Hanging out in Hangzhou

Day 2 - Exploring Shanghai

I'm pretty adjusted to the time change already -- Yesterday I was tired, but
today I woke up at 6 AM - like I normally do. I messed around for a bit
and watched ESPN trying to catch up on my sporting news (world cup action!)
I decided to stroll around the city early in the morning, so I started out
with my backpack and hiked on.

Since I am near the Shanghai Railway Station, I tried to go buy a ticket for
my Hangzhou trip tomorrow. WOW. Insanely packed. Confusion reigned
supreme at the ticket booth. I couldn't read the signs and didn't know where
to go, but found the closed English speaking counter. I guess I'll wait
until tomorrow.

I wandered around for about 3 hours. I didn't take any photos as the whole
city was in this weird rainy smog grossness. I couldn't see to the end of
the block and it was drizzling, so I passed on the photos for today. After
awhile I wandered into a random storefront and all of the sudden it was an
open grocery market. Odd. A lot of interesting foods. I didn't buy
anything, but once I got outside I tried to purchase some bakery from one of
the vendors. I wanted 2 rolls, but she started to give me 8. I didn't want
them all! Come to find out: 8 rolls are 1 yuan! (1 yuan = roughly 1/8
dollar). =) After I enjoyed some rolls I hiked around for a while. I
ended up at some shopping district. Interesting place: 5 floors of small
shops. Chinese women, like their American counterparts - LOVE clothes. It
was packed. 3 taxi drivers and much confusion later - I ended up at my
hotel and took a nap.

Nate called around 6. Nate and I went to Univ. of Iowa together and he
ended up doing consulting here. He picked me up due to my lack of ability
to navigate the railway station. We headed to a high end dumpling place -
great great food. A bit expensive for Shanghai, but just nice by me.
Afterwards, many drinks and many bars later - we caught up on old times, new
adventures, and China. Since he had to work tomorrow, I headed back to my
hotel to catch the World Cup match at the hotel bar. It is pretty packed
for 2 AM. Fun though. =)

Tomorrow: Train rides and finding where I will be living.

posted by Mike @ 5:49 PM