Shanghai Holiday Week

Last Tuesday was our last day of school, and then we had Wednesday through today (Sunday) off for Chinese holiday. Desi and I decided to go to Shanghai, alone, and try to get some things out of the way that we had been missing. If Shanghai was nothing else, we were able to get back to a tad bit more comfortable life at least. We had (my favorite) Coffee Bean every day, some awesome Turkish food, great food and beers at a stellar Irish Pub, we purchased a bunch of stuff we had been needing at IKEA, we got some Cheez-its, Goldfish, and I finally got some comfortable shoes for teaching! Oh, and I also had a smoothie!

Desi and I will now present to you our version of what exactly we survived in Shanghai. A very vivid "vacation" indeed...

I'll start with the bus trips there and home. Crazy. The way out of Beilun was just like driving out of any big city on a Friday afternoon of a holiday weekend. It took us around 4 hours to get to Shanghai! Too, Desi and I were split up on the bus, which really, wasn't that bad. However, his chair was broken, and my seat in the back corner of the bus smelled like a toilet. We also went over the longest sea bridge in the world--that one between Ningbo and Shanghai! It was a trip of about 20 minutes across, all completely over the sea. In the center of the bridge they are building a hotel that stands above the water. Of course I am intrigued to one day stay there but Desi is not willing to budge on that. He refuses. I'm surprised he even went over that bridge at all. That is 40 minutes of his life that was potentially endangered by tsunamis, earthquakes or typhoons!

The bus stations on either end were too, very interesting. Upon getting to Shanghai, we were unable to fend off the barking men selling expensive taxi rides to us "lao weis" (foreigners). At one point, they surrounded us, about 15 of them in a circle. I was officially scared. I just started walking, Des followed me, and one by one, they left us alone. We then scored an expensive taxi ride with a guy who we thought, was an official taxi driver. However, he wasn't. At one point, he parked his car in the middle of a large intersection, and he waited...and waited...soon, 4 people got in and squeezed us to the other side of his already small car. He picked up his family AND took us to our hotel downtown. Desi and I agree that next time we come home, we will just hang out at the bus stations/airports in our free time and try to make some extra cash. We were just glad to get to where we were going.

Another fun fact is that 480 million Chinese were traveling during this holiday. Great, right? WRONG. Most were in Shanghai. To put it simply--a madhouse! We were staying in a calm part of town but what a mistake it was for Desi and I to venture out to the touristy side of our area!! Walking street (you'll see it posted in pictures) speaks clearly for itself. I will never go back. The Bund--hell. I will never go back there, more! Then, the day before we left: IKEA. Another mistake. At least we got some new furniture and some basics needs. I think it's safe to say that 1,000,000 were at Shanghai IKEA with us that day. Hhehehe. Really, though?! Taking pictures of an overcrowded designer room with your 2-year old pretending to eat out of the westerner dinner sets?! Not that cool. We were elbow to elbow...fighting for our dear life in there. I will admit IKEA's are typically crazy, but on this day, I could have choked all the families taking advantage of "photo ops!" It was by far crazier than the one in Arizona. That says a lot too.

The last thing I'll say is that I lost my cell phone while in a very intense cab ride. We were "cabbing it' for almost an hour in about three different sections of Shanghai. We were to be dropped off, but it looked too sketchy in that particular neighborhood. So Desi asks the guy to keep driving us. When all was said and done, I was just so glad to get out of that car, that I either left my phone on the seat or it fell out into the road. In any case, it was gone. Of course, as luck would have it, I just recharged my phone hours before with 100 RMB. Here it is, another first, losing my first cell phone, ever!

Let's see what Desi can come up with...maybe I'll write more later. Enjoy the pics!!

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