Happy Chinese New Year!

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你好! (Ni Hao!)
What could be a better time to begin my travel blog than the first day of the Chinese New Year? Though I am now staying in Beijing-I began my travels a few days ago-on the 20th of January, in Shanghai. These first few days in China have been an exciting (and occasionally terrifying) glimpse of daily life-as well as holiday celebrations-in two major Chinese cities.
As I am taking the first ten days of my trip to tour these two cities with my dad before beginning my more 'rugged' journey backpacking around Asia, I will also be experiencing a difference in the tourist's and traveler's perspectives. As my dad prefers to travel more luxuriously, I have lately been able to enjoy the benefits of a first class flight from San Francisco to Shanghai, four-star hotels in both cities, a large rolling suitcase, and Western-style toilets (a luxury that I will definitely miss). However, once I join with my travel group on the 30th, I expect to experience a less comfortable, more authentic side of China-which I look forward to with nervous anticipation.
So much has happened already-and each day is packed with new and unique experiences-but in order to describe my trip so far without going into painful amounts of detail, I will include the most memorable parts of our stay in Shanghai, and the beginning of our stay in Beijing.
Arriving at the airport in Shanghai on our first day felt like a crash course in survival in a foreign country-with no hope for communication. Having taken a year of Mandarin Chinese at college level, I felt confident enough to be able to communicate simple directions-only to find that Mandarin was hard to come by in Shanghai-as people predominantly speak Shanghainese-which, by the way, is NOT mutually intelligible with Mandarin (meaning: if you speak Mandarin-you have pretty much no hope of understanding Shanghainese). I had been warned of this, but apparently, I wasn't listening. I had also tried to prepare myself for the overwhelming confusion and frustration of reaching the hotel by writing the name down in Chinese characters and knowing how to say the name correctly, but the jet-lag that ensued from getting off a twelve hour flight, as well as the cold I had picked up before leaving, fogging my brain to a point of little comprehension, prevented me from being able to find the paper I needed, and no pinyin was included in the guidebook or hotel website-so pronunciation was pretty much left up to guessing-resulting in angry shouting coming from all directions, and of course, in Shanghainese. The one bit of communication in Chinese I did manage was asking whether the cab driver spoke English. Once he figured out what I was trying to ask-after multiple attempts, the answer was a solid "no"...and that was that. Finally using the hotel listing in my guidebook to show the taxi driver where to go, he gave a nod of recognition (though I was unclear on whether he truly knew where to go) and we left. Next was a drive that spanned about forty minutes that seemed like three hours-due to the stress of the previous exchange, disgust over the wheezing, spitting (I mean REALLY spitting-out the window, and about every two minutes), and coughing of the taxi driver, fear for the lives of the bicyclists that were inches away from our honking, swerving taxi at all times, worries that we were not going towards Shanghai at all but to some remote location to be left for dead (as we seemed to be not going towards any city at all for at least thirty minutes), and more paranoia such as this due to my hunger and lack of sleep at this point. Finally, we made it to the hotel, and I passed out on the bed-too tired to eat...at 8:30pm Shanghai time, (4:30am San Francisco time).
The next couple of days involved more confused exchanges between my dad, myself, and taxi drivers, but we managed well enough to make it through a couple of visits to different areas of the city, including XinTianDi, European-influenced section of Shanghai, where we ate a delicious meal at the highly acclaimed (and rightfully so) restaurant Ye Shanghai. Other highlights included a night tour of the city which was absolutely dazzling with lights-making Las Vegas look like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree compared to a full scale Santa, reindeer and the North Pole light show on a Times Square-size fir, as well as another fabulous meal at the restaurant A Chinoise Story. Unfortunately I was not able to fully taste the deliciousness of the food we ate that night due to my still present cold at the time, however, I did enjoy a friendly exchange with one of the waiters during dinner. After politely asking what country from which I am visiting, the waiter was excited to hear that my dad and myself are indeed, American. "I have one question for you," the waiter then tells me in a curious, yet timid tone of voice. "Ok, go ahead," I reply. "Do you like Obama?" the waiter asks. I laugh, and tell him yes, that I do like Obama very much. He is delighted to hear this, and his face instantly changes from shy nervousness to joy and excitement as he exclaims, "I like Obama, I like Obama very very much!" I laugh, and tell him that I am glad to hear that he is excited as well. Something tells me that I will remember this small experience for a very long time. Unfortunately, such meaningful encounters with locals were scarce during our visit, as most people seemed to be involved in their own personal business, rather than taking time to enjoy the company of others.
Although Shanghai does not seem to be the friendliest of cities, it is certainly one of the most interesting. The uber-modern science fiction-like architecture alongside the 19th Century European architecture of the Bund on the Huangpu River was strange and fascinating, and beautiful at night. The rest of our time in Shanghai involved exploring the French Concession on foot (which was close to our hotel, and luckily an interesting area to explore), and fighting off the freezing cold temperatures, as well as the counterfeit purse and watch salespeople, who constantly yelled "purses! watches!" in our ears, and followed us for at least two blocks if we accidentally made eye contact, or didn't use a forceful enough "NO!" to get them to leave us alone. Despite the minor troubles and difficulties we encountered, both my father and I enjoyed Shanghai immensely, and I look forward to my returning visit with my travel group in a few days.
At the end of my touring of Shanghai with my father, we then took the Maglev train to the airport, and at about 300 miles per hour, we arrived at the airport in a little over 5 minutes. Beijing was then a two-hour flight away, and a 30 minute taxi drive to our hotel, where we were greeted warmly by the hotel staff, exclaiming "Happy New Year!" to us with large smiles on their faces each time we passed through the lobby after politely inquiring as to how we were feeling, if everything was alright, etc. I knew that at my point of arrival in Beijing I should have taken the immediate opportunity to start practicing Mandarin, but even still, I feel nervous, and am shy about trying out my classroom-taught phrases in a much more real atmosphere. I have found that I am able to understand at least parts of most things I hear spoken on the radio, and in other people's conversations, and most or all of what is communicated to me by non-English speaking taxi-drivers, but still I am hesitant-for no good reason, really-and I need to start forcing myself to practice, even if it means a few people making fun of my mixed-up sentence structure or off pronunciation along the way. Last night (Chinese New Year's Eve) was full of excitement and discovery. After consulting with the extremely helpful and friendly concierge, my dad and I were sent off in a taxi to try our first taste of Beijing (Peking) Duck at a huge, brightly lit restaurant across from Tiananmen Square, packed with both local families and tourists, and with various lavishly decorated private rooms for big events, meetings and parties while tasting and enjoying Beijing Duck. After hearing so much about this Beijing specialty, and because of my shameless and undying love for all varieties of delicious food, I was extremely excited to taste Beijing Duck for the first time. It was incredible. There is very good reason for the special preparation of Beijing Duck, as for well as the inclusion of small crepes, sauce, and spring onions to use to eat the duck-the most delicious combination possible with these few things has been discovered, and there is no reason to stray from it. However, it is a bit overwhelming to eat more than a couple of crepes, as the duck is extremely rich and a bit heavy in flavor and fat content, and it is definitely best to enjoy the duck as the most delicious part of a fuller meal. While me father and I ate, we could hear fireworks going loudly from the inside of the restaurant, and once we were finished, we hurried out to see the citywide fireworks display. As it was too cold to walk very far without being extremely cold past the point of necessary comfort, we then got a cab, and asked the driver to circle around a couple of blocks so that we could watch the fireworks. Our driver was very friendly and happy, and was happy to oblige to our somewhat silly request once he understood what my dad meant. After a few blocks of viewing the fireworks from the cab, we then returned to the hotel, and watched as the city lit up from anywhere and everywhere with mostly small private fireworks that perfectly hit at our eye level at we watched from the 13th floor of our hotel. The next morning (earlier today), we woke early to make it to the New Years Celebrations at Ditan Park. The park was bustling with happy families, both adults and children bundled up tightly in large snow jackets, mittens and hats, pushing through the crowds to each separate attraction held by the park. My dad and I started off with a taste of barbequed cockroaches (or at least that's what they appeared to be-but some large insect anyway) on a skewer, which I felt weren't tasty enough to override the gag-reflex I felt as I chewed the bug and swallowed it. We then headed to a large square in the gardens where a performance was being held in honor of the new year. I wasn't able to understand enough Chinese spoken through the loudspeakers to know exactly what was going on, but I enjoyed it still, as the costumes were beautiful. The bright gold and blue robes with embroidered flowers that the performers wore were enough to keep my attention, without knowing everything else that was involved in the ceremony. Next we ventured over to a nearby square where dancing and acrobatic performances were held-where we found bright red and gold costumes and impressive acrobatic feats of the dragon dancers, and perfect synchronization and gymnastic skills in all the other performances. Ditan Park was extremely crowded, although the city is relatively "empty"due to the holiday.
After arriving yesterday in Beijing, I already love the city much more than I ever expected I would.

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