Episode 2: Welcome to Shanghai

Yesterday was a long day. It all began Saturday afternoon, when I boarded a 747 in New York. A rather short flight later, I found myself in Tokyo-Narita International. After sampling some of the localdrinks, including the appetizingly named "Pocari Sweat" and some sake, which was packaged inside of a juicebox, I then boarded a plane once again, this time for Shanghai. I arrived in Shanghai at 10pm on Sunday. Taking the 2 hour time difference into account, my total travel time was 23 hours.

First impressions upon arriving in Shanghai: the city, or at least the

airport and Bund area, are extremely modern and developed. The city skyline is very colorful at night, with light shows being played out on bridges and buildings. The area closer to the hotel that I am staying reminds me a lot of New York City, especially in the way that it smells.

In fact, the more that I saw of the city, the more it reminded me of New York, just a lot less organized. There are familiar sights to see everywhere you go, from Pizza Hut and KFC to Starbucks and Haagen Daz stores everywhere that you go. They are also quite

different from their American counterparts. For instance, Pizza Hut, pictured at the left, is a sit down style restaurant, with silverware on the table and everything.

Monday morning was spent on the subway system, as several of us were led around to find out where exactly our internships were located, and how to get their. The subway system is extremely clean and organized, and is very easy to get around on. Everything is in both Chinese and English, which is very helpful. It is also very reasonable, as 3 RMB (a little less than $.50) will get you into the subway system. From there, you can transfer to all of the lines in the system and get to pretty much anywhere in the city. During busy times, the trains can fill up, and people try to cram themselves in to every available spot, and then some. It is much safer than walking though, as crossing a street is always an adventure. Cars and scooters don't seem to follow any set laws and never seem to go out of their way to try and avoid pedestrians.

In the afternoon, I taveled to The Bund in order to see the famous Shanghai sk

yline as well as make a visit to an underground knock-off market. The Bund was bustling with people everywhere, but it was very cool to finally see the Pearl Tower and other buildings that I had only ever seen in pictures before. This area bears a striking resemblance to New York City, both in the architecture (save the Pearl Tower) as well as the huge amount of people and tour groups. The underground market was also very interesting, as it was a sprawling affair,

selling everything from iPhones to belts and watches. The salespeople are very pushy, and always trying to assure you that the price they are giving you is their "friend price". Haggling with them is a must however, as their starting prices are always at least double wha

t they will finally accept. I managed to pick up a very nice "Tag Heuer" for around $20 usd.

China is a great place for people on a budget, as almost everything is very reasonable,

if not downright cheap. A bottle of water may look expensive at ¥2, but once converted to USD it is actually 30 cents for something that would cost at least 5 times that much back in the States. Food is also cheap if you are willing to step away from McDonalds and try something local, though even a meal at McDonalds will come out to less than $5.

So far, Shanghai has been an awesome experience. The people I've met so far have been great, the city has tons of stuff to do, and my lack of Chinese has not really been that big of a hindrance. My internship starts tomorrow morning, so it will just be a matter of trying to make sure that I make all of the right transfers in order to get there. Until next time, zaijian!