Arrival - Shanghai China - April 17th, 2008!!!

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Today I arrived in Shanghai, China. Wow. Half way around the world, it seems like a dream. After arriving at the airport I cashed in some Canadian dollars from some Chinese Yuan and managed to find a mini-bus downtown to “People’s Square”. The english language is not flowing or understood as well as I had expected around here. The minibus ride was full of anticipation, wondering: Did my bags get on the bus? How long is the ride downtown? Will they let me know when it is my stop?. I have to be at the hostel by 5pm and I have no idea how long this ride is downtown. Boom.... dejavu Toronto... bumper to bumper traffic. An hour and a half later of insane traffic on highways weaving through a mix of residential, industrial and slums, the bus agent hollared something at me in Chinese that I understood as ‘Get Off’, and so I did.
Lonely Planet in hand, with what I would within minutes realize as a way too heavy backpack on my back, I quickly went into wilderness orienteering mode. I realized that they had let me off on a different road then they had told me they would, but within minutes figured it all out and set out in the direction of my hostel. As I walk down the people packed streets (think Front and Bay Street at 5pm and multiply it by 50), it slowly starts to hit me that “I’m doing this, I’m really doing this”. Within 15 minutes of urban trekking I arrived at the eTour Mingtown Youth Hostel. After a quick tour of the hostel, I made my way to my room with full intentions of taking a quick cat-nap and then doing some exploring. Next thing I knew I woke up and it was early dawn the next morning.

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