June 20, 2012 / Day 2: China. Teacher, Mother, Secret Lover.
Ladies and Gentlemen, WELCOME TO SHANGHAI, CHINA!!! Huan ying guang ling!
The current local time is: tomorrow. The current weather: humid & hot & heavy. There is no Google+, no Twitter, no Youtube, no Facebook! Watch out for the thought police and don't think aloud too much. Vegetarians, get ready to suffer. And you don't want to know about the public toilets. On a brighter note, the views are pretty stunning... when it's clear...
The current local time is: tomorrow. The current weather: humid & hot & heavy. There is no Google+, no Twitter, no Youtube, no Facebook! Watch out for the thought police and don't think aloud too much. Vegetarians, get ready to suffer. And you don't want to know about the public toilets. On a brighter note, the views are pretty stunning... when it's clear...
8:00PM Local Time: We touched down in Shanghai's Pudong Airport just in time to catch some sweet fog. Or is that pollution? I'm not sure. We powered our way through customs and headed for the subway. Some of us really wanted to get to our hotel ASAP and sleep off the jetlag. Here are shots of us on the Shanghai subway. I wonder if Renan thinks the Boston T is better than this too?
Once again, I failed massively to take enough photos to successfully document our journey from the airport to our hotel, Motel 168. But I can tell you that it is at 531 East Jinling Road, in the downtown area of Shanghai, close to the Shanghai Museum and some popular shopping areas. To my amusement, the hotel name 168 (yi liu ba in Chinese pinyin) sounds a lot like yi lu fa, which means, "prosperous all the way". What luck! I wonder if this was done on purpose? Either way, may our fortunes continue onto Jiaxing!
Upon arriving at Motel 168, we were quickly reunited with Lily, Vince, and Jo, who busted into the lobby with bags and bags of Pocky. Oh happy day... The hotel is simple and quaint, with one minor detail that we Westerners might have a strange reaction to. Can you see what it is in the photo below? Yeeeeeessss, there's a motherflippin' window into the shower!!! It's not even entirely frosted. Apparently, this is the trend now in Chinese hotels. You'll see another example of this when we get to our hotel in Jiaxing. Renan and I shared a room the first night, and we dealt with the situation by announcing whenever one of us was going to shower and making sure the other remembered to turn away. As you might guess, the team really had a ball making jokes about peeping at their roommates in the shower. Pervs.
Some of the others went straight out for food and Shanghai nightlife. But it's to bed for me. Here are some shots of the famous Shanghai Bund to leave you with. Good morning from Shanghai!
Today's Numbers:
Travel time from Pudong Airport to hotel: 1.5 hours
Number of subway transfers needed to get to hotel: 2
Hotel security deposit: 200 yuan
Harvard Dudley teammates now united: 11 out of 13
Hours of sleep ahead: 45
Travel time from Pudong Airport to hotel: 1.5 hours
Number of subway transfers needed to get to hotel: 2
Hotel security deposit: 200 yuan
Harvard Dudley teammates now united: 11 out of 13
Hours of sleep ahead: 45