The start of an ADVENTURE

After nearly 24 hours on the go, I arrived in Shanghai, with a layover in Tokyo. After 12+ hours flying next to a robust fellow who took up more than his fair share of space and a child that screamed for a lot of the flight, the Tokyo airport was a breath of fresh air. I've never been in an airport that was so clean and quiet. No beeping cars and flashing lights, just some fancy stores and musical toilets. Yes, the toilets had buttons that you could push to play music while using the facilities. I arrived to Shanghai and managed to catch a cab to my hostel. Luckily I had the address printed in chinese characters, as the cab drivers speak no english. Well actually, there are some illegal cabs that have drivers that speak enough english to lure you into their car, where they will then proceed to charge you 4x the normal fare. Some people in my orientation program fell into such a trap. I did not fall for such trickery, but I got nervous when the cab arrived an hour later at a dark alley way. The driver got out to help me w/ my bag and pointed down the alley. Against my better judgement, I ventured into the dark alley and luckily found the light for my hostel at the end. Despite it's ominous location at the end of an alley, the hostel was an extremely pleasant place. I checked in as a large group of Canadians were headed out to party for the evening. I was ready for a shower and a change of clothes, but a 12 hour time difference made the sleep thing tricky.

In the morning, I met up w/ a few other students in my program to set out for our hotel, which would become our home for the 2 weeks of orientation. The hotel was much less charming than the hostel and reeked of cigarette smoke. Apparently, the chinese have not gotten the memo that smoking kills. Everyone smokes here, in restaurants, in class rooms, everywhere.

The 2 weeks in Shanghai were a bit of a blur of classes, site seeing, dinner outings, etc. We were in class from 8:30-5 every weekday, with language classes in the morning and culture and history classes in the afternoon. The language classes were exhausting, as Mandarin is very difficult to pick up, especially in such a short time frame. I at least know how to say hello, some numbers, and some basic communication skills, but not nearly enough to fully function in daily life. The history and culture classes seemed a bit futile; the time would have been better spent actually experiencing Chinese culture and visiting museums. I did manage to visit the Urban Planning Museum. It was awesome! 5 floors on the development of their city and the infrastructure, and one floor had a full scale model of the city. I also made it to the communist museum, the post office museum, and the house of Sun Yat-Sen.

The expo was pretty epic. I only made it in 3 pavillions, as some had waits of 6+ hours. The global footprint exhibit was the most interesting, as it was a tour through the development of civilization, from ancient to present all over the world. Also made it into the expo museum, which was a history of past expos. Lastly, made it to the nepal exhibit, which was really pretty at night, and from the top, I got an awesome view of the Chinese pavillion. Due to limited time, I mainly just walked around and tried to soak up as much as i could. The exteriors of many of the exhibits were really pretty at night, so many lights! Some of the countries must have spent a fortune. Apparently the Saudi Arabia exhibit, which had an 8 hour line, has the largest imax screen in the world. Also of note, on the day i went, there were 300,000 people there. The expo is huge! I could have spent a week there and not seen everything.

The food situation was very challenging in Shanghai. You say vegetarian and somehow you see meat particles in your food. Some of the vegetable dishes were frightening, and everything came with a huge puddle of oil. At times, it seemed there was more oil than vegetable. One night, a group went to the Jade Buddha Temple, which served only vegetarian food, but somehow that was the meal that triggered illness. The redeeming factor was a restaurant called Element Fresh, a western style restaurant that served up delightful salads and fresh juices. Never have i been so excited to order a salad. Also stocked up on lots of fruits and nuts at the super market. It was like super H mart times 10.

Everything is big and crowded and overdone in Shanghai. At most intersections, there's a 6 story shopping mall on every corner. The subway system was awesome, with announcements in both Chinese and English. The taxi system, not as ideal. Unless you had an address in characters, or your pronunciation is perfect, forget it. I was trying to meet some friends at a restaurant, but apparently mispronounced the address, as the cab driver had no idea what I was saying and started yelling at me. Getting around was a bit challenging, to say the least. Just crossing the street was a challenge, as traffic signals are merely a suggestion in China; you can make left turns on red, and pedestrians do not have the right of way.

Also of note, there were many western shops and restaurants, such as Best Buy, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. Fast Food delivers in Shanghai and Pizza Hut is a hot date spot, go figure.