I don't really like Shanghai. It is an extremely expensive city, there isn't really much history, and the locals are experts at ripping foreigners off. Which is why I am glad that I will be leaving Shanghai in about 4 hours. So far, my trip has gone fairly smoothly. My flight was extremely fun - I get a little anxious when I fly, but I love the experience of flying. I always like to have the window seat, so I can watch the scenery below. I was quite surprised by the flight path that I followed over to China - my flight was with American Airlines from Chicago to Shanghai. I knew that it would go fairly far north, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the plane go DIRECTLY north, as in right over the north pole. So, I can say I've seen the north pole.....I think. It's not like they have a sign/Santa's workshop there, at least that I could see. The funny thing is how the time zone system breaks down near the north pole. The flight route map that they show also lists the local time, and we moved forward 10 time zones in about 10 minutes. Pretty cool. Also notable at the north pole were cracks in the ice and I could see thin strips of water - it was beginning to melt. I think I remember reading a news article last year saying that it was the first time that there was open water at the north pole, so I was witnessing global warming in action. The in-flight entertainment was all right, but I get sick of the two hour video loop on all programs (the best in-flight entertainment I've had was on Qantas when I flew from Melbourne, Australia to Los Angeles - you could play video games).
So, after passing the north pole, we continued to fly past Siberia. I've never flown over Russian airspace. As I was looking over Siberia, the smash Cold War hit "I hope the Russians love their Children too" came into to my head, and just then, the documentary I was watching switched to a program where a Russian woman goes into Moscow to visit her son who was working as a guard at the Kremlin. And when they met, they hugged and the mother cried. So, there was an answer to Sting's song - the Russians do love their children!!!
Also exciting to me was that we flew over Lake Baikal! This might not seem exciting to many people but me, but not many people have a special connection to Lake Baikal like I do. When I was in elementary school, and being a nerd, I discovered that Lake Baikal had the largest amount of fresh water in the world, despite having a smaller surface area than other lakes. This is because Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world. It goes really far down, and if my memory serves me correctly, is at a fault line where two tectonic plates are moving away from each other, causing it to become deeper and bigger all the time. One day, as John Fisher and I were riding our bikes home from Northside Elementary school, we decided to go through a back alley located behind the old seminary building. As we got to the back there, we discovered a large puddle. Instead of riding my bike around it, I decided to show John Fisher how cool I was and to ride my bike right through it. Imagine my shock when what looked like just a large puddle ended up being at least two feet deep - I couldn't make it all the way through, and my bike fell over, and I went into the drink. It turns out that this puddle wasn't from rainfall, and actually reeked of sewage, so I think that somehow it connected into the town sewer system - it was really gross. So, being a geography nerd, I proposed to John Fisher that we name it "Lake Baikal" because it was SOOOO deep. So, that is my connection to Lake Baikal. Seeing the REAL Lake Baikal (albeit from an airplane at 35,000 feet) was pretty cool, and it made me think of Raymond's Lake Baikal.
So, then I made it to Shanghai. I made it through customs and everything fine, and got onto the Maglev train. I think that this is the only Maglev train actually in use - it gets to a speed of 430 km/h (which I got on video), which is pretty cool - but it is kind of strange because it doesn't even go all the way into the city - it just drops you off at the subway station. I think that they are extending the line to the city though.
I didn't look very hard for a hotel, and barely even protested that my room was too expensive (It really was - 380 yuan, or about 45 US dollars - if I looked a little harder, I probably could have found a place for around 200-250 yuan.). I was just tired and wanted to go to bed. In Yingtan, I will probably spend around 40-50 yuan for a hotel room, so it will be much cheaper.
I went to bed at 7pm because I hadn't had much sleep on the plane - but woke up only 3 hours later because of jetlag, and the Indians who were in the room next to me who were talking extremely loudly on the phone/ to each other. Finally, I fell back asleep around 1pm, and woke up around 5am - so I got about 7 hours of sleep, which is pretty good I suppose.
This morning I went to Nanjing road and the Bund (forgot the camera though) to go to the large bookstore there. I got an excellent map book of China that lists locations in high detail - I'm thrilled about it. It makes me want to start biking across China. Because I got there so early, I just sat on a bench along the Bund and watched the many cargo ships sailing along the Huangpu River.
So now I am just killing time until my train leaves. I think I will leave the Internet bar. These places are always smoke-filled and my eyes hurt. Plus, the song "Unchained Melody" by the Righteous Brothers has been stuck on repeat over the speakers for the last 45 minutes. Don't get me wrong - great song, but not for that long on repeat.
By the way - the computer didn't read my digital camera, so maybe I won't be able to post pictures until I get home. Bummer.
So, after passing the north pole, we continued to fly past Siberia. I've never flown over Russian airspace. As I was looking over Siberia, the smash Cold War hit "I hope the Russians love their Children too" came into to my head, and just then, the documentary I was watching switched to a program where a Russian woman goes into Moscow to visit her son who was working as a guard at the Kremlin. And when they met, they hugged and the mother cried. So, there was an answer to Sting's song - the Russians do love their children!!!
Also exciting to me was that we flew over Lake Baikal! This might not seem exciting to many people but me, but not many people have a special connection to Lake Baikal like I do. When I was in elementary school, and being a nerd, I discovered that Lake Baikal had the largest amount of fresh water in the world, despite having a smaller surface area than other lakes. This is because Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world. It goes really far down, and if my memory serves me correctly, is at a fault line where two tectonic plates are moving away from each other, causing it to become deeper and bigger all the time. One day, as John Fisher and I were riding our bikes home from Northside Elementary school, we decided to go through a back alley located behind the old seminary building. As we got to the back there, we discovered a large puddle. Instead of riding my bike around it, I decided to show John Fisher how cool I was and to ride my bike right through it. Imagine my shock when what looked like just a large puddle ended up being at least two feet deep - I couldn't make it all the way through, and my bike fell over, and I went into the drink. It turns out that this puddle wasn't from rainfall, and actually reeked of sewage, so I think that somehow it connected into the town sewer system - it was really gross. So, being a geography nerd, I proposed to John Fisher that we name it "Lake Baikal" because it was SOOOO deep. So, that is my connection to Lake Baikal. Seeing the REAL Lake Baikal (albeit from an airplane at 35,000 feet) was pretty cool, and it made me think of Raymond's Lake Baikal.
So, then I made it to Shanghai. I made it through customs and everything fine, and got onto the Maglev train. I think that this is the only Maglev train actually in use - it gets to a speed of 430 km/h (which I got on video), which is pretty cool - but it is kind of strange because it doesn't even go all the way into the city - it just drops you off at the subway station. I think that they are extending the line to the city though.
I didn't look very hard for a hotel, and barely even protested that my room was too expensive (It really was - 380 yuan, or about 45 US dollars - if I looked a little harder, I probably could have found a place for around 200-250 yuan.). I was just tired and wanted to go to bed. In Yingtan, I will probably spend around 40-50 yuan for a hotel room, so it will be much cheaper.
I went to bed at 7pm because I hadn't had much sleep on the plane - but woke up only 3 hours later because of jetlag, and the Indians who were in the room next to me who were talking extremely loudly on the phone/ to each other. Finally, I fell back asleep around 1pm, and woke up around 5am - so I got about 7 hours of sleep, which is pretty good I suppose.
This morning I went to Nanjing road and the Bund (forgot the camera though) to go to the large bookstore there. I got an excellent map book of China that lists locations in high detail - I'm thrilled about it. It makes me want to start biking across China. Because I got there so early, I just sat on a bench along the Bund and watched the many cargo ships sailing along the Huangpu River.
So now I am just killing time until my train leaves. I think I will leave the Internet bar. These places are always smoke-filled and my eyes hurt. Plus, the song "Unchained Melody" by the Righteous Brothers has been stuck on repeat over the speakers for the last 45 minutes. Don't get me wrong - great song, but not for that long on repeat.
By the way - the computer didn't read my digital camera, so maybe I won't be able to post pictures until I get home. Bummer.
Update: My camera works. Here is me on the super fast maglev train to prove that I am alive in China:
3 comments:
Kent, this was great to read. That is a bummer about the pictures, but the stories were even better than pictures. The Lake Balki memories cracked me up.
I still think 45 dollars for hotel is pretty good.
-Melanie
I think I remember that sewer incident...there is a slight recollection of you coming home stinking like sewage....but that could have been from something else.
Baikal...spelling russian is difficult
-mel
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