China Trip: First Part Shanghai

I returned last week from my two week trip to China.

I took a boat from Osaka to Shanghai. 48 hours later arrived in China. Spent 2 days in Shanghai, took a train to Bejing. Spent 4 days in Bejing. Then back to Shanghai, back to Osaka.

I took about 400 pictures and have a lot to share, so I'll just start off with the Shanghai part.

We arrived to Osaka port at 11:00am on Friday morning. The boat was scheduled to leave at 12. All night I had been feeling sick to my stomach. Eerily similar to the night before I left for Japan. I guess its the idea of going to a completely foreign land that makes me nervous. After waiting at the subway station for my buddy Robby part of me was kind of wishing he would be late. So I wouldn't have to leave my comfort in Japan, sleeping in hostels and carrying everything on my back. But in the same way as once I arrived in Japan I never felt nervous again, once the trip was underway, I was nothing but excited.

We got on the boat, met some other Western travelers on deck, and explored our new floating home. The boat was nice, nothing like a real cruise, kind of like a National Lampoons cruise.

The first announcement came on in Chinese ( I remembering Japanese sounding strange at first, now I'm used to it, even though I don't understand it), Chinese is a completely different animal though. Not to be rude, but it just sounds like someone speaking the same thing over and over again, (gaw bow wow gaw wow bow gaw wow). Then the broken English comes on... "Due to guidance from the Chinese government, our boat will be delayed 4 hours from departing. We will then arrive 2 hours late into Shanghai on Sunday." A great crash course into the bureaucracy of China. If we are only going to be delayed 2 hours why can't we just depart the port 2 hours late?

Anyway, the ship ride was great. On the boat was mostly Chinese people returning from holiday in Japan. About 150 people total I would guess. However us Westerners quickly made friends, there was a couple of Brits, an Aussie, a Swedish guy, a couple of German girls, and two Israeli guys. Funny thing about the guys from Israel. When I first met them, I'll admit they were the first Israelis I've ever met, so in my mind I said, "Ok don't say something stupid or controversial". So I asked the most common question I could, "Where in Israel are you from?" They acted like it was the weirdest question they've ever been asked.

Anyway fast forward to getting landing in Shanghai on Sunday. As we began to arrive in the Yellow Sea, lets just say the reason its called the Yellow Sea isn't really a mystery. As we approached mainland China I couldn't believe how many boats were going in and out of Shanghai. But I soon realized that while this was my first time traveling to China, my entire wardrobe was having a homecoming of sorts. I couldn't help but think about how many of the things I own had gone right past this narrow river leading into Shanghai.

We dock at Shanghai. The pollution is already unbearable. You can feel it in your lungs, kind of like hot sand getting it your lungs at the beach. There was also a lot of construction going on in the area we landed, so it might have been a pollution dust combo.

My first impression of Shanghai. It doesn't look like China. It looks like Soviet Russia. Everyone is riding these bicycles that look like they were made in the 20's. The street is covered in about 1cm of dust. The buildings don't look Asian, they just look Communist.

We check into the hostel, walk around Shanghai. Eat some good Chinese food for about $1.50. We get asked seriously about every 15 seconds "You want Watch, Shoes, Dvd".

There are people skating around on these "rollerskating shoes" trying to sell them to us, a group of 4 grown men. Its kind of like when you walk out of a carnival in East Texas and everyone is selling glow sticks or various other toys. Except they are literally everywhere. Thousand of people selling the same roller shoes or boncey balls. Seriously a women screams Hello to me, then takes this ball and throws it to the ground. It splats on the ground looking like a pile of slim, then it magically reforms itself back into a ball. "How much?" She asks me. This goes on for about 2 days.

Is this supposed to be Communism? People hounding foreign tourists to make a couple of bucks? I quickly realized China is definitely the most capitalist society I've ever seen. Communism is simply a guise the government uses to control the masses.

We spend the next 2 days exploring Shanghai. Its a city of extremes. BMW and Ferraris parked in gated high rise apartment building, surrounded by neighborhoods of the poorest people I've ever personally seen. Tibetean Women sit on the streets begging with their children. At one point one comes up to me and just keeps pointing at her child's mouth (prob 6 months old). I give her a couple of RMB's (less than a $). She then goes and yells at her 4 year old son, pointing in my direction. I can only guess she was telling him to try and get more money from that foreigner.

I can't help but look at these kids. Think about how different their lives are compared to the lives of my 2 unborn nieces and nephew. How easy my life has been compared to theirs.

Day 3 we head on the train from Shanghai to Bejing.

To be continued...

Some pics...

Old town Shanghai.

The boat freeway.

New School Shanghai.
Our boat looking over Shanghai.

On the way to China, the longest suspension bridge in the world. It connect the city of Kobe to Awaji island.
Sunset somewhere near Hiroshima.


Me in Shanghai.

Random street in Shanghai.