Last day in Shanghai, and as far as people on here know Ive barley been in Shanghai, due to lack of updates. Well Shanghai in a nut shell was awesome. The only thing that sucks is we are basically a tour group. We will go non stop from 8am to 5 (sometimes 10) and barely have any free time. Its gets tiring sometimes just because I dont get time to see the city by myself, which I am use too. So here is what we basically did: we went to the top of the Jim Moa tower; we went to a Buddhist temple; we have been to three different markets; we went to a canal (sorta) city; a really big Chinese garden; an acrobat show; and a river tour. However, today I was able to go for a walk around the city by myself a four hour walk. I wanted to see the real Shanghai, but I discovered this was hard. Shanghai was basically founded as a city that allowed foreign countries to establish colonies in China. So Shanghai was nothing until the mid-1800s, and thenFrance and England set up colonies in this area. Therefore, Shanghai has very little history and the little history it does have lacks Chinese history. So the best place to go inShanghai seems to be the French concession which is where I walked today. This area is the same area we will go out at night. So, I wanted to see it during the day. The walk was ok, and I will try and post some pictures. It has a great blending of current Chinese culture with a hint of European style. After my walk, I went and exchanged the last amount of money that I have. This is the funny story of the week: Ball State Credit Union will not allow withdraws from certain countries anymore. This includes China. I was basically screwed about half way through this week. I have been trying to use my credit card when possible and then borrow money whenever I could. I finally ran out of money today. However, I have found a cheap was to cash advance my credit card, so I will soon be rich again. (Rich is a very relative term).
Anyway, I am waiting in the lobby for our group so we can go to the train station for out night train to Beijing. We are in first class sleepers. In fact, our entire trip has felt like were rich. Our hotel is super nice, we are always being shuttled around on the bus instead of public transit, all meals are taken care of, and they pay admission to everything we do. Now we are in first class sleepers tonight on the train. This is crazy, I think. I wish we could down grade a little and get a better experience. In fact, everyone was worried two days ago when we HAD to go to a restaurant and order our food by ourselves. Imagine being in China for over three weeks and having to do this! Crazy! I mean, seriously, we had been in China for five days and we had barley interacted with the Chinese. I thought this was crazy in itself. Oh well.
Things are super cheap here, which is nice when you are running out of money. We have gone to several markets most of which were locals trying to sell stuff to tourist for really cheap. Although it was a touristy spot, you learn a lot about these areas. I mean, much of this country relies off the western world, and this is just another way it is done. The funny thing is China is an emerging super power. Being in Shanghai for a week leads you to believe that. They are not a backwards country. They are very progressive and posess most rights given to a lot of other countries. One of the students asked me if the USA saw China as an economic threat, and I had to say yes. Why else would theUSA want to be Chinas friends so bad.
Anyway, the best bartering story I have was at the Old City where I thought I should by a watch since I couldnt use my cell phone to tell time. So we found someone selling watches the street so we asked her. She took us outside the market, to this one small road. Then inside the store we went to the back, to a hidden door, where we went to the back. It was pretty creepy. Fortunately there were three people with me. Anyway, once in the back of the creepy store I bought a watch, which is an expensive brand name I think. Fortunately, China doesnt have copyright rules, so you can buy a copy of almost anything.
Anyway, Im going to sign off.
No comments:
Post a Comment