foreigners

Arrived in Shanghai from Zhengzhou on the sleeper train. This time the train ride was much more pleasant. I had a middle bunk instead of top and the air conditioning unit was on the entire trip! This time it was not as loud either and there was an Indian gentleman who spoke English to talk to. We arrived in Shanghai very early and lucky the hostel had early checkin.

We came from Zhengzhou which was a really pretty place and very interesting. For our entire time there we did not encounter any other tourists (read white people) and no one spoke english except for the owner of the expat bar we went to. The phrase book came in very handy. This is what made the visit here better than Beijing as it really seemed like China. I had never heard of Zhengzhou before but this city has 7 million people! The streets are lined with trees and everyone is happy to see you and not always trying to sell you stuff like Beijing.

We went to the shaolin temple which was a bit expensive and I thought over commercialized, but the things they could do was really amazing! One monk took a pin and threw it through a pane of glass to pop a balloon!

I haven't seen any churches here at all yet in China however I think there are some Catholic churches in Shanghai, the National Geographic says the Christianity is rising in China. There was one Mosque we saw in Zhengzhou and plenty of temples. More pictures to follow, the computer here doesn't have any memory card ports!

Cheers,

PS if you feel so inclined, I can receive text messages through this site for free: http://www.rogers.com/web/Rogers.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=GCT&template=wireless-text&sub_template=send_sms&setProvince=ON&setLanguage=en&searchKey=34

just input my number 613 614 6068, I would love to get some and I'll reply, thanks!

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