Back in Shanghai!

Well, we're back from our whirlwind trip to the middle of China. Apparently it was very untouristy of us to go there, but who cares...some of the stuff we saw was pretty amazing. We saw the Yellow Crane Tower, Guqin Terrace, Guiyuan Buddhist Temple, Hubei Provincial Musuem (which boasted some impressive exhibits), Hubu night market, and we tried to see the East Lake and Mo Hill, but it was too rainy and miserable by the time we got there on our last day.

Day 1:

We got up early, leaving the hostel around 8am to see some sights! On the way to the Yellow Crane Tower we stopped and tried some snacks. Some were fabulous, others were not. I'm becoming a fan of fried bananas though, if that gives you any kind of clue. Finally we got to the tower and started our wanderings. It was a little strange because we were the only waiguo (foreign) tourists, everyone else was Chinese, go figure. They thought we were pretty funny, I think they were wondering why we had traveled to Wuhan of all the places in China. I'll let the tower speak for itself.

After seeing the tower and it's accompanying sites, we crossed the Yangtze and tried to make our way to the famous Guiyuan Temple, stopping along the way to see the Guqin Terrace.

And that pretty much ended day one. By the time we finished there, we were exhausted and retired to the hostel for some sleep before another busy day!

Day 2: Day two saw pouring rain and plummeting temperatures. It came in handy that one of the main sites we wanted to see was the Hubei Provincial Museum (a newish museum that specializes in the history of the Hubei Province).

bronze.

celadon.

really cool drum.

really big bell.

REALLY big bell.

traditional performance with big bells.

That basically took up our entire day, however we made time to go to Hubu Snack Alley and try many things. It's usually a 50/50 shot with the snack stalls...sometimes its the best thing you've ever eaten and sometimes it makes you never want to eat again. The other funny thing is that you actually have to make it a point to ask whether what you are about to eat is sweet or savory, because everything kind of looks the same.

Day 3: 

Sadly, day three was even wetter than the day before, but we were determined to see the East Lake and Mo Hill. So we took the bus the hostel recommended, but I think we got off at the wrong stop. We ended up walking across the bridge to the middle of the lake. You must remember that this is in the middle of what could feasibly be called a thunder storm. Needless to say, we didn't see much. We hailed down the first bus we saw, got out at the top and got back on the opposite bus. 

And then we traveled home. It was a long journey. Ugh. I'm tired now and have a ton of work to do!!!

Out of Shanghai!

As some of you know and some of you don't, my friend Aida, who I met at Meadowmount a few summers ago, is visiting me in Shanghai at the moment. She arrived two days before I flew in, but we hung out on Saturday and all day Sunday. This morning, she was scheduled to fly to Beijing (because no matter how much you want to see your friends, the Great Wall kind of takes precedence), and Joanna and I were supposed to go to class. Little did we know that there were no classes today or tomorrow or for the rest of the week for that matter. (No Chinese class that is, technically my conservatory classes start this week, but I am not taking any lectures, so they will start next week sometime or Friday, who knows) 

Hence, we concocted a plan to go somewhere...anywhere...anywhere but Shanghai. We searched around for cheap flights and found a cheap one  to Xi'an in the north (that's where the terra-cotta soldiers are). But when we tried to book the flights, they said that the price had changed, substantially at that, so we decided to continue looking. Also unfortunate, Aida borrowed Joanna's Lonely Planet China book for Beijing, so we were kind of stuck looking at a map and randomly choosing names. We finally settled on a place called Wuhan which is in the Hubei province, it is in the center of China. It is another large city, but it at least boasts some historical sites and artifacts. It might also be possible to take a train to the Three Gorges, right up the Yantze River from Wuhan. Did I mention, Wuhan is another river city, located on the Yangtze! How cool is that?

We're not really sure what our plan is...we have plane tickets and a hostel and I guess we'll just find out when we get there. That's the plan...or nonplan such as it is! I'm excited. Finally, I'll get to see something other than Shanghai!

Return Trip...

So I am here again, I made it alive, if not a little rough around the edges. Things started out great with a half full plane on the way to Tokyo...until the most garrulous man decided to fill the seat next to me. Once we were in flight, I was excited to get my in flight entertainment started. I was sad to find out that my tiny personal television was broken and because there was a man sitting next to me now I couldn't move over and use that one. Boo. But everything was okay and the flight from Tokyo to Shanghai passed uneventfully. I passed through security with no problems and collected my luggage. The cheese passed through undetected (if you were wondering).

Pai's driver was there to pick me up and we were on the road before I knew it. Unfortunately, about twenty minutes into the trip we ran into a massive traffic jam that took almost an hour to clear. Most of the time, we were squished between two buses or large cement trucks, oh dear. One lane of traffic became three and two lanes became five to accommodate the anxiousness of all of the drivers. But finally, after only an hour and a half of travel in pouring rain and horrific traffic, we pulled into the driveway of my dorm. Aida and Joanna came down to help me carry up my luggage and then we had a late dinner at around 11:00pm. 

And now, I'm exhausted.