Family style meal with a lazy susan, very popular in China

Andrea, Anna, Amanda, Mike, Me, and Jane

Shanghai Day 2

On our 2^nd day in Shanghai, Jane and I did some shopping on Nanjing Street.  We spent several hours in this underground market where all you do is bargain, bargain, bargain.  The first one or two times we definitely got ripped off, but once we got the hang of it, we were a great team.  When one of us wanted to buy something we would tell the other one who would play along and together we would just walk away until we got the price that we wanted.  It basically became a game and it was a lot of fun. 

I was beginning to get used to the busy streets in China but still trying to observe as much as possible.  I imagine things were a bit different because of the Chinese New Year.  For instance, a lot of places were closed for the holidays and there were fireworks and firecrackers being set off all day and night.  I also observed several other things about the Chinese culture that were completely differently than what I’d seen in Japan.  First, I saw a lot more babies and children in China.  I saw significantly fewer children and babies in Japan, especially in comparison to their older generation, which makes up a big portion of the population due to the fact that Japan’s life expectancy is so high.  I also noticed that people in Japan, particularly Tokyo, looked very put together and were extremely fashionable.  In Shanghai, which is also a major city, people were not nearly as fashion conscious.  A final observation I made was that people in China showed a lot more public affection than I had seen in Japan.  (This does not include my host family in Japan, only what I saw walking around the cities.)  There was also a lot more touching and eye contact in China. 

That night we went to a great restaurant that was recommended to me by my dear friend Mike Sutich, who studied abroad in Shanghai last semester and is a restaurant connoisseur.  There were about 9 of us who went and everyone said they loved it.  (Thanks Mike!)  We sat at a big round table and had a family style dinner with a Lazy Susan on the table.  It was the first time we were given a menu with English translations, which made it easier.  Of course, the translations were not exactly the way we would translate them so we had quite a few laughs reading the menu.  There was also a little performance going on during dinner which was entertaining.

After dinner we went to the rooftop bar at the Captain Hostel.  Despite the fact that we did not like their sleeping accommodations, we had to give them credit for their rooftop bar.  It was designed and decorated like a boat and had indoor and outdoor seating.  It had a really cool atmosphere.  Later that night we went to a club called Muse 2 where we saw some SAS people.  But before that, something very interesting happened to me….

I was standing right outside the Captain hostel at the outdoor ATM when I could sense that someone was behind me.  I got a little freaked out at first but when I turned around I realized it was just a little old man laying out some sort of red ribbon along the sidewalk, probably decorating for the Chinese New Year.  I turned back around to finish making my transaction, when all of a sudden the loudest cracking sound starts piercing my eardrums.  As if that wasn’t enough, tiny little balls that felt like pebbles started hitting me in the back.  This lasts for a good 30 seconds and all I could do was stand there and take it because there was nowhere for me to go, especially since my card was still in the ATM.  As soon as everything stopped, I quickly pulled my card out of the machine and turned to go back into the hostel.  As I’m opening the door to the hostel, out of the corner of my eye, I see the little old man scurrying away down an alley, probably laughing to himself. 

Anyway, it was definitely a bizarre experience and I’m still trying to figure out why this man needed to set a firecracker off 5 feet away from me when he clearly saw me standing there.  Looking back it’s pretty funny, but at the time I thought I was in the middle of a warzone and it took several minutes for the ringing in my ears to stop.  Gotta love China.

 

Out to dinner in Shanghai

View of the ship from the Pearl Tower

Pearl Tower- Amanda, Andrea, Anna, Me, and Jane

China... a different world

We only had 2 days in between Japan and China, both of which were filled with classes and port meetings.  I was still processing everything I had experienced in Japan when our ship docked in Shanghai, China on February 16^th.  (Again, excuse the delayed posting.  I haven’t been blogging as much because I don't want to waste any time when we are in port.)  That being said, I’ll begin sharing my first day in Shanghai.

My friends (Anna, Amanda, Andrea, Mike, and Jane) and I decided we would spend the first day getting to our hostel, which we had reserved ahead of time so we didn’t run into the problem we had in Japan where they were all booked.  We had someone write down the name and address of the hostel in Chinese and we got into cabs.  Unfortunately, the place where he dropped us off was not where our hostel was so obviously something got lost in translation.  Luckily, we had some idea of where it was so we decided to walk a few blocks and ask people.  We soon realized that hardly anyone spoke any English.  Even when we used major words and hand gestures, we were getting empty stares.  It made me realize how much I’d taken for granted the number of people who spoke English in Japan.  Either way, this wandering around allowed me to get a taste of China.

I have to say, I definitely experienced a bit of culture shock.  Crazy driving.  Loud honking.  Dirty streets.  Big mobs of people.  Not a lot of English.  Pushing and shoving.  Litter everywhere.  No toilet paper.  Completely the opposite of everything I saw in Japan.  As you can see, I have found myself comparing what I observed in China to everything I experienced in Japan, almost as much as I compare it to the United States.  This is mainly due to the fact that I now realize how drastically different China and Japan are from each other, despite my prior tendency to group together all the countries in Southeast Asia. 

It only took a few minutes walking around Shanghai for my perspective to change completely.  Unlike any of the cities I visited in Japan, this street in Shanghai was covered with filth, on the ground and in the air.  People were blatantly throwing their litter on the ground, even when trash cans were close by.  My impression grew worse when I saw what appeared to be human feces on the sidewalk.  It didn’t help that just a few minutes earlier a man standing next to me loudly coughed up a huge chunk of phlegm and spit it out right in front of me.  This was completely different from Japan where it was not polite to blow your nose into a tissue in public.  We were definitely in a different world.

We eventually made it to our hostel (Captain Hostel) and were given the keys to our room, which was only $7 a night for each of us.  When we walked into the room, the beds hadn’t been made yet and there was hair everywhere.  The communal bathrooms down the hallway were dark, dirty, and had no toilet paper.  At first, none of us said anything.  I think we were all just playing it cool so it didn’t look like we couldn’t handle it.  However, once someone said something, we all admitted that we were totally freaked out and would much rather sleep on the comfortable ship which was only about 10 minutes away.  (What a relief!)  In the end, we got our money’s worth since we were able to keep our stuff in the room all day and use the internet.

That afternoon, we took two cabs to the Pearl Tower, a major tourist attraction.  Jane, Amanda, and I got out of our cab and walked into a mob of people.  We realized that we were naive to think we would find Mike, Anna, and Andrea at the entrance.  So the 3 of us gripped each other’s hands, made a pact that we would not get separated, and took on the crowd of people.  We waited on a long line which wrapped around the entire building and appeared to have no end.  I think because of the Chinese New Year it was even more packed than usual.  Eventually we made it inside and took the elevator up to the top where we were able to look out over the entire city.  It was really cool because we were able to see our ship from where we were.  (I should also mention that we ended up finding Mike, Andrea, and Anna while we were waiting in line.  Thank God for blonde hair!)

After a long day (the first day in each port always seems to be the most exhausting) we went to a Chinese restaurant in the mall.  Mike and I had some trouble expressing to the waitress that we didn’t eat meat, but other than that our meals were delicious.  One observation I made was that they did not give us napkins.  Instead, we were expected to bring our own or buy tissues.  At the end of our meal, when our bill arrived and we did the conversion, we were shocked at how low it was.  It was too cheap to even fathom.  (This was one thing that I certainly didn’t miss about Japan!)

Later that night the 6 of us went to a club called Lux where we were the only westerners.  It was also one of the only times in my life that I was in a social situation (not service-oriented or academically related where it is set up that way) and was the only white person there.  It was a unique feeling to be in the minority for once.  Then we walked to another local bar where were the only westerners again.  We got food, danced, and hung out with locals.  Our original plan had been to meet up with SAS people but with the cab drivers not speaking English, it was difficult to end at the same places.  However, it ended up being a fun night and a good way to see what the real nightlife is like in China.

Overall, my first day in China was great.  However, it was definitely going to take some getting used to.  I needed to realize a few things: that it is okay for cabs to make U-turns into oncoming traffic; that it is perfectly common to see a grown woman picking her nose in public; and that there are more people in China than in any other place I’ve ever been in my life.  (The only country that is more populated is India and I haven’t been there yet.)  Keeping these things in mind, I walked away from my first day feeling confident that I am going to enjoy China.  If nothing else, I will definitely grow from the experience.