And now, as promised...

I'll try to keep this recap of Shanghai as brief and enjoyable as possible.

On Saturday we arrived bright and early via the hard sleeper train. Note to Chinese smokers: smoking in-between cars still makes the entire car smell! Also, if the train does not arrive at the station until 8am, why does everyone still get up at 6am? Not necessary.

Our first item on the agenda was to go on field trips for our classes, so our media class went to the Youth News Group (which publishes several youth newspapers and a magazine) and then jetted over to Shanghai TV where we wandered around their news set. Both were pretty predictable: the newspaper offices were poorly decorated and employees dressed casually, though this being China and the newspaper having once been founded/supported by Mao himself, the journalists were all pretty conservative in their viewpoints. We didn't get to talk to any people at the TV station so I'm not sure on their views, but it was clear that working in TV is much more glamorous and higher paid (obviously). There was nothing exciting to report except that STV recently launched a new channel called SC1 that basically only shows foreign TV shows because they are much more exciting than any Chinese programs. (This is sadly true. Chinese TV consists of "news", period dramas, bad variety shows, and music concerts).

After that we had dinner and then were free until Monday morning. Naturally we went down to the Bund and took many many photographs while we were harassed by many many salespeople. Then we walked up Nanjing Road, which is like the Wangfujin area of Shanghai so it has lots of fancy shops (but not too high end). We got to the endish, had a beer, and called it a night.

Sunday we had lots of plans. First stop: Shanghai Museum at the People's Square. It was very well done, kinda small, but free so it was worth it. All Chinese ancient artwork and basically I wanted to steal the entire ceramic exhibit. The hall of minorities was pretty cool too, especially the map that showed all 50 of the minorities and which part of China they live in. Yes, I am a nerd. Yes, I really want to go to Yunnan.

Anyway then we walked down Huaihai Road which is the 5th Ave of Shanghai. We found a little French deli in a nice mall and I had a tuna panini for lunch. Amazing! So we continued our pursuit of French things in Shanghai by heading south to the old French concession. On our way we stopped at Fuxing Park and ended up staying there for a couple hours because it was just so beautiful. The best/strangest part was when we sat on the grass playing spoons and all these Chinese people started gathering around us, just leaning over and staring at our game. I guess they were trying to figure out what we were doing bc when we started playing Egyptian ratscrew they left for more interesting sights, saying they already knew that game. Weirdddd!

The bestest bestest part of the day was stumbling upon a little area called Tianzifang in the French Concession. It's a slice of old Shanghai with all these cool boutiques, coffee shops, and bars. I bought a journal that I bargained down two whole kuai and got some extra cards thrown in. My skills are astounding, I know. Well unfortunately although this was undoutbedly the coolest place ever, we had plans to meet up with Cathy (my studying-in-Shanghai pengyou) for dinner near the Pearl Tower, so we had to get back to the subway.

May I just warn anyone needing to take the subway from People's Square at 5.30pm that this is probably going to be the most ridiculous too-many-people-in-one-underground-area experience of your life. But we made it, and we made it on time, and then we had a delicious lunch at the high class shopping mall opposite the Pearl Tower. After dinner we wanted to go up the tower but it turned out to be a 150 yuan fee, so that didn't happen. And we wanted to find another building to go up but they were all on the other side of the river, so alas we called it a night.

Monday we had class in the morning, wherein several Shanghai university journalism students stopped by and told us how great and propaganda-full the Chinese media is. And by tell us I mean they showed us with their blatant acknowledgement that journalists are the mouthpieces of the government... and no one cares. Awesome for the future of Chinese media, right?

Basically the entire class I was thinking: can we please leave so I can go shopping now? K thanks. So once we were let out we headed over to the most famous tourist area in Shanghai: the Yu Gardens. It's a really old maze of gardens surrounded by a huge bazaar full of people, overpriced shops, stinky tofu, and more people. Needless to say after all the hype I was not overly impressed, and though the gardens themselves were cool, the hoardes of tourist groups clogging up the paths kinda ruined the mood. Also I am sad to report that the American tourists were terribly easy to spot because they were both poorly dressed and overweight. Sigh.

We accidentally walked down Old Shanghai Road on our way out in search of a taxi, and it was pretty cool. The shops were much more Chinese and it seemed like normal (Shanghai?) people actually shopped there, instead of other Chinese people on holiday. Skipping forward in time... we headed back out later to meet Cathy for dinner near Nanjing East Rd and had some yummy Singaporean food. Then we had some drinks at a couple bars, went in search of a dance club and failed miserably, and went back home. After all the hype about Shanghai bars and the clubbing scene, either we really struck out or the scene actually isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

Quickly, I will get to the end of this too-long recap: Next day took the D bullet train to Nanjing. Had 7ish hours to kill there so went into the city center and walked around the giant shopping area. Bought two Chinese books: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Harry Potter. Actually Charlie is a pretty easy read... good to know I have the Chinese reading level equivalent to an elementary school child. Then took the soft sleeper back to Beijing where we arrived Wednesday morning to witness the throngs of Chinese tour groups descending upon Tiananmen for the National Holiday. You can't get away from the tourists, you really can't.

Final note: Internet is down momentarily so further posting will commence once it has been fixed. Hopefully within a day but I can't make any promises.

Certain things happen here...

that would not happen in NYC. For example:

--Saturday night we got kicked off the subway. At 11:20pm! Because the subways no longer run after that time of night! Unfortunately, we were on the equivalent of the circle line, so the departure was completely random and we were no where near our destination. Being the helpful city that it is, we then had to venture out into the street and find a cab to go the rest of the way home, because buses don't run after that time either. Wth! What happens to people who need to get somewhere at night and don't have enough money for a cab?? Definitely one of the sucky things about Beijing is this oversight in transportation needs, compounded with the fact that Beijing is a HUGE SPRAWLING METROPOLIS.

--The cab Cheng and I ended up taking was actually a funny thing in itself. We finally managed to hail it and there was already a guy sitting in the front seat next to the driver. The driver then explained that the guy was his old friend, and if we didn't mind, he could give us a ride while he and his old friend continued talking. I was like, aw cuties, and then I thought: can you imagine a taxi driver in NYC pulling up and being like, I'll take you if it's all right that my friend is sitting up here and we're having a random conversation. Oh but then it was funny because the friend dude was apparently listening to Cheng and I talk in the back and he told Cheng he liked the sound of Cheng's voice. Not that Cheng spoke well or anything, just that his voice sounded good. Hilarious.

--The coat check at the dance club/bar was free! What?? Insanity.

--Also the best part was right next to the club (called Propaganda with a big pink star on the front, which is pretty great by itself) is a 7/11 and if you want, you can simply waltz into the 7/11, buy a beer, drink it on the curb, and then head back into the club for some more dancing. China is sweet like that.

--Speaking of waltzing, when we went to Houhai earlier that day there was a random waltz dancing street show going on. It looked like people had just set up a boombox with some waltz music and were having at it. Impromptu street waltzing in NYC? Not very likely... except maybe somewhere in Brooklyn.

So maybe I should back up an explain how Saturday went: rode bus to Qinghua, rode bike to Cheng's dorm, had lunch with Cheng's friend, took taxi to meet Cathy at Nanluoguxiang, went back to Cathy's hotel near Houhai, had dinner with a bunch of people at a restaurant overlooking the lake, took a cab to Silk Market, took subway to Wangfujin but the night market was already closed so we took the subway back to Wudaokou and met up with people at Propaganda.

Needless to say that was an exhausting day in which we managed to take all forms of transportation around the city except rickshaw or electric bike (the boats at Houhai don't count cuz you just row them in circles). Sunday was rainy so I practiced some Daoist wuwei philosophy (aka sat on my butt all day) and now it's back to the school grind. But: Shanghai this coming weekend!

Technical Difficulties Fixed! Commence Posting!

Well kids, the unfortunate truth is that Maarten Troost was not lying when he complained about how horrible the air pollution is here. Nor was he exaggerating. It’s bad. On top of it being bad, I had a sore throat bothering me off and on before I left, and of course now it is back in full force. I used to like going outside or opening my window for some fresh air (even in NY!) but now I am cowering in my dorm room in fear of breathing any more outside fumes.

The throat condition was no doubt exacerbated by the amount of walking outside I have already done today. We started out the morning with a voluntary excursion across the city to the Houhai district to check out some hutongs. Getting there first involved catching a bus, then getting off and walking a few blocks to the subway. I must say I was quite impressed with both modes of transportation. Clean, on time, and efficient. Not terribly crowded either. We bought a card that allows us to swipe on the buses (at a discount rate) and subways so we won’t have to buy tickets everytime. It’s kinda like the Oyster card for London, so of course I love it. How fangbian. Also the bus is so cheap! Only .40 kuai!

Going to Houhai during the day was nice, because it wasn’t so crowded and crazy like it gets at night. The area was really nice, with a big lake where people were boating, fishing, and swimming (the last one at their own risk). Too bad the smog had to diminish the splendor! OK I should stop complaining and probably accept this condition as a fact of life here. (Though that doesn’t make it any more tolerable!). Anyway we stopped in this one shop selling lots of stuff from Tibet, and the staff was really funny and nice and wanted to take lots of pictures with us crazy waiguoren. I tried helping some girls bargain for things but I don’t think I did much for them. However I’m a little more prepared for when I go out shopping on my own, since I had a bit of fun helping them. Too bad they were overwhelmed by the salesmanship… which really wasn’t that bad, in my opinion. I’ve dealt with much pushier people, even in America.

Then in the afternoon we had this scavenger hunt activity where we paired up with someone and had to go find a random landmark they had assigned to us. We weren’t allowed to ask any native English speakers for help, or to take a taxi. Lucky for us, there are tons of Olympic volunteers on our campus, so I asked them (in Chinese!) to help us and they kindly wrote directions for the bus (in Chinese!). We made it there and back (our was a French supermarket chain called JiaYueFu that’s basically like Walmart on crack) and a nice student helped us find the campus again on the bus ride home. Beijing people are nice when your lost! But I still have a long way to go in completely understanding directions. Mostly it’s a lot of me pointing, asking Nei biar? And I nod a lot, even though I don’t understand. But I try! And I think if I had to get somewhere on my own I would be ok… provided I had a map and a piece of paper so people could write things down for me.A successful (if wearying) excursion.