Monday, July 27, 2009

Shanghai

This weekend I took a trip to Shanghai. Fortunately, my future roommate (none other than the venerable Kevin Ho) took me in and gave me a place to sleep. Outside of the cost of the flight, the trip was really incredibly inexpensive and getting out of Beijing was a great way to recharge the batteries.

After arriving in Shanghai, I took the MagLev train into the city. This was really exciting because this train goes fast. I mean, really fast. Like Roadrunner fast. My favorite part was looking out of the train and looking at the cars on the highway going in the same direction as you and whizzing past them. Its only then that you truly realize that you are going 300KPH faster than them.

Another great part of Shanghai was Kevin's apartment. He is in China with the Bulldogs in Shanghai program and seems to be very well taken care of. His apartment had two bedrooms (with queen sized beds), two bathrooms, a full kitchen and a living room. On top of that the apartment complex provides maid and laundry service. The air-conditioning was also incredible. Four units in a relatively small apartment gets things done. I slept in a cool 16c environment which took me nostalgically down a road of remembrance back to my room at home. I can't wait until the cold New Haven winter when I can wake up with snow on the inside of my windowsill.

As for the sighteseeing, the Shanghai Zoo was probably the most fun I had. The zoo has everything. From pelicans to penguins to polar bears to panda bears all areas of the animal kingdom were well represented. However, the best part of the zoo was the way that the guests treated the animals. Save the panda bears (which are basically walking deities in China) people had little respect for the animals and it seemed like the zoo itself had even less. For example, in the rain forest area, visitors walk on a walkway above turtles, alligators and other creatures. Many people would simply drop trash and money into the cages (to make a wish or something). I am not exaggerating when I say that I saw a turtle with 30 kuai in coins on its shell swimming around. He was not too pleased. The zoo seemed to have no maintenance staff and made no effort to stop the people from treating the animals so poorly. What's more is that they sold food to the guests which they use to feed the animals. While this is great and fun and all, it really can't be good for a deer to eat 10 to 20 packets of Ritz crackers a day. It just can't be.

That's all for now.

3 comments:

  1. I heard you had a travelling buddy with you in Shanghai, your blog makes it sound like you were there alone!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I will most definitely refer to this when you complain about the cold while wearing flipflops, a parka, and shorts.

    I relish every opportunity to employ the phrase "I told you so."

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is a city I really want to visit. I've done Beijing (a bunch of times) and Hong Kong (once), but not Shanghai...

    ReplyDelete