Peach Festival and Why Shanghai is Great

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Finally, after a week and a half I can access my travel blog. The internet connections in China are SO BAD that for days the speed is 10MBPS AWFUL! there is no way I can open my hotmail account!!

Anyways, we are back and this time we have pictures of the Peach Festival. I expected it to be a "big deal" like the cherry blossom festivals in Japan (or Georgia 😊) However, in Shanghai, you not only have to drive 1.5 hours, you also have to pay around $3 per person (pretty expensive here), since you can eat lunch for that amount of money) and once you go inside the field, there are thousands of peach trees (with flowers, of course) and little or none entertainment. The flowers were beautiful but the entertainmet was dreadful.

I have to say I am truly enjoying this city. Is really one of a kind, not only for how interesting it is for its long history, different habits and weird food, but also because of what you see on a daily basis. Some examples below:

-When someone asks you whether Chinese drive on the right or left side of the road in Shanghai, you can truthfully say "both".

-Chinese people do not know the meaning of "politically correct" they will ask in front of your classmates or colleagues how old you are, if you are married or just living together, how much money you make and if your family back in your country is poor or rich.

-The mix of cultures in the city confuses most of the Chinese people that do not know how to read the signs on the street (some are in English, some in Mandarin) so they try reading left to right first, if they don't make sense, they try the other way.

-The look on the face of a foreigner at his first formal chinese banquet (or business lunch-dinner) when receiving the answer to the question: "What is this I am eating?"

-Starbucks and Hagen Daas charging exactly the same prices they charge in the US for a cup of coffee or a scoop of ice cream when the China's per capita GPD is one-twentieth of that of the US.

- A coupon to the local go-kart track, good for "one free ride" and "one free beer" at the bar, explaining that the beer MUST be consumed before taking the free ride.


-The taxi sign reminding you to "hold your thing" before leaving.

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Comments

[Ken]

Peach Blossom Festival
Hello - I've just gotten back the same festival - you're sooooo correct in your observations - I came away feeling the same - I however was lucky enough to have a girlfriend now my fiancé who lives in Shanghai - we got to the same entrance and decide not to enter as we saw on our way to the festival that there were other orchards that are locally grown and it does have have admision - anyhow - Shanghai is a amazing place and I would visit again and again - please visit our website - http://www.jkwebzone.com or Flickr where our photos of the festival are displayed - have fun in travals - cheers!