Shanghai, China - September 10, 2001
Shanghai is a really beautiful city! Its thousand times more livelier than Beijing. People are walking around more, there are more stores slightly closer together. It has more of that Asian life that I thought I'd find in Beijing. However, internet is still a major problem. I found one, but only one. I would think there would be at least a few, especially in such an international tourist area with so many people walking around. But the waterfront is pretty cool, and I suppose I should be more occupied with seeing Shanghai then checking my email.
The food is pretty much as everyone says - Shanghaiese food is oily and greasy! Even the fried rice has thick amounts of oil and grease that I've never seen in any other fried rice of any kind in any place I've ever been - and I do eat ALOT of fried rice everywhere I go. Shanghai definetley has the oiliest and greasiest! Its thicker than the grease from 5 slices of bacon, just add it to your rice, and you something like what I mean.
The people have a pretty look, well, the women in particular. They also are quite friendly, although inefficent. In my hostel, no one really seemed to have anything for you. I mean it doesn't seem very organized at all. I also have had a few of the odd responses that I expected in China. I have been in quite a few pictures of local Chinese (guys in particular), who want to put their arms around me and pose with me for their cameras. I also have that typical annoying stuff when I go into a store and someone points to something obvious and tells me what it is using the English word. Also, walking through the market I had several people grab me trying to make me buy some product, and also the occassional postcards boys walking around searching for tourists to throw postcards in my face. Outside of that typical stuff, its pretty cool place! I like it alot!
I've also heard that Shanghai is kind of greedy materialistic place, and that does seem to come across. Its nice atmosphere though. At nighttime, looking across from the Bund (the major tourist spot), its quite an incredible view. There are also numerous boats going through Shanghai, many of them fishing boats and many tourist boats. There is alot of life here. I wish I could spend significant more time here. Food and drink is incredibly cheap, but lodging is quite expensive. I'm staying at a hostel, which works out fine, but of course you have to share a room with quite a few people. Most of my roommates and most of the other non-chinese in the hostel seem to be Japanese.
I'd love to spend more time in Shanghai, perhaps even teaching English here as a way to live. But unfortunately it only pays about $500 a month, which I can tell wouldn't last long at all in this city.
Continued journal entries in China:
September 13, 2001
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Wintermoon2@yahoo.com