Follow me...to Shanghai!!

Day 424 

Thursday April 20, 2017:

This morning Ashkan and I heading back to Shanghai and got delayed at the airport for almost two hours.  Rain was coming down pretty hard so everything was grounded due to a weather delay.  I was already on the plane and everything.  We just sat there waiting for the rain to let up.  We did get ice cream though while we were waiting so that was quite nice.  

Day 423 

Wednesday April 19, 2017:

Day 422 

Tuesday April 18, 2017:

Follow me to Hong Kong!

Early, early this morning I made my way to the airport for a flight bound for Hong Kong to meet Ashkan.  It took me forever to find a taxi at five in the morning and in the end I had to use Didi to request one.  But once I saved my taxi from a group of old Chinese people also trying to flag one down in front of Donghua, it was smooth sailing all the way to Hong Kong.  

Ashkan arrived a bit earlier than I did, so once I made my way through immigration he was already there waiting with train tickets in his hand.  Wanting to save a few dollars we booked a very economically priced hotel called Mini Hotel in Central.  It definitely lived up to its name.  We did some research before so we were expecting a tiny room and the very basic of essentials when it came to this hotel, but the room was way TINY.  We opened the door and there was about a foot of space between the bed and the wall that served as a walkway.  The bathroom was located right behind the bed, with only a see through glass wall serving as a barrier.  Really besides the bed there was room for nothing else in this room.  No closet, no room to put your luggage (thank the lord Ashkan only brought a carry on sized luggage and I brought a backpack), no desk or chair.  They did have a sort of a fold out ledge that could be used as a desk.  The room was small but we weren’t planning to spend a whole lot of time in it so no big deal.  The thing that did give us trouble though was the humidity.  I’m not sure why, but even with the AC going the room was so humid and damp.  When we took a shower the walls of the room would be damp from the humidity to the point that they were dripping…

Day 420 

Sunday April 16, 2017:

Follow me to Anji! Day 3

Bedtime last night was much much later than anticipated so everyone was dead this morning.  Thankfully there was only a small hike to see the bamboo forest planned for the day then lunch.  Lunch was exactly the same as the last two days…EXACTLY THE SAME.  

Day 419

Saturday April 15, 2017:

Day 419 

Saturday April 15, 2017:

Follow me to Anji! Day 2 (Part 1)

Wake up call was at 7 today and Zuo Tung and I made our way downstairs to a very mediocre breakfast.  We left our hotel around 8:30 and arrived at some sort of amusement park.  It was quite strange.  They had everything there: go karting, performances by some minority groups in the province, a dinosaur park, animal performances (tigers, bears, sea lions, etc), and rides.  The performance by the minority group was really boring so we skipped that and tried to see the sea lions but there were too many people.  We went to check out the tigers and bears, which was also quite boring but ended up waiting there till it was lunchtime.  Lunch was exactly the same thing we had yesterday…exactly the same dishes.  

After lunch we had some free time to ride some of the rides in the park.  Xiang Yi, Bara, and I bought a pass for 10 rides while the others just bought one ticket.  We choose to all go on this ride together that spins you around and swings you back and forth in the air like a pendulum.   It was much better than I expected, but it lasted so long.  Usually I don’t want the ride to end, but on this one I was wondering why it wouldn’t stop.  I’m normally ok on rides, but with this one we all came off feeling a bit woozy.  For a while I really regretted buying a 10-ride pass… We did though go on several more rides and got our moneys worth from the passes.  

Day 418

Friday April 14, 2017:

Day 418 

Friday April 14, 2017:

Follow me to Anji! Day 1 (Part 1)

Today we embarked on our class trip to the beautiful Anji.  Classes A3, A4, and A4 left early this morning on the 3-hour bus ride.  Anji is not a very popular tourist destination but is known for its bamboo forests. Only five students (including myself) went on the trip along with our two teachers.  There were two Koreans, Xiang Yi (our class leader) and Eun Jung, Bara (she is from the Czech Republic), and Zuo Tung (a nice old Japanese lady).  I ended up rooming with Zuo Tung at our hotel.  

First thing we did upon arriving at Anji was have lunch we turned out to be a bit disappointing.  The taste was not too bad, but there was no meat, only some fish and vegetables.  In the end though it turned out to be a good thing because right after lunch we went on a hike up the mountain.  We felt full but not weighed down by all the meat.  The hike itself was rather taxing.  Although surrounded by beautiful scenery I wouldn’t say it was a very relaxing or peaceful hike.  The trail mostly consisted of stairs and it was quite hot and humid today.  With a little coaxing we managed to get one of our teachers to hike all the way to the very top with us.  We got some ice cream there, admired the scenery then made our way down.  About halfway everyone’s leg muscles were sore and shaking and there were promises of more muscle pain over the next few days.  About two thirds of the way down you could choose to zip line down the rest of the way.  Xiang Yi and I decided to try it and although a bit short, it was pretty fun.  

Day 413 

Sunday April 9, 2017:

Jesper and I met up for some quality time at the Beer Lady this afternoon. Let me say first that today we definitely embraced the fat life.  We stopped by City Shop for some sandwiches before settling in at the Beer Lady for a few beers, and then decided that some WIYF (ice cream) was definitely what we needed next.  We managed to walk off some of that beer on our way over to WIYF and found to our horror that WIYF had been shut down due to the owner using some expired flour in another bakery that they own.  The owner has fled back to France so I don’t see WIYF opening anytime soon….

Day 412 

Saturday April 8, 2017:

Day 407

Monday April 3, 2017:

Day 407

Monday April 3, 2017:

Day 407

Monday April 3, 2017:

Day 407 

Monday April 3, 2017: 

Gucun Park (Part 1)

Since the weather has been so nice lately Urte and I decided to take advantage of all the sun and go see the cherry blossoms at Gucun Park.  Unfortunately it slipped our minds that this weekend is a holiday weekend, so everyone and their mom was going to Gucun today.  With only one metro line going to the park and it being pretty far out of city center, the metro was so crowded.  We couldn’t make it onto the first train and it was like riding in a sardine can, all squished up against everyone.  

Once we arrived at the station we had to fight our way out (for some reason people have so much trouble figuring out how to check out using the metro cards) and then we were herded like cattle to the park’s entrance.  We did stop to pick up some flower crowns though on our way to the front gate.  I was very surprised that actually buying tickets and going into the park took very little time compared to how many people there were.  It only ook us about 10 minutes from the time we reached the entrance to buy our tickets and enter.  The good thing about Gucun is that since it is so big, even with so many people visiting, there is still plenty of space to spread out and take in some nature.  

Day 406

Sunday April 2, 2017:

Day 406 

Sunday April 2, 2017:

Day 399 

Sunday March 26, 2017: