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Published: December 16th 2011
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We've spent fourteen hours in the air and two nights in Shanghai since the last update.
After we landed in Shanghai we took the maglev into town. I've told lots of people about how exciting riding it is but, it really is amazing. You can really feel the speed and it's amazing to be looking out onto the Chinese country side. Riding the maglev gives me the same feeling as riding a big wheel!
We took the metro (subway) to our hostel and have been using it to get all around town. It took about as long to get accustomed to as any public transit system you've never ridden in the US before. Thankfully there are English directions under all the Chinese. The trains are all connected like one big long car and they're really smooth and fast. A very good system.
Dining has been very good but attempting to stick to a vegan diet is all but hopeless. Nora bought some kind of pancake thing from a street vendor for breakfast yesterday. It was delicious but had an egg in it. At only about fifty cents, we couldn't afford NOT to eat it though! No regrets there.
360 degree view from the Bund.
Notice the Oriental Pearl skyscraper across the river and Nora in her sweet red tights taking a photo of it. The two noodle meals we've ordered have both had pork in them. We eat around it as much as possible and it's all good. We're happy with what we're eating and going to stay that way.
Yesterday we walked through Fu Xing Park. There were tons of older people doing all sorts of activities. We didn't see one person who looked under forty. Some people looked like hippies, playing with two large sticks connected to a string and spinning a huge yo-yo type thing around. They were good and it was interesting to watch but, definitely some full moon dance type stuff you'd see back home. There was a group of people singing songs in unison in front of a banner that said 'HAPPY EVERY DAY', love that! A highlight was the 30 or so people who were ballroom dancing in unison to a Chinese techno version of Deep Purple's 'Smoke on the Water'!
From there we were wandering through People's Square en route to the Shanghai Museum. We happend across three Chinese tourists from another city. They spoke English very well and were excited to meet us. We've been getting stares almost every where so it didn't seem odd at all to be approached. We chatted for awhile and they invited us to tea with them. We went into a storefront inside an old mall. There we were treated to a lesson in traditional Chinese tea culture. We sampled different teas and had a gay ol' time with our new friends. Once we received the bill though, we weren't to happy. Our portion came to 550 Yuan or about 85 dollars! We paid up and shortly after split ways. I felt a little weird about the interaction and did a quick Google search on my phone. Sho' nuff, we'd been scammed. We were pretty much fresh off the plane and vulnerable but Nora and I were very bummed. We're good about avoiding that type of thing but these guys were pros and lots of people fall prey to this scam. Worst part was that $85 is about two days-ish worth of budget. Oh well, lesson learned early in the trip and we still had a nice time.
From there we walked to the Bund and took in some of the amazing views of the skyline and Huang Pu river. We took the 'sight seeing' tunnel under the river and were treated to a corny Chinese light show but it was fun. We headed to a mall where we had a great time practicing our Chinese by haggling for some less than authentic wares. We must've walked eight miles or so yesterday.
Today will be our last day in Shanghai before we take an overnight train to Guilin. Now I must log off and carry on to the next adventure. Ciao for niao!
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Whitney Dean
non-member comment
AGHGHGHGH!
This is so exciting!! I'm thrilled you're logging the adventure; I can broaden my horizons through your eyes. Be safe!!! Love, Whit