Shanghai

Last weekend eight of us traveled to Shanghai.  Georgia Tech has a summer program in Shanghai, and we arranged our accommodations to be in the same building as the other Techies.  We all had some friends on the trip, and it was exciting to see them in such a foreign setting.

Rather than fly to Shanghai from Beijing, we took an overnight train.  We were advised by everyone who had ever been to China to spend the extra yuan to get the ‘soft sleeper,’ (first class) and it is such a good thing that we did.  There were four beds per compartment, perfect for our numbers.  The beds were a lot more comfortable than what we are used to in our dorms, and they even brought around a small meal like on an airplane.  We played cards for a long time before climbing into bed, but we also stayed awake a long time just talking to each other.  With our rough class, we hadn’t had much time to relax, so it was nice just to hang out and lay around.

We arrived in Shanghai at roughly 7am Friday morning and set about finding our hotel.  Carlanna went on the Shanghai program last summer, so she knew her way around pretty well.  We got to the hotel with no major incidents.  We had trouble checking in because it was so early in the morning (our rooms weren’t ready), but we finally got one of the three, so we all piled in to begin the shower process.  We split up, some people going to breakfast and some staying behind to shower, and by the time everyone was done, the rest of our rooms were ready.  Everyone got settled in, and then we headed out to explore our second Chinese town.

Shanghai is known as the New York City of China.  It is a wealthy city with a lot of business, and it is known for its shopping and nightlife.  There aren’t too many sightseeing activities in Shanghai; you go to Shanghai to shop, eat, and drink!  And boy, can you shop, eat, and drink!  We started off our afternoon with lunch at a kebab shop, just like the kind I used to eat in New Zealand, before wandering around all of Carlanna’s old shopping haunts.  She was amazed at how different everything was over just the span of one year.  Restaurants had been knocked down; malls had been built, etc.  We were lucky we found as much of what she saw last year as we did!  We had a successful afternoon shopping, especially after we hit the DVD/movie stores.  Some people went fairly crazy with the US$1 DVDs, but we all got a couple.  We tested most of them before purchasing to make sure we were getting a good quality, but Lane didn’t test any of hers and ended up with some funny DVDs.  Her Da Vinci Code was all in Chinese, and the English subtitles were so bad that we went ahead and watched the whole movie just to laugh at them!

After shopping, we came back to the hotel to crash for awhile before heading back out to search for dinner.  Most of us took naps or enjoyed the new DVDs.  After feeling rested, we wandered back out to find some good food.  Carlanna had an idea of where she wanted to go, but then the restaurants had been torn down, so we were on our own.  We walked past a place that was really full, which usually means it is really good, so we got a table in the back.  It was traditional Chinese food, and as we didn’t understand most of what was on the menu, we had the manager help pick the best dishes and wished for the best.  Turns out the manager knew what she was doing!  It was one of the best Chinese food meals I have had in China.  We had fish, pork, chicken, and beef; noodles and rice; and we ended up drinking them out of cold beer!  It was a really good meal.  Because we were a large group of Americans, we also had our own personal wait staff.  There were at least two waiters at all times standing near our table, and the manager was always there if we needed her.

After dinner, we headed out to the bars.  We hadn’t been able to go out to bars in Beijing because we had had so much work, so we were really looking forward to kicking back this weekend.  We arranged to meet some of the Shanghai techies at one of the bars, and off we went.  When we all finally made it to the same bar (there was some trouble with the cab drivers), we realized that the special wasn’t for that night, making it twice as expensive, so we began searching around for a new bar.  We settled on Cloud 9, the über-swanky bar at the top of the Hyatt overlooking the water.  It took awhile to communicate with a cab driver where we wanted to go, but we all finally made it and settled in to enjoy our drinks.  It was an overcast night, so we couldn’t see the famous Shanghai skyline, but we still managed to enjoy the bar.  We met some people from Wales, Ireland, and England and invited them to join us, and it was nice to have new faces in the group.  I was also excited because I got to talk about how amazing New Zealand rugby is with someone who really knew about it!

The next day was devoted to more eating and shopping.  We began the day with an amazing brunch at a world-renowned restaurant.  I had granola with yogurt and fruit as well as French toast and bacon (real bacon).  It was the best breakfast I have had so far in China.  Aside from its good food choices, Shanghai is also known for its amazing fake markets, and I went to Shanghai with the goal of coming home with good Prada (one of my favorites).  A very sad thing happened, though: a few weeks before, the Chinese government had shut down the famous fake market in Shanghai.  People came from all over China to see this market, and it is in practically every guidebook.  No more fake market in Shanghai!  We managed to survive thanks to Ting’s (friend of mine who was in Shanghai) amazing shopping skills, but it was a whole lot harder.  I also didn’t get the chance to track down seawater pearls like I had intended, but I have since settled for freshwater in Beijing.

One thing I have failed to mention is that I was terribly sick throughout this entire weekend.  Zhou’s class had really run me down, and because I was already tired my malaria medicine really hit me hard last week.  I got the full force of the side effects after taking the medicine, and throughout the weekend I had all the symptoms of a sinus infection.  It is a credit to Shanghai’s awesomeness that I found it to be as fabulous as I did even in the rain and being as sick as I was.  I was so sick, in fact, that I couldn’t stay in Shanghai as long as I intended.  I was planning on staying through Sunday night, taking the overnight train home, and going straight to class Monday morning, but I think my body would have gone on strike if I had pushed it that hard.  I ended up taking the train home on Saturday night with Lane and Patrick instead.  We had a random Chinese girl in our car and spent awhile practicing our Chinese with her, but we were all so exhausted that we had climbed in bed by 9.30pm.  I spent the whole next day in bed.  I lay down all day, watching newly acquired movies and seasons of the Gilmore Girls.  I got up once for dinner when Lane encouraged me to go to Subway.  It was exactly what my body needed.  I am still a little sick, but I have my strength back and am no where near as sick as I was then!