That ^^^^ was just day 1!
The next day we got up and went to "Real" Shanghai, a shopping center where the buildings were made to look like the traditional style buildings. We had to walk through some back alleys to get there and ended up walking through a park. In the park there were these retired people dancing in the street! It put a huge smile on my face to see these older people still young at heart celebrating life with music and dancing. As we were walking through the park Mon'chel gets targeted for another purchase. I have no idea what it is about her...maybe she sticks out more than the rest of us or maybe she makes eye contact but either way, the people selling skates that you attach to your shoes end up picking her to harass and she ends up buying a pair. The best part? They try to get her to buy another pair! We come across a little pavilion where people are playing cards and enjoying the beautiful weather and I notice there are stray cats everywhere. So I go up and start to pet one and they are super friendly!! And beyond cute so the rest of the group starts playing with these stray kittens and the locals look at us like we are crazy!
Shanghai shopping extravaganza
This shopping center has plenty of stores both American and Asian! We saw stores like Starbucks, KFC, McDonald's, Dumplings Plus, and many many more whose name I couldn't read. This little shopping center was where we spent the day. Julia joined our group today and we split up to check out the stores but first we were given a warning not to follow any of the street vendors into different stores. This is bad news because Mon'chel was on a quest...for a cheap Ipad and you can only get those in back alleys. So we start to wander and we take pictures in front of cool statues and all of a sudden Mon'chel is talking to a vendor who says they have Ipads. She is smart enough to ask for them to bring an example of one for her to look at but we end up following them to a point. Although we never go into any stores after them. We tried to lose them but they are ever persistent. I find persistent is a good word to describe their culture in general. The Chinese don't give up on anything they are more resilient than the Energizer Bunny. After spending half and hour in a little store front telling them we wouldn't buy it if it wasn't a real Apple, they continued to follow us out of the store and down the street! We finally dodged them and after the whole ordeal we were kind of hungry and we found ourselves outside of a McDonald's.
While I can speak nothing but good about the deliciousness that is real Chinese food, I wanted to compare our fast food to theirs and this was a perfect place to start. Let me start by saying McDonald's in China delivers. That's right if you are at home and get a craving for those greasy McNuggets they will bring them to you on the back of a motor bike. Can it get any better? Well...The McDonald's here is an ice cream store on the upper floor and the restaurant downstairs! We headed to get food and thankfully the menu isn't that different in that they have burgers and chicken. There are a few unique burgers and wraps but when it comes to fast food I feel that you should stick to what you know. They gave us picture menus and we pointed to what we wanted and I tried to order a Coke Zero and different dipping sauce but I considered it a victory when I got the right soda. We sat down and started enjoying our very small portioned meals and got the feeling we were being watched. Mon'chel then looks up and starts waving because some guy is video taping us eat lunch!
Back out on the street where the mixture of culture and modern luxury is evident in the people walking around, we see monks in traditional garb and we try to follow them to ninja a picture of them. They evaded us only to re-surface surrounded by other people taking their picture with them. We tried to get in on the photo opportunity but were quickly denied with a smile and a wave by one of the monks. This is where we ran into Dr. Small. He was carrying enough bags to fill another suitcase and we could tell he had taken the time to really take advantage of the low prices that result from haggling. While he was showing us his spoils, two younger women came up and asked to take their picture with us and Dr. Small took the picture of me and Mon'chel with these women. Then they gave him a paper boat full of dumplings, giggled, and ran off... We think they had a small crush on Dr. Small.
While I can speak nothing but good about the deliciousness that is real Chinese food, I wanted to compare our fast food to theirs and this was a perfect place to start. Let me start by saying McDonald's in China delivers. That's right if you are at home and get a craving for those greasy McNuggets they will bring them to you on the back of a motor bike. Can it get any better? Well...The McDonald's here is an ice cream store on the upper floor and the restaurant downstairs! We headed to get food and thankfully the menu isn't that different in that they have burgers and chicken. There are a few unique burgers and wraps but when it comes to fast food I feel that you should stick to what you know. They gave us picture menus and we pointed to what we wanted and I tried to order a Coke Zero and different dipping sauce but I considered it a victory when I got the right soda. We sat down and started enjoying our very small portioned meals and got the feeling we were being watched. Mon'chel then looks up and starts waving because some guy is video taping us eat lunch!
Back out on the street where the mixture of culture and modern luxury is evident in the people walking around, we see monks in traditional garb and we try to follow them to ninja a picture of them. They evaded us only to re-surface surrounded by other people taking their picture with them. We tried to get in on the photo opportunity but were quickly denied with a smile and a wave by one of the monks. This is where we ran into Dr. Small. He was carrying enough bags to fill another suitcase and we could tell he had taken the time to really take advantage of the low prices that result from haggling. While he was showing us his spoils, two younger women came up and asked to take their picture with us and Dr. Small took the picture of me and Mon'chel with these women. Then they gave him a paper boat full of dumplings, giggled, and ran off... We think they had a small crush on Dr. Small.
When people say back-in-the-day in makes me laugh
Next we went to a museum that was three floors and filled with brass pots, old money, clothes and a coffee shop. While our fellow students spent their time picking up flyers and then directly going for a drink, Mon'chel, Michelle, Julia, and I, went to the top floor and worked our way down taking pictures and reading and admiring the preservation of history. My favorite exhibit was the paintings. I have always loved calligraphy and the ones that warrant a spot in a museum are breath-taking. Sadly my pictures of them did not turn out as nicely as I had hoped but I did get some cool pictures of the jade carvings and brass work.
The history of China is so much more extensive than ours. America seems so small in comparison. our problems suddenly turned to inconveniences in the presence of such artifacts. We ran into an American guy around our age, who worked at the museum. He helped give us some perspective especially with the differences in the universities. He was a student at Shanghai University and his enrollment was based on his grades and he was so concerned, and his competition so fierce, that he couldn't allow himself to go out and drink. What a difference! No wonder Americans are known as fun loving partiers. In comparison we all are. While focus and dedication are important, relaxing and being yourself are too. It was a small preview to some of the things I learned by hanging out with my guide Jack, in Xi' An.
We all went to dinner at a place that had goldfish in the floor and ate a feast of dumplings, fried pork fat, cucumbers, and egg drop soup. After we headed back to the hotel and packed up and readied ourselves for our flight to Xi' An. In the morning Check-out was a mess! Tristan got over charged for water he didn't drink and asked him for 240 Yuan. Once that was cleared up, we headed onto the bus and took the long journey to the airport.
The history of China is so much more extensive than ours. America seems so small in comparison. our problems suddenly turned to inconveniences in the presence of such artifacts. We ran into an American guy around our age, who worked at the museum. He helped give us some perspective especially with the differences in the universities. He was a student at Shanghai University and his enrollment was based on his grades and he was so concerned, and his competition so fierce, that he couldn't allow himself to go out and drink. What a difference! No wonder Americans are known as fun loving partiers. In comparison we all are. While focus and dedication are important, relaxing and being yourself are too. It was a small preview to some of the things I learned by hanging out with my guide Jack, in Xi' An.
We all went to dinner at a place that had goldfish in the floor and ate a feast of dumplings, fried pork fat, cucumbers, and egg drop soup. After we headed back to the hotel and packed up and readied ourselves for our flight to Xi' An. In the morning Check-out was a mess! Tristan got over charged for water he didn't drink and asked him for 240 Yuan. Once that was cleared up, we headed onto the bus and took the long journey to the airport.