High Speed Train to Jiaxing

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June 7th 2011

Published: June 7th 2011

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HeathSwindler

Shanghai Train Station

The holiday weekend is over. Most of you probably didn’t know it was a holiday weekend, but this three day weekend was China’s Dragon Boat Festival holiday. It is not as exciting as it may sound, I thought there might be parades of Chinese traditional dragon dances or boat races on the river. There was little more than a gloomy, rainy weekend with some family gatherings and traditional zong zi. Zong zi is a special type of dumpling wrapped in banana leaves that people eat during this holiday.

I was invited to Jiaxing, a small town by Chinese standards, near Shanghai where my local friend’s girlfriend’s family lives. These are the same people I went to Macau with and they wanted me to spend some time with their family during the holiday. My mode of transportation was one of the highlights of my trip. We took the High Speed Train from Shanghai to Jiaxing and we spent a lot more time buying tickets and getting to the station than actually on the train. It was a quick trip and if you wanted photos out the window, you had to be quick or what you wanted to shoot would be gone.

Shanghai Train Station

Only high speed trains go in and out of this station.

These passenger trains were nice and comfortable and I hope the U.S. can get a railway system in place like this.
My stay is Jiaxing was only for a day and a half and their family took very good care of me. Every Chinese family I have stayed with keeps me very full, doesn’t let me pay for anything, and doesn’t let me leave empty handed. I was given some Zong zi and a Coke to take back to Shanghai with me. I feel like drinking Coke in China is now like it was in the U.S. a generation or two ago. Getting a Coke at your local convenience store used to be quite the treat in the U.S. compared to the surplus of carbonated sodas in stores today. The business of the Coke brand keeps growing in China and the Chinese love it.

I returned to Shanghai on Sunday afternoon to meet Philip and go to Church. I recently have made a new friend that is truly a divine appointment. I met him earlier this week and the connections that allowed us to meet make the world seem very small. A random friend had gotten me in contact

Shanghai Train Station

with a couple here in Shanghai that I have met and spent some time with while I have been here. They recently told me about a new intern they heard was coming to Shanghai in the Architecture field that I should meet. They had never met him and neither had I, but we knew he was looking for a church to get involved with while he was here. I also had an intern at Gensler telling me about a new person his dad had recently hired from America and he put him in touch with me because he was interested in finding a good Church here. It turned out that all these unconnected parties were telling me about the same person and in this city of over 20 million, I met Philip last Thursday. We oddly already knew some of the same people here and he enjoyed his first Sunday at SCF. His parents were missionaries and he has experience living in many different places of the world.

My Hong Kong trip will start on the 23rd and I am looking forward to that. I hope everything is going smooth for the rest of the 4th year KSU class