Shanghai - Day One/Two

[The trip was from Saturday October 2 - Wednesday October 6]

The first day was really just the traveling day. Our train was supposed to leave at 5:15pm or so, but it was an HOUR late (ugh). Apparently that's the norm, however... sadly.

It was an overnight train, and we were able to exchange our tickets from hard seats to hard BEDS at the last minute (as in, three hours before our train left). Which was completely worth the approximate 100 kuai difference, because the train was 1) 5 hours faster and 2) BEDS instead of seats, thank god. There are four types of train options: hard seat (the worst), soft seat (I think?), hard bed, and soft bed.

I was still quite unwell, and I was without my voice the entire trip, and with a hacking/gross cough as well. But I tried not to let that keep me from having a good time.

I personally was unable to sleep very well on the train. I think it was my coughing, probably.


As you can see, the bunks were very close together, and this train was made to fit a LOT of people, even in the more comfortable hard bed area. Six beds to each portion. There was only separation between train cars. I had an undercurrent of nerdy excitement the entire time because I felt like I was on the Hogwarts Express... but not as fast, or going to learn magic.


The best bunk was definitely the bottom bunk, since you could still sit up on the bed without slouching, and you had space for storage under your bed and the small nightstand AND the window. But only top bunks were left, so we had a row of three top bunks. Middle supposedly is the next best choice, but I personally felt the top was the second best, since you could pretend there was no one else around, being so high up. And I could throw my purse up top and feel fairly secure that it would be safe.

We were, as we often are, the stupid foreigners. We had bought a few snacks for the train, and for some reason believed that to be enough. It wasn't. Ramen would have been the SMART thing. But we were able to purchase (with inflation) some fruit to tide us over. And then I slept/tried to sleep the entire way.

We arrived in Shanghai finally at 5:30am (on Sunday now), a bit tired and gross. But no there was rest for us! We waited until we met Angela, Ben's friend who is now attending Tonji University. She graduated from Henan last year, and she was an amazing tour guide and super helpful.

Our first task was to purchase return tickets to Kaifeng. We were only able to find 16 hour daytime hard seats. I was very un-pleased about that, and I hoped we could find better ones closer to our return.

We also hadn't actually GOTTEN hotel reservations, and it took at least two hours for Angela to find us a place to stay. This was our first encounter with foreign discrimination, as we weren't allowed to stay at a cheap hostel (that we reassured Angela we would be fine with staying at even if it was sort of crappy) because we were foreigners and some BS policy that it'd be dangerous if we stayed there. What.

So Angela finally found a hostel, the Koala International Youth Hostel. And reassuring her again, that yes, three beds in one room is FINE, and it was exactly what were expecting anyway, we got our place. The price was jacked up because of the EXPO, but we were just grateful we didn't have to go to an insanely priced foreign hotel, and that we now had somewhere to sleep.

We left our bags at her dormitory at Tongji, and while we were there we saw a cat family. This is one of the kittens, pondering the Dao.

But we were hardly done with the day. We still went on ahead to visit the Oriental Pearl and other tall things (Josh likes tall things), and the Bund (I thought she was saying "the Band" or the "the Bond" for quite a while before I clarified with Josh), an area similar in feel to the Mall in DC. Lots of sightseeing and such.

We gave Angela a lot of firsts-- her first time on the subway (which I bet she loves now, since she was only using the bus up until that point) and her first time EATING at a Subway. We found one, and I would have eaten there too, but all I wanted was a turkey sandwich and they were OUT OF TURKEY. I was very upset so I didn't get anything.

This consumed the rest of our day, and so we returned with our bags, exhausted, to the hostel. We found that there was a baozi (dumpling) vendor RIGHT outside, so we planned to have baozi for breakfast every morning (possibly one of my favorite street foods).

We scanned the tv channels and found what must have been a Jet Li channel, since every night it had old Jet Li movies. The first night I think it was a Western (as in the type of movie, with cowboys) kung fu movie, and it had some American actors (none recognizable), which made for an entertaining period just before bed.

The next day's plan? To tackle the World Expo. Angela texted us that night with directions to get to one of the Expo gates, where we'd meet her at 7:30am. We would have to get up at 5:20am the next day...