Wow! So in less than one week, I traveled to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Beijing. I literally stayed in each hostel for one night, and I think its enough to appreciate each city. In Shanghai, Ling, Jenn, Geraldine and I finally reunited after I missed my train at Beijing Zhan. I ended up buying a ticket for a train two days after because I wanted to spend more time with Thao and Steven, and it was a good choice (without considering that I paid 800 kuai for Ruan Wo), because on Ruan Wo, I had a private bathroom, a TV, comfortable beds, and my roommate was a really interesting French person. Also, Thao is like a breath of fresh air. I also got to walk through houhai while I was in Beijing, which is always memorable.
After I arrived in Shanghai, we went to the Yu Gardens, where we took lots of scenery pictures. I kept running to those rosewood fans mom wanted, only that they were really expensive on the wallet, so I didn't buy them. We went to an empty restaurant for lunch, where the fu wu yuan was kind of a cartoon character, nice but really not the typical waiter. Literally, we walked into the restaurant and all the fu wu yuan were asleep. It was probably because of the time. At our hostel, we met an English couple who recommended we'd go cycling in Hangzhou. When we went to Hangzhou the day after, we ended up meeting them a second time. Its surprising when you think you won't see people again, and you do. I think I should start taking down contact information.
When we went to Hangzhou, we went around the west lake. The west lake and Lei Feng Ta are so pretty at night. We got to see the sunset and catch up with what we've been doing with our lives.
I learned the word for ABCs (Hua Yi), zoning out (fa dai), and receipt (mai dan). I learned so many cheng yus in my program that I missed the basic words.
Nanjing was by far the best city on this trip! There are stores everywhere and the prices are reasonable. I actually bought more clothes in Nanjing in one day than this entire trip altogether. That's because their clothes are so much more western and affordable! I really wanted to visit the Nanjing Massacre Memorial. We spent 6 1/2 hours trying to get there, only to find out it is under construction. What the hell. (I got a pirated dvd of High School Musical 2 for 10 rmb right next to the Sunflower Youth Hostel, and the movie was just as good as the first!) Then we had bao zis at night (mine was hong dou and cai bao), and went to this Taiping Memorial site. It was so funny because the Taiping site has been modernized for tourists. There are Christmas lights on the gu lao building and green neon lights to make the plants more striking. There was a skit at the end of our tour where they had three bachelors about to get married to a Chinese women. The third bachelor ended up being a lao wai who didn't speak chinese and that's what made it funny. These bachelors were from the audience so no one knew what to expect but he was a good sport. I have it on my camera! I will upload it when I get my shou ti dian nao from Jiang Ma Ma. But there is so much of the city I haven't explored yet, so I plan to make a trip back there soon (especially cuz I missed Hu Nan Road and a river where alot of fish died, long story)
This morning I watched Hotel Rwanda. Good movie! Totally recommend it.
Jenn is leaving for Lyon in five hours, Geraldine is going back to the states, Ling and I are about to start our term in Peking University. That is insane. There are so many Peking Universities, just will different campus names. I hope I have more time to travel, but I hope I don't spend so much on transportation costs. My English grammar is so poor at this point, but I the benefits of the trip definitely exceed the cost. Its weird to go from Meiguo to Zhongguo, because food is so cheap. It's like winning the lottery. But I learned that if I don't keep count of how much money you spend, its easy to lose it all by making convenient choices instead of thinking alittle bit more about how I want to spend money.
Immediate Plans
1. Figure out how to get to campus.
2. Go to Xi zhi men to read books.
3. Buy a DVD player.
4. Get some more hong dou bao zis!
Songs from Jenn's Ipod (in random order)
1. Hong Dou- Wang Fay
2. Superstar- SHE
3. Wang Lee Hom- Kiss Goodbye, Hua Tian Cuo
4. Shan Hu Hai- Jay Chou
5. Xi Shua Shua (love this song)
Something random: People keep looking at us, like for extended periods of time! I've just decided to stare back. Jenn and I also have started talking about people openly on the train, we are more chinese by the day. Oh while we were on Yin Zuo to Nanjing, we talked to a teacher who looked really young, but she's only 22. She said that Americans look older because we eat KFC and McDonalds, so our diets affect the way we look. Besides Steven who eats kuai can food like everyday, that isn't true. But interesting view of Americans, because she said thats what her teacher told her.
Oh my hour is up. I am at a Wang Ba. I paid 2 kuai for an hour, as much as my Wa Ha Ha water bottle. I hope we're going to KTV tonight before Jenn leaves =D, I haven't heard Jenn, Ling, or Geraldine sing before.
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