Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Wednesday, January 13 0756

Well, here I am! Quite a trip here, and have plenty to do in the day ahead: have to check in to the local police station and register myself in the afternoon, buy a cell phone (pay as you go), buy shampoo/soap/toothpaste, and have my first eat-out meal in Shanghai.

Yesterday was very very long: it was an odd mix of merging two days into one by racing the Sun to the international date line, but I'm not feeling too bad of jet lag at all since I got sleep on the airplane. The airplane was for Air Canada, so all the instructions were bilingual: this was actually really very great, since that meant French was spoken and available on the little tv's in the seats. French is the only foreign language with which I have any sort of proficiency, so it was kind of like "it's gonna be alright Ed: you know at least one of the foreign languages you'll meet on this trip".

I 'slept' on the plane, and got about 5 hours worth in 30-45 minute bursts. The other 7 hours of the flight I looked out the window or ate one of the three meals they served. The most awesome sight was that of the coast of what I believe is called the Gulf of Ohstosk. Although I'm unsure I spelled that correctly, I know that it is just to the west from Kamchatka. The snow draped over the endless craggy hills by the icy sea with clouds scattered below was really very breathtaking.

Near the end of the flight, I finally talked to my neighbour when her mother in the other aisle asked if I spoke chinese. I replied 'no' and her daughter (I'd guess roughly my age) said that she had thought so because of how good at chopsticks I was. So we chatted a bit. The guy behind us (from San Francisco, kind of a jock/party guy) interjected that Shanghai was like New York + Las Vegas and that I'd die of cirrhosis once I got there. I didn't much care for him, so I just said that I was a teetotaller.

The plane landed over the odd looking city (all the residential buildings are 14+ stories tall, but not very wide, as if they were made by one crane during their construction), and followed Daisy and her mom out to Customs. Chinese officials, whether customs officials or doormen, all looked *SO* "communist": peaked caps, greatcoats, badges, pony-tail-thingies-with-piece-of-cloth on the women. It was pretty cool.

I filled out my form, and waited after the line for Daisy and her Mom, who then went to the duty-free store to buy a couple cartons of Marlboro's I believe: I imagine they were going to sell them or give them to relatives, since I'm pretty sure neither smoked. Daisy helped me figure out a telephone so that I could call Blake, and then directed me to the Maglev to Shanghai. I'd just like to take a moment and say that I am very very grateful for the kind aid that Daisy and her mother lended to me without me even having to ask, and that if I run into them on the streets of Shanghai again, I will treat them to a nice meal: thanks!

I took the 300km/h train into Shanghai. One of the things I noticed is that there is an omnipresent smell: it reminds me of a faint lingering smell of cooked noodles, sans the 'saltiness' of the brothy smell. I imagine it is the air pollution, which is not insignificant. I'll likely get used to it, or develop asthma, *laughs*. In any case, I found Blake and Eric, who I will try to get pictures of in a later post once I get batteries for my camera(!) and they took me to Eric's place to have takeout and play XBox. The pizza must've been a supreme, since it had all sorts of odd bits that normally aren't on pizza I usually have: there was corn, bits of ham, mushrooms, some kind of bell-pepper-y thing, accompanied with mushroom soup and a thing of lettuce greens and mashed potatos. The game was really cool ("Darksiders"), and we waited out the traffic jam outside. Later, they drove me to Garrett's, who is my roommate now. I'll take a picture of my room later, along with Garrett.

So far, everyone I've met have been really very kind and nice, and I still have a good feeling about coming here. Shanghai is a really very odd/different city compared to what I've visited before, and I hope to detail more of my observations later. I'm also very glad I am not jet-lagged, although yesterday seemed to go on forever (from my point of view, it was a 38 hour day).