Shanghai

On the morning of May 13th, Max and I headed up to Shenzhen. Shenzhen is right on the border of Hong Kong, so this was where we crossed over to mainland China and this is where facebook stopped working. We had the intention of buying train tickets to Shanghai, but when we got there, we found out they had no tickets for about 3 days. We had an "oh crap" moment where we contemplated going back to Hong Kong, but Max didn't have any more entries to China on his Visa. After walking around for a while, we decided we could fly even though we'd have to spend way more than we wanted to. I took my phone out and looked up how to get from the Shenzhen train station to the Shenzhen airport. It was a 45 minute mini-bus ride which Max claims was the most comfortable ride of the trip. Once at the airport we booked a ticket and ended up in Shanghai a whole half day early!


This was the hostel we stayed at. Every time we came and went from the hostel, we had to cross a fairly busy street. This was when we realized that traffic lights and signs are not law, but more of a suggestion. Also, pedestrians never have the right of way, not even in a cross walk. It kind of felt like playing Frogger, but for real.


One of the first things Max and I did in Shanghai was go to the World Expo. This is me waiting in the security line. We felt a bit like cattle.


The first pavilion we went to was ours of course! I didn't care too much for the building. It felt too corporate, but they had some awesome HD digital projectors inside.

This was the little cartoon character that represented the Expo.

Max and I both bought one of these passports in the gift shop. In each pavilion we went to, we'd get a stamp. We collected about 65 stamps and we probably didn't even go to half of the pavilions. We couldn't go to very many European pavilions because the lines were so long for those and we just didn't have enough time to wait.

On each page of the passport, there would be a little illustration of one of the pavilions. There was only about 48 pages in the passport, so they couldn't give a page to each country. Above, you can see the USA pavilion on page 44, so we got the stamp for that pavilion on that page.

Israel had a page, so we got a stamp on that page too. Iran, however, did not have their own page, so Max and I tried to see if we could get Iran to stamp on Israel's page. They would not. The guy stamped on the next page, which was Italy. Max went on to make North Korea and Cuba stamp on the USA page.


Speaking of Iran, in their pavilion, Max and I were surrounded by a bunch of school kids. All the boys were asking Max for their picture with him and all the girls were asking for their picture with me. Max and I finally had to leave the pavilion as fast as possible because we were afraid people were going to start thinking we were some sort of celebrities and want their picture with us too. This happened to Max many more times. I think the Chinese people were awed by his height. Other people would just take pictures of us as we were walking by. There aren't too many foreigners in China and I guess because we look so different from them, they want pictures of us. It was kind of weird and I've always hated when I've accidentally gotten into a stranger's picture because I don't want them to have a picture of me. Well, that went out the window!


This was China's pavilion. Of course it was the largest and one of the only permanent buildings. Unfortunately, Max and I didn't know we needed a reservation to go inside so we didn't get to see it. We heard they will stay open. I guess it's kind of like a museum. So if I ever go to Shanghai again, I can still see it.


This was the UK's pavilion. I thought it was one of the most interesting-looking buildings. Max and I didn't get to go inside thought. Look at that line!


Denmark brought the famous Little Mermaid statue. It's never left Denmark and I read that they even had a debate in their parliament about whether or not to bring it. China wanted it though, so they got it!

This is Switzerland. They had a gondola on the roof that people could ride. This was another long line, so we didn't get to see inside.

In Mexico's pavilion, they had these masks, so Max and I took a few pictures. Some of the pavilions had restaurants with food from that country. Max and I were craving Mexican food and since Mexican food is non-existent in China, this was our only chance. It was pretty good.

We didn't spend our whole time in Shanghai at the Expo though. We went to the downtown area where all the cool buildings are. This one is called the Oriental Pearl Television Tower.

Max and I went to the 100th floor of the building that looks like it has a handle. It's called the SWFC, which stands for Shanghai World Financial Center. It was built in 2008 and it's taller than the Sear's Tower and the Empire State Building. We took a really fast elevator form the first floor the the 94th floor. I think it took less than a minute. It was so fast we had to keep popping our ears because we were ascending so fast.

You can see the Huangpu River and the Oriental Pearl Television Tower behind me. We were in a room right above the space in the building that makes it look like it has a handle, so the floor had glass panels in some places were we could see the streets and buildings below us.

This is Jing'an Temple. It's a Buddhist monastery right in the middle of the city.

Max and I were suppose to leave on a train to Xi'an on the night of May 16th, but when we got to the station only 5 minutes before the scheduled departure, they had already closed the gate. We were pretty mad at ourselves, but we were able to exchange our tickets for the next night and got an extra day in Shanghai.

Hong Kong

I'm going to talk about my China trip in 4 separate posts, one for each city I visited. On the morning of Saturday, May 8th, I left Salt Lake City and arrived in Hong Kong on Sunday evening. I lost 14 hours and it felt like Saturday and Sunday were just one long day. My friend, Max, picked me up at the airport and we went to his friend, Tyler and his wife, Angie's apartment. Max had been staying there for the past month and they were kind enough to let me stay as well. My first impressions of Hong Kong were that it was very metropolitan, very international, and very humid!


Here's the view while we were waiting for a trolley car. In Hong Kong, they have these cards called Octopus cards. You're able to put money on it and it will pay for any form of public transportation with just a quick scan and you can also use it at places like 7-11 and McDonald's. Very convenient and did I mention they have 7-11 in Hong Kong? There's one on almost every block!


In Hong Kong, there's this place called the Jade Market. It's in a warehouse-type building and includes row after row of vendors selling jade, glass beads, pearls, etc. Max has designed some necklaces while in Hong Kong and has had them made here. I didn't buy anything here because it felt like it was too early in the trip to be spending money.





This was a mural near where I was staying that I thought was kind of interesting. Max told me, and I soon noticed, that businesses in Hong Kong would cluster together. If there was a type of business, like a dried seafood shop or a butcher, in one spot, there would be 20 more of that business right next door. This was actually a trend that we saw all throughout China. Kind of interesting.


One of the days in Hong Kong, Max took me to this gondola out by the airport that takes you up to this giant statue of Buddha. It was a beautiful ride and I was able to see a lot of the landscape. This is a very touristy thing to do, so we saw a lot of foreigners.






After seeing Big Buddha, we took a bus down to this little fishing village called, Tai O. We went out on this little boat through the village and then a little way out to sea so we could see the pink dolphins.



This was the best picture I could get of a dolphin. Enlarge the picture and you might see it better.


We walked through the village after the boat ride. We found this guy on the street making this delicious treat, but I never found out what it was called. I thought the way he cooked this was kind of interesting. He started by pouring a pancake-like batter into this mold.



He'd place the top on and place it over this makeshift coal-burning stove.



While that batch was cooking, He'd take a fan and cool of the previous batch (seen on the bottom left) and then give it to the customer.




Downtown Hong Kong had a lot of beautiful architecture. It's very pedestrian friendly as you are able to get around via raised walkways. As you can see, they keep it very clean and beautiful. I was amazed to see how clean their public transportation was too. They don't let you eat or drink on any of the buses or subway.




Another of the days in Hong Kong, Max and I went on a little hike just outside the city. It was called Dragon's Back because at one point on the hike, you walk along the ridge of the mountain and have the ocean on either side. It was very beautiful and gave me a chance to see more of the landscape of Hong Kong. Did I mention how may stairs there are in Hong Kong? A lot. The topography is very mountainous.











At night, Hong Kong has something called the Night Market. A bunch of vendors set up booths along a road selling anything from knock-off purses, to pirated DVDs, to fortune telling. I think I could say that Hong Kong was my favorite place I visited in China. Well, next up is Shanghai so be sure to visit again soon.