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July 3rd - July 6th: The train to Shanghai
So after an uneventful bus journey to Guangzhou train station, we boarded our train to Shanghai at 6.20pm. We took a soft sleeper, which means 4 beds in a cabin, and I must say, it was very cosy indeed! The 4th occupant was a smart little Chinese man who either didnt speak any English or chose not to, and while we offered him a seat and pringles, he chose to sit somewhere else and we barely saw him. I guess 3 westerners drinking strawverry vodka from Ikea was a bit much..I felt bad for him, I would have been intimidated and 3 Chinese would have been more welcoming than my travelling companions.
Well, the train rolled out the station, and while it wasnt long before it got dark, I got a chance to see a fair bit of countryside - the China I had imagined, whizzing by. As dusk hit, we were next to a lake when a thunderstorm began, and the forked lightning going over the water was impressive if not scary although i felt slightly better about being in a train, I was still next to a very big window...
Sleeping eventually happened after lying in the dark for what seemed like hours, and the bed was comfortable with ample space so I woke up in the morning feeling a lot better than I thought I would. Arriving at Shanghai at 1.30pm Saturday, was all a bit of a daze. People EVERYWHERE and not a single taxi wanted to take me to where I wanted to go! I ended up getting the metro, which would have been made easier had my bag not been so heavy I could barely lift it and the metro being several flights of steps down. Still, I made it, said bye to Vikki and Tibbs and got on my train to Peoples Square - the centre of Shanghai to meet Marion.
After meeting Marion and 40 minutes on a bus later, I arrived at her apartment where she has been sharing with another TTC teacher, Paul. I have to say, my initial thoughts are that I am green with envy. The apartment is in a poor, rundown area of Shanghai, people are everywhere, sitting, eating, a lot more spitting than I have been used to and there is a real buzz about the place. The people here also look totally different to Guangdong people. They are much much taller (I was dwarfed on the metro) and are generally bigger built. The noise and chatter is louder and much more animated and everyone stops and watches the shouting matches between Chinese women in the streets with a bemused good natured smile before drifting off again when its fizzled out. And, after 4pm,many people are to be seen wandering around in their pyjamas. I had heard that this is what the people of Shanghai do, and its true!
The food so far has been cheap and fabulous. On my first night we went to the hut down the road and had fried egg noodles (50p) which were delicious. Last night, we went for hotpot. Youre faced with a fridge filled with bundles of things and given basket and you fill it with what you want. I opted for noodles, quails eggs, coriander, potato,sweet potato, cauliflower, tofu, 3 types of mushroom and a strip of pork. It all gets boiled up in a net and you get it in a bowl of hot spicy soup to which you can add buckets loads of fresh crushed garlic and vinegar. Awesome! Today for breakfast, I have had a Taiwanese bacon and egg pancake and I feel I have truely died and gone to heaven. Tonight, we're going for a treat in the French quarter and having rib eye steak and chips for 3 pounds which I have been assured is fabulous, so it will be great to go into Shanghai proper at night and eat STEAK!!!
I'm going to launch into full Shanghai explorations as of tomorrow. There are many different areas to go and see and I am here till Saturday so plenty of time to get to grips with everything before moving on.
I'm currently in a Chinese internet place - there must be over 100 computers here, mainly being used by Chinese men playing computer games and smoking, and of course, the romantic ramblings of popular Chinese love songs are ever present in the background.
I like it here.
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Pauline Power
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It sounds amazing, you must be having an excellent experience....... how is the teaching going, the pictures are brilliant. China sounds great. Pauline (Town Hall)