REMINDER: IF YOU ARE READING CHRONOLOGICALLY, YOU HAVE TO READ THE POSTS FROM THE LAST PAGES FIRST. But this is the 1st entry so no need for that...
I went on a trip to Asia for the whole month of April 2014, covering China, South Korea and Macau. These are the chronicles of my trip for those interested. I will be writing them in a series of posts, and not all at once.
Pre-Trip
I must admit that I had been reluctant to go.
I've been to China twice before, and haven't been particularly enamored by it (It shall be made clear why).
I was quite busy at home with my work, preparing the production of the sitcom, running into trouble trading currencies, plus I had a lot of things to study. I also felt like I didn't know what I was doing going.
(For those who don't know, I was going to China with a Christian Organization to work with abandoned and disabled children for a couple of weeks. If you want to skip straight to that part, please click on this link (when I have it up).)
But what can a man do when his paths are already set out before him?
So with my flights, hotels and appointments booked, I set out on one of the most (unexpectedly) memorable trips in my life.
DAYS 1-4
Okay, I left Vancouver on April 1st, but by the time my plane touched down in China, it was already April 3rd local time. So technically I wasn't in Asia for 30 days...but bleh.
Thank God that I pretty much had this whole row to myself during the 11 hour flight there.
The thing about China is all the red tape once you arrive. It really drains you to be honest. I had a 2 hour layover in Beijing in transit to Shanghai, and by the time I went from the 1st plane to the departure gate for the 2nd plane, it was over an hour later.
Process goes something like this:
Off plane -> Fill form, clear customs with people behind glass -> Follow signs to arrivals -> Follow signs for transit passengers -> Go through carry-on x-ray check -> Then line up to go through departure customs with another person behind glass -> Then go through carry-on x ray check AGAIN and body check -> Then you can go to your plane.
It's annoying because why isn't there a path for transit passengers to go straight from one plane to another? Why does one have to clear customs twice for transit (for arrival and departure), have the carry-ons checked twice (like I had ANY chance to pick up anything from the time I left the 1st plane). Keep in mind that every step of this process involves lining up behind a lot of people.
Anyway, by the time I got to Shanghai, it was late. Took the subway to my hotel and I nearly got run over by a huge truck while crossing the street on a green walking man. The truck was making a right and trying to dash through before I reached the other end, only I was walking faster than the driver estimated. Still, grateful to God I didn't get hit.
Got to my hotel safely and got upgraded into a suite.
Yes, that's king sized bed for me. Haven't had this much rolling ever. The drink bottle is for perspective.
My VPN failed to work and so begins my time trapped behind the Great Firewall of China. No facebook or blogging and even gmail/hotmail was spotty at times.
Here are some pictures of the Shanghai Bund and Pedestrian street.
I sorta risked life and limb to get you these pictures...lol. I must say that my close encounters with trucks, cars, scooters and bicycles nearly running me over are about 5. The scooter incident was quite the most crazy because I was just walking on the sidewalk, reading the label on my drink to see how many calories I was consuming when I looked up and there was a scooter 10 feet away heading straight towards me...
ON THE SIDEWALK.
Anyway, I survived that by being nimble, and lived to enjoy eating these things relatively cheaply.
$5 Cdn! (above). And get that...you get 10 wontons in the soup. Serious.
$5 Cdn! (above) Yes, but from Family Mart. LOL. Still pretty good.
Not that cheap this one. I forgot what it cost but it was delicious. Although I must say that the candied banana pieces on the right were tooth decay inducing. I really appreciate the good friend who found time to take me there to eat. Thanks Angel!
I walked around a lot, got sprayed by a fireman's hose, and generally found the Shanghai Pedestrian Street area pretty cool.
As a result:
Haha, I know you didn't need to see my blister. But I wanted to share.
One of my pet peeves about Shanghai (other than being nearly run over numerous times, and sprayed by a hose) is the rudeness of many of the people.
Mind you, I'm not bashing China on the whole. I found people in other cities, including Beijing to be much better. For some reason, a lot of Shanghainese are just so irritable and selfish.
In summary
- I saw a late 30's woman shove her way past an old lady to grab a seat on a crowded subway. The old lady was in front of the seat and was about to sit down when the woman pushed past her and sat down first. Then she just looked at her phone with a sneer on her face. Made me ill.
- I asked a Janitor at the train station why the ticket office wasn't open. She pointed me to the automated machines. I said I didn't want the automated ones (because I couldn't read it properly), and she just spit to the side, onto the floor she had just been wiping. Then she just shouted irritably that if I wanted to buy tickets, go to the automated ones. Beyond the fact that I had been shouted at, who spits on the floor that they had just cleaned?? Seriously.
Yes, the janitor spit on this floor (above)
The train station is actually really nice. Full of stuff to eat and modern looking.
- When I was finally buying my train ticket back to Beijing (to meet with the team), everyone just crowded around me to watch what I was doing. I mean seriously, give me some personal space! I was at the window talking to the ticket lady and when I produced my Canadian passport for her, the people just moved to my left and right to see what I was doing, including looking at how much money I was carrying, what my passport looked like etc. Made me super uncomfortable.
- And the shoving when we were lining up to get through baggage check to reach the trains...I can feel my stress rising just recalling it. I'm just gonna leave it at that.
Okay, I know I sound like I've never been to China before. Some things probably take staying much longer to get used to.
Anyway, once we're past all that, the train ride to Beijing on Day 6 was comfortable and mostly pleasant. Just some kids kept playing and screaming but that happens everywhere.
Well that's it for this Shanghai portion. Next up: Beijing.
Hope you had a few chuckles at my expense. Stories are always better when you are not the one going through it!
Next Entry: Beijing
Process goes something like this:
Off plane -> Fill form, clear customs with people behind glass -> Follow signs to arrivals -> Follow signs for transit passengers -> Go through carry-on x-ray check -> Then line up to go through departure customs with another person behind glass -> Then go through carry-on x ray check AGAIN and body check -> Then you can go to your plane.
It's annoying because why isn't there a path for transit passengers to go straight from one plane to another? Why does one have to clear customs twice for transit (for arrival and departure), have the carry-ons checked twice (like I had ANY chance to pick up anything from the time I left the 1st plane). Keep in mind that every step of this process involves lining up behind a lot of people.
Anyway, by the time I got to Shanghai, it was late. Took the subway to my hotel and I nearly got run over by a huge truck while crossing the street on a green walking man. The truck was making a right and trying to dash through before I reached the other end, only I was walking faster than the driver estimated. Still, grateful to God I didn't get hit.
Got to my hotel safely and got upgraded into a suite.
Yes, that's king sized bed for me. Haven't had this much rolling ever. The drink bottle is for perspective.
My VPN failed to work and so begins my time trapped behind the Great Firewall of China. No facebook or blogging and even gmail/hotmail was spotty at times.
Here are some pictures of the Shanghai Bund and Pedestrian street.
I sorta risked life and limb to get you these pictures...lol. I must say that my close encounters with trucks, cars, scooters and bicycles nearly running me over are about 5. The scooter incident was quite the most crazy because I was just walking on the sidewalk, reading the label on my drink to see how many calories I was consuming when I looked up and there was a scooter 10 feet away heading straight towards me...
ON THE SIDEWALK.
Anyway, I survived that by being nimble, and lived to enjoy eating these things relatively cheaply.
$5 Cdn! (above). And get that...you get 10 wontons in the soup. Serious.
$5 Cdn! (above) Yes, but from Family Mart. LOL. Still pretty good.
Not that cheap this one. I forgot what it cost but it was delicious. Although I must say that the candied banana pieces on the right were tooth decay inducing. I really appreciate the good friend who found time to take me there to eat. Thanks Angel!
I walked around a lot, got sprayed by a fireman's hose, and generally found the Shanghai Pedestrian Street area pretty cool.
As a result:
Haha, I know you didn't need to see my blister. But I wanted to share.
One of my pet peeves about Shanghai (other than being nearly run over numerous times, and sprayed by a hose) is the rudeness of many of the people.
Mind you, I'm not bashing China on the whole. I found people in other cities, including Beijing to be much better. For some reason, a lot of Shanghainese are just so irritable and selfish.
In summary
- I saw a late 30's woman shove her way past an old lady to grab a seat on a crowded subway. The old lady was in front of the seat and was about to sit down when the woman pushed past her and sat down first. Then she just looked at her phone with a sneer on her face. Made me ill.
- I asked a Janitor at the train station why the ticket office wasn't open. She pointed me to the automated machines. I said I didn't want the automated ones (because I couldn't read it properly), and she just spit to the side, onto the floor she had just been wiping. Then she just shouted irritably that if I wanted to buy tickets, go to the automated ones. Beyond the fact that I had been shouted at, who spits on the floor that they had just cleaned?? Seriously.
Yes, the janitor spit on this floor (above)
The train station is actually really nice. Full of stuff to eat and modern looking.
- When I was finally buying my train ticket back to Beijing (to meet with the team), everyone just crowded around me to watch what I was doing. I mean seriously, give me some personal space! I was at the window talking to the ticket lady and when I produced my Canadian passport for her, the people just moved to my left and right to see what I was doing, including looking at how much money I was carrying, what my passport looked like etc. Made me super uncomfortable.
- And the shoving when we were lining up to get through baggage check to reach the trains...I can feel my stress rising just recalling it. I'm just gonna leave it at that.
Okay, I know I sound like I've never been to China before. Some things probably take staying much longer to get used to.
Anyway, once we're past all that, the train ride to Beijing on Day 6 was comfortable and mostly pleasant. Just some kids kept playing and screaming but that happens everywhere.
Well that's it for this Shanghai portion. Next up: Beijing.
Hope you had a few chuckles at my expense. Stories are always better when you are not the one going through it!
Next Entry: Beijing
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