[Note: A lot of this was written during that day so some impressions have been changed and I've tried my best to note things that have changed]
I got in on Tuesday at 8 in the morning since my plane got delayed in Finland (le sigh). But I didn’t have anywhere to be. It was pretty quick to get through immigration and customs here. Also, a bunch of Chinese hotel/taxi drivers will attack you with questions once you leave customs. They’ll ask things like “你去哪里？ 你要出租车吗？你要sim 卡吗？” I politely declined and just waited for about 1.5 hours for my friend (and now roommate!) Eddie to arrive. And not going to lie, I couldn’t get access to any of the free WiFi that people tell me is everywhere. Maybe it’s cause I didn’t have a simcard…Anyways, if you’re thinking about arriving in China and using airport WiFi to call home or message people, don’t count on it being easy.
I got in on Tuesday at 8 in the morning since my plane got delayed in Finland (le sigh). But I didn’t have anywhere to be. It was pretty quick to get through immigration and customs here. Also, a bunch of Chinese hotel/taxi drivers will attack you with questions once you leave customs. They’ll ask things like “你去哪里？ 你要出租车吗？你要sim 卡吗？” I politely declined and just waited for about 1.5 hours for my friend (and now roommate!) Eddie to arrive. And not going to lie, I couldn’t get access to any of the free WiFi that people tell me is everywhere. Maybe it’s cause I didn’t have a simcard…Anyways, if you’re thinking about arriving in China and using airport WiFi to call home or message people, don’t count on it being easy.
After Eddie arrive, we were on our way to the hotel. Both of
us combined, they charged us 500CNY to get from Pudong airport to our hotel in Hongkou district. It
was about an hour away from the airport so I guess it was worth it. Our hotel
was a lot nicer than I thought it would be, especially for the price. I booked
it for $34USD a couple days before we left. It’s called New Asia Hotel ( 新亚大陆管). Overall, it was a cool place where you had to
use your access card to use the electricity in the room (is that the norm in
Chinese hotels because well….that’s awesome?).
The only thing that bugged me about the hotel was that there was a
window in the bathroom by the shower that showed to the room. There were
shades/curtains in the room but not in the shower. I don’t know why it bugs me
but it was a room with double beds. In what world do you need to see into the
shower if you’re sleeping in separate beds? It’s a minor detail……
We ventured out into Shanghai because we were hungry and
well… we’re in China! Family Mart became quite familiar to us because it’s like
everywhere. It’s a little convenience store (it’s been extremely useful for us,
from bottled water to sandwiches to soap and shampoo). We wanted to go to the Bund for food but our
adventure did not really end up there. Not to mention not knowing the Bund in
Chinese was a huge mistake since we could never ask for directions fully. It
was always, “Bund 在哪里?” or”怎么去Bund,” or my favorite “怎么去那边.” ... we ended up going to a Chinese restaurant. When we walked in, we quickly realized we
couldn’t read the entire menu. Eddie, with his (I’m growing to like) witty
humor, told me “Let’s just stand here for a few minutes and pretend we don’t
want anything and leave.” That’s not what we did and I don’t recommend it if
that happens to you either! Eddie ended up getting a translated menu from the
cashier and we were able to order our first Chinese meal! And I found out that
restaurants don’t accept foreign cards [Mine wasn't a credit card, boo]….. We got fried rice and 小笼包(xiao
long bao); everyone always says how good xiao long bao is in Shanghai so I was
really excited to have that as my first Chinese meal! It's pretty good but since I've been having it quite a bit while here, it's becoming normal (though still good) food.
After our meal, we ended up going back to the hotel to
figure out how to get to the Bund [technically we were in the Bund area but we weren't at the places we wanted to be] and planned our evening
plans but unfortunately, it fell through once we both fell asleep. It was fun but we were literally dying from
the heat and humidity. I’m pretty sure I’m 3-4 shades darker than I was before I
left the room…. So sleep was good, even if we didn’t get to enjoy the Shanghai
night life on our first day. Eddie also coined YOCO (if you’re familiar with
YOLO, you’ll pick up on it right away). You only go to China once! That’s
pretty much that sums up our adventure of the first day.
 |
| That first day walk was so tiring, but I've been walking around in China everywhere! Especially since we go on a lot of sightseeing adventures. Remember to bring them good shoes because flip flops aren't too comfy and shoes are about the same price here. |
Signing off y'all~
Thomas
.jpg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment