Four Day Weekend

Here is the much awaited post about my wonderful weekend last weekend.  Well at least one person has awaited it.  Anyways.

Mykhanh and I left campus to grab lunch on our way to the subway.  I'll add here that this is when bubble tea #1 was consumed.  We went to the train station and took a high speed 30 minute train trip to Beijing's neighbor city Tianjin, where we changed train stations and got a train to Shanghai.  There were no tickets leaving from Beijing so this was a doable albeit more time consuming option.  The high speed trains are awesome.  We were going about 180 miles per hour, so it took us about 5 hours to get to Shanghai.  Inside the train itself is like a plane, with bigger windows, more room, and no altitude issues or seat belt sign.  We got into Shanghai and managed to take the subway partway to our hostel before it closed.  Then we tried to get a cab but Chinese people kept out bidding us or the drivers didn't understand where we were trying to go.

This is one of the times where Myks and I shamelessly use our appearances to our advantage.
Getting a cab: Mykhanh.  She is Vietnamese American and looks Chinese.  People are surprised that she isn't and confused that her Chinese isn't perfect, yet if they know she's American they say its very good.  Less conspicuous than a laowai hailing for a cab.
Going into a fancy hotel and asking the concierge how to get to our hostel because they're a fancy hotel and its Shanghai so someone definitely speaks English: me.  Being white, I'm the more convincing poor lost tourist.  We found the hostel.  Cab drivers are nice in Shanghai.

Our full day in Shanghai:
-Bubble Tea #2 and jingbing #1 to start of the morning.  Jinbing is something that I live off of here and there are many different varieties.  Basically its fried dough with stuff in it, usually meat, egg, maybe lettuce and sauce.  Sort of like a burrito but not quite.  The dough can vary in thickness as well as the fillings.
-Shanghai Museum- lots of really cool and beautiful old Chinese stuff.  Free admission.  Yeah buddy.
-The French Concession- fancy tourist hutong area.  Lots of overpriced stuff, some really cool art, and random souvenirs. There was one place with really amazing photography.  It made me remember how photography really can be a true art form.
-Nanjing Road- Bubble Tea #3.  Big laowai shopping area.  The largest Forever 21 I have ever been to, around the size of the Times Square one according to Google.  Lots of other expensive stores and lots and lots of people.
-Meet up with Emily and Brenna (fellow IES peeps) and go see the Shanghai skyline at night.  It was super smoggy so the tops of some of the buildings were lost in the clouds, but it did not disappoint.  One of those "wow I'm really in China!" moments.
-Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings).  Be careful or the soup spills all over you.
-Boat across the river with Mykhanh to see the pretty buildings up close.  Consider going up into a tall building   Opt for McDonald's ice cream and getting on the subway before it closes instead.

So we packed it in, but I feel like i saw of the biggest things you have to see when you go to Shanghai.  The city feels much more European and modern than Beijing, there are tons of laowai, and I'd say its a little more modern and polished.

Next day:
-Jinbing #2, train ride to Hangzhou.  We bought the cheap tickets and we found out why.  Not a comfy experience.  We got to Hangzhou and it was cloudy and rainy, yet Mykhanh started singing with the taxi driver and there were so many trees everywhere!  One of Karen's big fails of the trip: our hotel for that night.  At least the room smelled better after we turned the air conditioner on right?  Definitely made me in even more support of hostelling.  And the hotel was not near anything at all.  Oh well.
-Headed over to the shopping street area.  Bubble tea #4.  Met up with Emily, Brenna, Ly and Hong.  Got street food.  I had friend crab on a stick and a little bowl of noodles.
-买东西-shopping.  Lots of souvenir type places and tea stores.

Hangzhou is one of my new favorite places in the world.  Myks and I had an interesting morning getting her a replacement train ticket for Suzhou and not finding our hostel.  Bubble tea #5 happened on that journey.  Hostel is infinitely better than crappy hotel, lots of garden space and an adorable little hipster cafe.  And then we went to the lake.  And then I slowly fell in love.  Hangzhou is most well known and earns the reputation as most beautiful place in China for its lake, known as West Lake.  Myks is a fellow Seattle girl.  She loves water like I love mountains.  We spent the first 30 minutes just freaking out at the immense lake before us.  We started walking around and then decided we should walk around the other way.  Glory to God from the depths of my soul.  So beautiful.  Trees, water, hills across the lake.  I have never lived in the city before this semester.  I needed this.  My soul needs this.  We decided to take a boat to an island in the middle of the lake.  We hop aboard this ancient Chinese looking (though very modern boat) and go out the island.  It has some name that I can't remember, basically there are 4 lakes in the middle of this island surrounded by paths, pagodas, little Chinese buildings and lots of trees.  And bridges.  And the biggets koi fish I have ever seen.  Anyways.  No car sounds.  Lots of people, but its China.  There are never not lots of people.  The sun began its descent, first gold than brighter and brighter, and we had to get on the boat because they were closing the boats down and oh.  Glory, glory, glory.  First time I've seen a real sunset in awhile.  Dinner at a Thai place with Emily and Brenna because someone offered Mykhanh an opera ticket.  Bubble tea #5.  A Thai restaurant with no noodles, which is just nonsense if you ask me.  Red curry instead.  Lots of crying and eating fruit and drinking water.  So delicious though.  More shopping.  Tea purchasing.  Snack tasting.

Myks and I got up and headed to Suzhou.  Canal streets.  Hipster postcard store.  Baozi shaped like pigs.  Too good.

I'll put pics in another post or up on FB.  It was an awesome, restful, joy filled weekend!