Shanghai so far

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I was told that half of the population of Shanghai has disappeared for the week long Spring Festival. I thought that was someone over exaggerating because that would mean 10 million people have left the largest city in China. After being here for a couple days I think that is right. Walking through downtown Shanghai (what I think is downtown anyway) and to see the streets bare is something you would see in a Hollywood movie about the world coming to an end. You could shot a cannon down the main street and you'd be lucky to hit somebody. While walking down the streets you can see just how many people live here by looking in the sky. You can't look anywhere without seeing a sky scrapper. It's very impressive. Taking a peak at the map of the subway system is just as impressive. you could spend a day traveling on the subway system and you still wouldn't be able to to take every subway available. After walking around to where I've been told some festive activities are taking place I finally find some people roaming the streets. It reminds me of the Calgary Stampede on family day. At one point I did a 360 and took a pic of each direction and all you see are people's heads. I'm not kidding (me being so tall, I tower over everybody).

New Years eve will definitely be one that I remember. I ran into a few people at the hostel I was staying at and we really didn't have a clue on what we were doing because we couldn't find allot to do online. We were told a few places in town where the party might be happening so we went on a scavenger hunt to find the party in town. We ended up going to 3 different places and not able to find anything going on. At one point we were so hungry that the only thing we could find open to eat was McD's. When new years was about to be rung in we found our way back to the first place we stopped at earlier in the night. The view was AMAZING. it's actually been declared one of the top 10 roof top bars in the world. http://matadornights.com/the-10-best-rooftop-bars-in-the-world/ Watching the whole city light up with fireworks was worth the 35 hour train ride it took to get here from Xi'an. At one point they turned off all the lights in the city just so you could see the fireworks show and then when it was all done they turned the lights back on and you couldn't even see the sky line anymore because of all the smoke. It was a new year to remember, not like Sihanoukville Cambodia (western New Year). That was more a massive party where this was more a cultural experience.

The whole job situation is a little bit of a slower process than I thought it was going to be. Then again I wasn't expecting the spring festival to clear out half the city. The offers are starting to come in so I'm just waiting for the right one and then hopefully I'll start work real soon. I'm actually excited and a little nervous about starting work. Trying to get back in the routine of becoming a productive member of society is both nerve wrecking and the fact that it's in going to be in one of the fastest growing cities in the world is rather cool. I look at it this way. I spend about a year in China so I can save up again and then move onto my next ravel destination is so worth it. Plus the added bonus is I'm going to be working with kids (well hopefully). Enjoy the pics of Shanghai so far.

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Photos

Hostel roof top
The view from the roof of my hostel

The Bund
Just walking down the street from my hostel

New Years Crew
The scavenger hunt crew

Flames in Shanghia
that looks like the flames logo to me

Roof Top View
this is what we were looking at when we brought in the new year

More crew
we finally found a place to settle in after freezing out ass off of course.

Shanghai skyline
another shot

Another building
a block away from the hostel

New camera features
playing with my new found features that I love.

Cool shot
One of my favorite shots of the night

Temple ???
one of the temples we found in our scavenger hunt

Bare streets
do you think it's new years eve?

nobody in the streets
you wouldn't think is is a city of 20 million

Firewroks
some of the fireworks the hostel was launching

Comments

[mom]

All those pics are awesome shayne but you are right,,the streets look empty. Sounds like you are truly enjoying yourself and meeting so many people,,Im glad you will be starting work soon so you can make new plans for your next adventure on your journey. As for being nerve wracking at the thought of going to work,,YOU LIVED AND WORKED WITH LIVE TIGERS,,that would be nerve wracking,,give your head a shake big guy,,lol,,lol,,love ya ,,mom