Today, after eating breakfast and a 2 hour language lesson working on our presentations, David, Courtney, and I headed for David’s house in Shanghai to stay with his parents for the day, since they had kindly invited us to come, and we could not refuse the offer. We took a taxi from our hotel to the train station, and then got tickets for our bullet train to Shanghai. The bullet train had very comfortable seats, and was a lot faster than I expected! Since we took a train that left on the hour, there were no stops between Hangzhou and Shanghai. The trip was much faster than I had expected, and the seats were very comfortable, although I was 
surprised the train wasn’t fuller than it was. Instead of taking 3 hours like our bus ride had from the airport, the trip only took 45 minutes. There was a broad range of scenery along the way, and I was really surprised how we would pass by city to country and back to city again. I learned that not only do you need a train pass to get on the train, but you also need one to get out. Courtney had fallen asleep on the train and couldn’t find his ticket, so he had to pay another 82 Yuan to get a new one. He was disappointed when he found the original ticket a couple minutes later, but it was definitely a lesson learned for all of us. We then took a subway to a place closer to David’s house, and walked the rest of the way. While the bullet train had been fairly expensive, the subway tickets were only 3 Yuan each (compared to 82 Yuan for the bullet train). We walked by a place called “Naughty Family,” which David said was a pet store. We then entered a very nice neighborhood where David’s parents lived. When we entered David’s house we removed our shoes and slipped on a pair of slippers. David’s mom kindly offered us a very nice snack of apples, apple juice, peanuts, and beef jerky. David’s family has such a beautiful (and very expensive!) house. We then spent some time relaxing and catching up on the internet, since we hadn’t had internet at the hotel. We had lost our internet at the hotel after the first day, and our only internet near the hotel was at an internet café that was down an alley and up a dark staircase. Because the internet café was not very safe, we were told to go in groups of at least 4, have at least one Chinese student with us to help with the language, and to not talk to any of the local people in the café. After spending some time at David’s house, his mother drove us to and dropped us off at a 
mall. We went into a sports store, and I was surprised at how affordable everything was! There were name brands popular in the US such as Adidas, Nike, and Asics, which were very expensive compared to how much I am used to paying for them. I saw a pair of Asics that would have been $193 US! However, the local brands were only a fraction of the cost. There were t-shirts that were only 40 Yuan, or about $6. I tried on a few items, but everything was too small! The sizing in China is very different from the US, and the Chinese women I have seen are typically very short and thin. With the conversions back to US sizing, they had shirts that would be a US XXS! After finding nothing, we went in search of something to eat, and ended up landing on Pizza Hut, since Courtney hadn’t been there and I hadn’t been allowed to eat anything the last time we were there. We decided on a meal that had several courses, and got a Texas mini beef steak pizza, which I had never seen in the US. It had a BBQ sauce, peppers, cheese, and the steak. We also got strawberry 
shakes, a curried pasta dish with pork, a tray that had different appetizers such as chicken wings and fries, and a bread pudding dessert. Very different from Pizza Hut in the US! The waitress left the ticket at the table and crossed the items out as they were brought to the table, which I thought was a very smart idea. I also think it was interesting with the options for our dishes how we had to pick between a soup or drink, and between a salad or dessert, where in the US we would be used to getting all of those dishes. After dinner, we walked though the shopping mall where we saw places such as Dairy Queen, Starbucks, Papa Johns, Toys R Us, Adidas, Nike, Sephora, KFC, McDonalds, New Balance, Haagan Daas, and others. We went into one store that had very pretty dresses, but I was disappointed to find that they were $70 US L. We continued to walk around the mall, and David pointed out an arcade and a movie theater. We took a cab back to another of David’s houses and enjoyed very nice tea with his parents. The tea was $200 per 500 grams, and the leaves came from the top of the Huangshan (Yellow) Mountain, which is the mountain we will be climbing. It was very delicious. I learned that the flavor of the tea changes with each pot that you make, the first pot being mostly clear with a little yellow, the second being stronger, the third pot of tea having the best flavor, and then the flavor going downhill after that. After tea, David’s father drove us to see the hotel we will be staying at when the entire group comes to Shanghai. The hotel was very nice, and apparently will only cost $20 per night per room. We stopped and picked up our backpacks and went back to where we were staying for the night. After David’s parents left, David, Courtney, and I sat and talked about cultural differences and different perspectives on race, etc.
surprised the train wasn’t fuller than it was. Instead of taking 3 hours like our bus ride had from the airport, the trip only took 45 minutes. There was a broad range of scenery along the way, and I was really surprised how we would pass by city to country and back to city again. I learned that not only do you need a train pass to get on the train, but you also need one to get out. Courtney had fallen asleep on the train and couldn’t find his ticket, so he had to pay another 82 Yuan to get a new one. He was disappointed when he found the original ticket a couple minutes later, but it was definitely a lesson learned for all of us. We then took a subway to a place closer to David’s house, and walked the rest of the way. While the bullet train had been fairly expensive, the subway tickets were only 3 Yuan each (compared to 82 Yuan for the bullet train). We walked by a place called “Naughty Family,” which David said was a pet store. We then entered a very nice neighborhood where David’s parents lived. When we entered David’s house we removed our shoes and slipped on a pair of slippers. David’s mom kindly offered us a very nice snack of apples, apple juice, peanuts, and beef jerky. David’s family has such a beautiful (and very expensive!) house. We then spent some time relaxing and catching up on the internet, since we hadn’t had internet at the hotel. We had lost our internet at the hotel after the first day, and our only internet near the hotel was at an internet café that was down an alley and up a dark staircase. Because the internet café was not very safe, we were told to go in groups of at least 4, have at least one Chinese student with us to help with the language, and to not talk to any of the local people in the café. After spending some time at David’s house, his mother drove us to and dropped us off at a 
mall. We went into a sports store, and I was surprised at how affordable everything was! There were name brands popular in the US such as Adidas, Nike, and Asics, which were very expensive compared to how much I am used to paying for them. I saw a pair of Asics that would have been $193 US! However, the local brands were only a fraction of the cost. There were t-shirts that were only 40 Yuan, or about $6. I tried on a few items, but everything was too small! The sizing in China is very different from the US, and the Chinese women I have seen are typically very short and thin. With the conversions back to US sizing, they had shirts that would be a US XXS! After finding nothing, we went in search of something to eat, and ended up landing on Pizza Hut, since Courtney hadn’t been there and I hadn’t been allowed to eat anything the last time we were there. We decided on a meal that had several courses, and got a Texas mini beef steak pizza, which I had never seen in the US. It had a BBQ sauce, peppers, cheese, and the steak. We also got strawberry 
shakes, a curried pasta dish with pork, a tray that had different appetizers such as chicken wings and fries, and a bread pudding dessert. Very different from Pizza Hut in the US! The waitress left the ticket at the table and crossed the items out as they were brought to the table, which I thought was a very smart idea. I also think it was interesting with the options for our dishes how we had to pick between a soup or drink, and between a salad or dessert, where in the US we would be used to getting all of those dishes. After dinner, we walked though the shopping mall where we saw places such as Dairy Queen, Starbucks, Papa Johns, Toys R Us, Adidas, Nike, Sephora, KFC, McDonalds, New Balance, Haagan Daas, and others. We went into one store that had very pretty dresses, but I was disappointed to find that they were $70 US L. We continued to walk around the mall, and David pointed out an arcade and a movie theater. We took a cab back to another of David’s houses and enjoyed very nice tea with his parents. The tea was $200 per 500 grams, and the leaves came from the top of the Huangshan (Yellow) Mountain, which is the mountain we will be climbing. It was very delicious. I learned that the flavor of the tea changes with each pot that you make, the first pot being mostly clear with a little yellow, the second being stronger, the third pot of tea having the best flavor, and then the flavor going downhill after that. After tea, David’s father drove us to see the hotel we will be staying at when the entire group comes to Shanghai. The hotel was very nice, and apparently will only cost $20 per night per room. We stopped and picked up our backpacks and went back to where we were staying for the night. After David’s parents left, David, Courtney, and I sat and talked about cultural differences and different perspectives on race, etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment