12/28/13: Sent to Shanghai

My alarm went off fifteen minutes before six. But I stayed in bed for another five or ten minutes, without any desire to get up. And I was still a bit cold even though I had the heater in my room running all night. Not fun.

Eventually I got up, though, as did Katie. Slowly we pulled ourselves together, pulled on clothes- I had seven layers on my top half body! And tried to fit everything in our bags afterwards. We put a few final things away, double checked everything, and ran out the door!

Still we were running a few minutes late. Darn me for staying in a cozy bed.

Turns out, Nicole wasn’t waiting at the van like usual. We waited a few minutes for her but apparently she was locked inside her apartment because the door wouldn’t open? I guess that kind of thing happens in China- not cool! Thank goodness that never happened to us! But it could, because at the bottom of the apartments, you need a card key to get inside, and you have to push an electronic button to be let out. Bit of a bother, really.

So we had to go on without her! Katie talked to her to make sure we could work things out in the airport all right as we went to pick up Abby and Greg. There we had to rearrange bags again and put a few of them up with us in the seats because we had so much! We all had two carry-ons and a big bag to be checked!

We rode to the airport and arrived in time, thank goodness. We checked out the board with flight schedules, and got in line to put our checked bags to… well, get checked. Katie tried checking her luggage straight home, but they didn’t want that, which is lame. And then of course mine was too heavy! What is with that? Seriously…

But thank goodness, Greg was willing to take a few things off my hands for that flight- and that flight only since I part ways with the couple soon. So he took my big sweats and several DVD’s for me, and that was perfect! Now I just have to work out a better strategy, yikes…

So we got checked through the lines, finally, and made our way down the escalator, found that they switched doors [just across the room], and it was time to be boarding so we went straight on the trolley, nice and crowded tight, over to our plane. Hiking up those stairs to the plane with my heavy carryon suitcase and backpack was definitely not a joyride, and my arms were totally shaking when I heaved that suitcase into the overhead bin. Note to self: find a [hopefully cute] man to help me put it in there next time!

Abby and Greg got lucky, sitting together in Economy Plus, which was pretty neat. Katie and I both got window seats- you got it, both of us. We were in different rows. But it wasn’t a big issue because we fly alone all the time, and we got to do a bit of napping.

Chinese airlines spoil you! I got drinks, as well as a boxed meal. It had a honeyed rice cube thing, a roll with bean paste inside, dried fruit, shortbread cookie and a wet towelet for your face. Super nice, right? That was pretty neat…

I dozed on and off during the flight that lasted less than 3 hours. It was quite pleasant, and I loved the view. I got a good chance to say good bye to Guiyang- it’s so weird to know that I’ll never return. I have no plans to come back to China, and it’s unlikely I’ll ever come back, to be honest. There’s a lot more of the world I want to see. But it was great while it lasted, and I loved it.

We soared above the clouds, and they rolled and calmed like the ocean waves, a majestic view below us in the giant bird. It was incredible to see the sparse clouds from on top of them once again- I always loved that. I really enjoy flying when I’m at the window!

Then we landed!

Shanghai! Right before 11 AM, too, not bad!

We got cleared through, grabbed our luggage [took forever to get to baggage claim, it was ridiculous], and then we stepped out. There we had to part way with Katie!

I was going to be in China for a few days WITHOUT KATIE.

But I was composed, cool, and chill about it. She was going to try and catch a flight into the States and hopefully she caught it- so far today I’ve only gotten one email that said her passport was stamped and she can’t leave the airport now since she’s “not in China anymore.”

So the rest of the time, I was with Abby and Greg! We talked about it a bit and decided to take the ‘Maglev’- the fastest commercial train. It ended up only being a few minutes which was cool but in a way kinda lame you know? But it was still pretty neat. And we got good seats so we could look to the city.

Kind of had a Hong Kong feel, but quieter. That might just be the areas we’ve been in that are talking, but I really like it…

We got off, went down and decided to take the metro to our hostel. Which was a bit tricky and crowded and not too fun to drag our luggage everywhere. Katie’s ticket once didn’t work and let her out so she had to crawl under the bars, and this time Greg had to do it. It would have been funny if we weren’t all tired of dragging our things around. But it was super tricky…

Anyways-  we got out of there all right, but we still had a while to go! We ended up crossing about 5 streets, going down a few blocks… it wasn’t too fun trekking through town like that- and it was a bit chilly! Wearing about 7 layers on top kept my torso and arms good but my legs were chilly!

A few minutes later we finally got to the hostel. We never got lost! I’m always so paranoid about that, no matter who I’m with. But it was perfect, it was swell. We got situated all right in our ‘Family Room.’ I think I had dreamed or something that our bathroom would have mirrors for walls… It came true!

Luckily there’s this super amusing wallpaper screen that takes care of seeing through the two rooms. Other than that, the beds have springs [oh my gosh I’m siiiiiiinkiiiiiiing], and there’s a heater even though it’s weak [WEAK, I tell you!], but it’s all good!

I had just started getting situated [tossing a ton of things on my bed], when we decided we wanted food, so we headed out. Just back on the main road there’s a few food places and we finally decided to a sit down place to eat at, pretty chill and urban-looking, actually. We ended up ordering noodle bowls with beef and Abby got chicken. The beef was covered in dark sauce and sesame seeds and pretty good- reminded me of some food at P.F. Chang’s, I think? There were a few pieces of hard fat, hard as bone, that I had to avoid, but otherwise it was delicious! About 15 RMB total, for being a nice place, and tasty!

Done with that, we returned to the hostel to relax for a few hours, and Greg dozed for a bit while Abby and I chilled on our computers. We didn’t do much, just a bit worn out and glad to have no real concerns for a bit, that kind of thing. We debated on even going out but finally we said yes to that and out we went!

Out to the Bund!

Which is a weird name but whatever.

We just crossed the street twice on the right from exiting our hostel, and we were at the edge! It was a bit different from what I expected, but it was still pretty epic and incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed our time checking out the scenery and skyscrapers and all of that. The buildings were amazing and beautiful. A lot of European styles, which surprised me. I instantly loved the place as we walked around [ignoring the pain in my foot. I don’t think it’s my shoes because they haven’t bothered me before, but it’s ridiculous and hurts whenever I put pressure on it], and I was constantly taking pictures.

The Shanghai Skyline is breathtaking.

My favorite one I’ve seen so far!

The three of us took our time strolling around, taking pictures, and taking it all in. The night was climbing in quick and the farther we went, the more people we found. It was still very cold so we didn’t see any vendors until we finally left the river’s edge and made a roundabout path back towards the hostel. We checked out a few food options before finding a Family Mart. There we were able to get water and Abby found Reese’s! That’s pretty cool.

We finally found a few street vendors but weren’t too interested in what they had- everything is more expensive here in Shanghai, obviously. We wandered about some more- and then found another tourist shop! It was awesome- main Chinese souvineers and such. Luckily I hadn’t brought much money with me and I have very little left so I didn’t spend anything… but we might be going back! Hehe! But still, it was fun wandering around and checking everything out. Plus it was a little warmer than outside, jeesh!

Finally we turned back to the street next to our hostel. By then we were interested in food so we ended up at this dumpling place that let us inside. We ordered three different dishes to try and share, but only one of them got finished! One was on a platter with weird meat sauce- super odd! Another had meat inside [all of these were boiled by the way, and so hard for me to eat! I had to use chopsticks and a spoon] and that one got eaten quickly, and then there was another bowl with greens and meat and mushrooms, I think, in it. Not too shabby! I enjoyed them all, though the meat was definitely the favorite. But there was so much food together, we could never finish all of it. We paid for them, 30 RMB together, and then headed down to the bakery.

Because you need the bakeries in China. So freaking good. I got chocolate milk- let’s see how that is! And a few rolls that look super moist. Abby and Greg got some eggy cake slices and more breads and such before calling it good and we returned inside to the hostel.

The sun has set and it’s been a relaxing, efficient kind of day! Chilling on our beds, we’re waiting for sleep to come and still dreaming of our time to come whilst in China.