Shanghai Stories
Sooo I haven't posted in a bit. That's because we have been moving like crazy. We went from Japan to China in two days and from there, stayed in Shanghai at a nice hotel overlooking the skyline. You could see the tallest building in the world from our perch (In the picture above it is the tallest one on the far right).
We also traveled downtown to explore the markets. In China they are celebrating New Years. It is the year of the Monkey and celebrations were everywhere. There are sooo many people and it was rather overwhelming. We bought some postcards and I negotiated a way to purchase an awesome ying and yang necklace for 2,000 yuan (Not actually that much).
On the second day we also traveled to a small water village on the outskirts of Shanghai. This village is known as the "Venice of Shanghai". It was extremely cold in the village and it smelled of roasted pork and fish the result of the local food industry. I walked around and up a large bridge that overlooked the murky waters. Attitudes towards hygiene were also extremely different: hawking, spitting and dirty bathrooms (Often just a hole in the ground) were par for the course in this area. Also, staring is culturally far more acceptable, so numerous people walked by staring intently at my friends and I. We stood out in stark contrast to a predominantly Chinese population.
I actually got lost from my friends for several hours. During that time I wandered into a Bhuddist temple and participated in a ritual. I lit an incense candle and carried it from one area to another, then rang a bell. A Bhuddist monk took my hands for several minutes and said something in Mandarin. Then I made a donation of about ten Yuans and headed out. Ultimately I am so grateful I got lost, as I was able to have an immerse experience of being alone in China for a few hours.
Later that night we snapped some pictures of the famous Shanghai skyline. We would have climbed the tallest building in the world, but it was way too cold outside! Temperatures were dropping and snow was falling, so instead we crashed in our hotel in preparation for our flight the next day.
Then we took an early morning flight via Hong Kong Airlines. That required waking up at 4am and grabbing a taxi ride through busy Shanghai Traffic. We arrived and hopped on our flight from Shanghai to Hong Kong. The flight was literally amazing and featured free full course meals and movies. The people onboard were so polite and got me excited for Hong Kong. Honestly I was ready to leave Shanghai. The city was so heavily polluted with smog and smoke that it was nearly impossible to breathe.
As soon as we started to descend, I knew that I would love Hong Kong. The city was excruciatingly beautiful with sloping mountains and valleys and hills.
Once we arrived, we were far happier with the nearly tropical climate. We found a bus and made our way to Tsim Sha Tsui, a central area in downtown Hong Kong near the shoreline. From there we had access to several museums including the Hong Kong Space Museum and the Star Ferry, which takes tourists across the water towards Victoria Peak. At night, all of the buildings lit up with different colors and patterns, creating an amazing kaleidoscope of colors. Each beat of music played outside was matched by a pulse of light from the buildings, this was their unique way of celebrating the Chinese New Year.
Hong Kong is an incredible place.
