Really made a habit of waking up or rather sleeping in till 11 am. Needed to make sure I was fully rested before starting the day. Well, specially exceptions did exist when forced to wake up at 5:30am
- loved walking around and taking in the combination of old and a growing/large amount of new.
1.5 days - definitely not enough time, but that wasn't the objective of the trip (a taste of some of the popular cities in China)
Why go back? 1. I left without having a single donut although I saw at least 6 places selling donuts [my obsession comes from a: no donuts in hong kong b: spending an entire marketing classes talking about dunkin' donuts (makes no sense seeing that 99% of the locals had no idea who they were) 2. I didn't get to try the delicious Shanghai food because... I didn't argue with my companion Adrian when his suggestions were well western cuisine, which I despised each time. First, it was KFC where I order all of 2 chicken fried wings because I never go to KFC, didn't know what to order, and the language barrier between me and the woman taking my order. We chose to have a drink at a german restaurant where they dress to fit the stereo type, and there is a band that fails at singing western music with locals dancing awkwardly to accompany them. Then, it was an empty western café where there are waiters sitting around w/ nothing to do, our waitress looks at me funny when I ask for a "regular" hamburger aka a plain hamburger so I get a bacon grilled cheese. All my western purchases came with cognitive dissence (post purchase regret) We agreed at the western cafe, no more of this. And I said right in front of our waitress, "Finally we'll get some good food" oops... nothing against your food it's just not what I came here for.
Our hostel mates well they smoked in the room, didn't speak English, went to bed at 9 pm, and woke up at the crack of dawn with the goal of making as much noise as possible. That aside, the Bee Home hostel itself was great.
Prices in China are so cheap!! Hey all you travels never! I repeat never take the Bund Unground tunnel, waste of 45 yuan and the lamest "ride" I've ever been on for that cost. And we made or may not have been scammed by the infamous tea ceremony scandal. These two mainland China girls started talking to us on the street, and asked if we wanted to join them to see a "play" or that's what I thought they said. Lo and behold it was a Chinese Tea Ceremony, and it was supper expensive at the end of the day. We divided the costs between the 4 of us, but as soon as we left they had to go meet up with one of their sisters for dinner, suree. All in all, take away the price and it was fun, plus these teas apparently cleansed my body one making me more beautiful, another improving my health and healing my body from any drinking. Others did something too, and made me stronger I think. (6 different teas in all) I did learn more about tea from the experience as well!
Went to the Jade Temple, probably got scammed there too, buying a drawing made with only the hand and pinky finger nail of 1 of the only "5" trained professionals in the world who have the ability and knowledge...right (eye roll) and I may or may not have taken a picture of the Jade Buddha, just sayin.
World Expo is in Shanghai this summer if you're interested... I just missed it. And next stop = Beijing! Mode of transportation: train... just made it after I get us lost for almost an hour looking for the station. Then the hard sitter from 13:30 till 8:00 the next morning... seriously what were we thinking?? Oh wait we weren't! Learn the HARD way, no pun intended. Saga continues with Beijing...(This is the "light" version of Shanghai or as much as I want to type)
Random Quote: "IT'S TOO BAD THAT ALL OF THE PEOPLE THAT KNOW HOW TO RUN THIS COUNTRY ARE BUSY DRIVING TAXIS AND CUTTING HAIR."
