CHINA TRIP Day 20: Arrival in the "New York of China"

Sunday, June 5


The flight to Shanghai was smooth and short. The first thing I noticed in the airport was the blue Gumbi-like character/mascot of the World Expo that was displayed prominently everywhere. I also felt that the air quality was a little better than in Beijing; at least the skies were a little clearer. I felt as though I could breathe a little better. The atmosphere in Shanghai was noticeably different from Beijing. It felt more modern, more city-like, more Western, and therefore, more familiar. We met up with Teacher Wang (the name kind of carried over from Beijing) and while we scrambled to figure out the bus situation, I had a slightly sinking feeling that traveling around Shanghai would be a little more cumbersome than in Beijing.

On the way to the hotel, I made sure to grab a window seat so I could take in the view of the city. I remembered reading about the increase in condominium and hotel development for the Expo despite the fact that there were already more than enough housing facilities that would never see maximum capacity without the new additions. I saw several buildings with the Expo logo on the side and wondered if it was just an advertisement for the Expo or if perhaps these buildings were the new ones built specifically because of the Expo. Our hotel was in a little corner and we had to go through this tiny alleyway. After much confusion and hassle, we all finally got our room assignments and went upstairs to put our luggage away. It’s still a weird process for me to hand over my passport every time we check-in at a hotel. I haven’t used my passport in over a year and just during this trip I’ve had to have it on my person almost every day. Our rooms were comfortable but they were small; we immediately missed our apartments in Beijing. Despite not having Internet access, we each had our own rooms plus a separate living space. I do remember Hong saying that hotel prices had increased due to the Expo, so I could only hope that our location would make up for the smaller space.

Our first dinner in Shanghai was amazing. I had never really been fond of most vegetables, but since coming to China I looked forward to anything green appearing on the table. I was the only girl on our table and consequently we actually ended up ordering more food while the other table had leftovers. It caused some of the boys to comment on how there needed to be a more balanced male to female ratio at each table. While we were in the same country, the food was a little different. I didn’t think food in Shanghai would differ too much from Beijing, but since it all tasted good I didn’t mind.

After dinner a few of us wanted to explore the city. We picked a random direction and started walking; a little ways down we lost half our group and it ended up just being Trevor, Shane, and I, which I was find with since I wasn’t sure how safe I felt in this city. We stopped every time we smelled baked goods and in a small shop near our hotel they were make waffle sticks. I got one for free and made a mental note to come back for breakfast.

Whenever we hit an intersection, we would pick a new random direction to continue walking down. It was fun and eventually we ended up at Nanjing Road, although we didn’t realize it. We just saw tons of lit up buildings and then dozens of high-end stores. I was reminded of the Waikiki strip back home in Hawai’i where most of the tourists tend to shop, although East Nanjing Road surpassed Waikiki by far. We walked until we reached a dark road and taxi’d back to the hotel. We had walked for a good two hours and didn’t really want to figure out how to walk back although with fairly recognizable, lit up buildings, it wouldn’t have been too difficult. It was also an opportunity to gauge the taxi fares. They were indeed pricier than in Beijing, but at least to Nanjing Road the fare seemed reasonable if split between several people.