ParkerH

My last trip in China was to Hong Kong. I left for Hong Kong right after my last final on Saturday 22nd and then jumped on a plane. I arrived in Hong Kong late and caught the last bus from Hong Kong island to my hostel on Nathan Road. My Hong Kong hostel was a VERY small single person room. My first day in Hong Kong had a completely different feel compared to my other trips. Travelling alone felt different but I was also surprised how different Hong Kong was compared to China. The city was much more international compared to Chinese cities and was very clean. Even the behaviors were more western. People actually took standing on the right on escalators seriously and no eating or drinking was allowed on the subway. I spent my ... read more

This past trip to Xian was during our last 3 day weekend and also means that I am more than halfway through my summer program. After visiting the Shanghai Museum on Thursday afternoon we caught a 7:00 sleeper train to Xian. The train ride took 14 hrs and we arrived around 10:30am on Friday in Xian. After dropping bags off at the hotel we took a bus to see the famous Terracotta warriors. Over 2,200 years old, the life-size pottery figures were made to guard the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi, the first Emperor to unify China. He enlisted over 70,000 workers over 36 years but their is no written historical record and all the workers were buried alive so the the Terracotta Warriors were unknown until they were discovered in 1974 by peasants digging a ... read more

Xuijiahui has become familiar and people have found their favorite places to go for restaurants, cafes, bakeries, xiao long bao. This past week in cooking we made a delicious sweet and sour chicken that I definitely plant to make at home. On Thursday night the SJTU students threw a welcoming party for us at the Minhang campus, the main SJTU campus (I am at Xinhui). We sang the Ramblin Wreck song and put on a couple other performances; including a Backstreet boys song (which they all knew) and one of us even break danced. They provided most of the entertainment with some karaoke, band performances, a song from High School musical (some fo the volunteers told me they learned several of the musical's skits in P.E.) and games. Its interesting interacting with people your own age ... read more

On Saturday I had to wake up at 8am for the GT Shanghai Overview tour. Two tour buses transported us between all the events for the day since public transportation would have been too hard for that many people. The first stop was the Shanghai Urban Exhibition Museum. This museum laid out the future plans for the expansion of Shanghai. The exhibit also included an impressive full scale model of the city. After that we that we took the Bund sightseeing tunnel to cross underneath the Huangpu River to the base of the Oriental Pearl TV tower. The tunnel included a strange mix of lights, lasers, and sounds. We embarked on a short boat ride on the River. Unfortunately the weather was overcast and between the clouds and the smog the view was partially obscured. We ... read more

On Sunday, a group of us went down to the Bund, which is probably the most recognizable part of Shanghai. The Bund is a walkway that runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River. From the Bund you can see Shanghai's world famous skyline which is on the opposite bank of the river. We used the subway for the first time to travel from the southwestern part, where SJTU is located, to the East Nanjing Road. We rode two different lines to get to our final destination. The metro system is the cleanest I have ever seen. Both lines seem relatively new and comparable to the latest lines in Europe like the London Millennium Line. Round trip was 8RMB, so ~$1. We walked through Nanjing Road, the most famous shopping area in Shanghai. The Bund ... read more