Hi everyone!
I created a Facebook album with my Taiwan photos. Even if you don't have Facebook, you can check out the photo album by clicking here. Enjoy!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Ivey's Hong Kong Campus
On Wednesday, I went to see Ivey's Hong Kong Campus. It is really neat! It is located in Wan Chai (a cool, downtown area), inside of the Hong Kong Convention Centre. I was shown around the (very, very nice!) facilities - the classrooms are identical to the ones in London, only better. They have an ocean view. Take a look at one of the classrooms:
After the tour, I met the Dean, Ms. Kathleen Slaughter. She chatted with me for a bit (life advice, etc.) and then suggested that she organize a wine and cheese at her apartment for all of the Ivey Exchange Students and any recent HBA graduates who are living in Hong Kong! It is going to be March 31st. I am really looking forward to it!
Taiwan: Five Days, Five Million Calories!
On Tuesday, I got back from my second major trip...to Taipei, Taiwan! Before coming to Asia, I didn't know much about the place. But, when we found cheap flights there from Hong Kong, a huge group of us (fifteen or so!) decided to go. And we had a GREAT time.
Just so you have an idea, the people I went with were:
Lisa: You already know her - we went to Shanghai together.
Chelsie: She is also blonde and also from Ivey. In fact, people often mix up our names. She is graduating from Ivey this year, but going back to Western in the fall for one year to finish a degree in Math...and then wants to pursue a career in Finance.
Shannon: She is my roommate, so I have already talked about her a little bit. She lived in China (near Chengdu) until she was 16, and then moved to California - and at the time, she didn't speak a word of English. Now, she is completely fluent. She is a science student, and she laughs at me everyday when I try and say things in Mandarin. Like, laughs in my FACE. I am glad I can entertain.
Barbara: Barbara is from Ireland, and she is a baby (only 19!). But she has probably done more than most people ever do in her life - she is a triathlete and competitive swimmer, and she competes internationally! Even in Hong Kong, she trains. And she has lived all over the world...Egypt, California...her stories are crazy.
Kayla: Kayla is an industrial engineering student from Michigan. She is SUPER blonde. She has an interesting time in Asia because she is a vegetarian...sometimes that can be a bit of a challenge!
The other people in our group were Alfonso (Venezuela), Reda (France), Sophie (Sweden), Steve and Jess (A couple, from the USA, but Steve is originally from Taiwan), Peter (Sweden), Jesus (Spain) and Carlos (Alfonso's cousin, who goes to the Chinese University of Hong Kong).
I was a little nervous about travelling in such a large group, because it can lead to a significant portion of the trip being spent waiting: waiting for people to go to the bathroom, waiting for people to go to the bank, waiting for people to make a decision about where to go next, etc. But, actually, being in such a large group was really, really fun!
So, we call Dennis (the best cab driver ever), and he picks us up from Campus at 5:15 pm on Thursday, March 5th. At 6 pm, we've arrived at the airport and we are checking in for our flight. Everyone is excited - especially Reda, who is known for constantly yelling out the nicknames he has created for everyone else, in a strong (great) French accent. Barbara is "Barbarina!" with a rolled-R. Lisa is "Mona Lisa!". Me? I am "Izzar!" - it kind of sounds like the way French people say "Heather", but not really. Hahaha.
The flight was good (I was a good Samaritan AGAIN and gave up my seat so that a couple could sit together!) but the airplane food wasn't nearly as good as it was when we went to Shanghai. Oh well.
When we landed in Taipei, the weather...sucked. It was raining. But by this time, it was midnight anyways, so we didn't let it get us down. We took a bus from the airport into the city, and then split up: Lisa, Chelsie, Barbara and Kayla were in one hostel (Eight Elephants) and Shannon and I were with everyone else in a different hostel (Camels Oasis).
Our hostel is cute, but weird. The location is great. It is right in the middle of Taipei, which is really the most important thing to consider when choosing a hostel. But the kind of weird part is that the hostel was, well, someone's apartment. It is decorated really nicely...there is cute furniture, maps and guidebooks, and free coffee and tea. But still...it's an apartment. There are four bedrooms. One is the owner's, one is a double, one is a triple, one is a quad (female only) and then there was ours: an 8-bedroom mixed dorm (with an ensuite, thank goodness!).
Like I said, cute, but weird.
Anyways, all of us head to grab some food...and then the guys decide to go out, and Shannon, Jess and I decide to go to bed. I was having a great sleep until the guys came home at 5 am and kept us up until...6:30 am! Boys, boys. boys.
Anyways, the next day, Shannon and I got up early and met with the girls at the other hostel. Our first stop was Taipei 101. Haha...actually, that is a lie. Our first stop was a bakery, for these delicious sugary buns that are really popular in Taiwan. I think I ate at least 15 buns throughout the trip. I miss them.
Anyways, Taipei 101. It calls itself the tallest building in the world (but don't a ton of buildings call themselves the tallest building in the world???). We take the elevator to the observation deck (I think it is on the 87th and 88th floors). It was pretty cool. They give you a headset so that you can listen to an audio tour (in English, yay!) and check out the whole city.
It was really cool! Especially because there was tons of information and displays all around the observation deck. There was a lot to look at!
One floor down, there was a coral museum. I'm sill not sure why.
After Taipei 101, we took a short walk down the road to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's memorial. In Taiwan, they love Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. He is Taiwan's "Founding Father", and as a result, quite an impressive memorial has been built in his honour. It is situated in the middle of a beautiful park that we took our time walking through (keep in mind, that it rained throughout this entire trip). In the museum, there is a HUGE statue of the Doctor, with a guard on either side. The guards don't move.
I went to the information desk to ask if there was a English brochure or something Well, we got something even better...or, well, different. At the desk, an adorable first year Taiwan university student wearing a vest that said "English Guide" insisted on giving us a tour. She was so excited! And also very shy,. We encouraged her, and she showed us around the main floor of the museum, which as really helpful because ALL of the material explaining the exhibits was in Chinese. And since I only know about 20 Chinese characters (which is 20 more than the other girls I was with - Shannon was touring something else at the time), we would have been lost.
After the tour, we got to see the changing of the guards that watch over the Doc's monument. It was pretty cool...lots of stomping and rifle-twirling and stuff. But in the age of STOMP (the musical) it just wasn't enough to keep my attention for to long.
After the changeover, we decided to head to the National Palace Museum. From what I have read, the National Palace Museum has the largest collection of ancient Chinese artifacts in the entire world, and it is one of the top four museums internationally.
Just so you have an idea, the people I went with were:
Lisa: You already know her - we went to Shanghai together.
Chelsie: She is also blonde and also from Ivey. In fact, people often mix up our names. She is graduating from Ivey this year, but going back to Western in the fall for one year to finish a degree in Math...and then wants to pursue a career in Finance.
Shannon: She is my roommate, so I have already talked about her a little bit. She lived in China (near Chengdu) until she was 16, and then moved to California - and at the time, she didn't speak a word of English. Now, she is completely fluent. She is a science student, and she laughs at me everyday when I try and say things in Mandarin. Like, laughs in my FACE. I am glad I can entertain.
Barbara: Barbara is from Ireland, and she is a baby (only 19!). But she has probably done more than most people ever do in her life - she is a triathlete and competitive swimmer, and she competes internationally! Even in Hong Kong, she trains. And she has lived all over the world...Egypt, California...her stories are crazy.
Kayla: Kayla is an industrial engineering student from Michigan. She is SUPER blonde. She has an interesting time in Asia because she is a vegetarian...sometimes that can be a bit of a challenge!
The other people in our group were Alfonso (Venezuela), Reda (France), Sophie (Sweden), Steve and Jess (A couple, from the USA, but Steve is originally from Taiwan), Peter (Sweden), Jesus (Spain) and Carlos (Alfonso's cousin, who goes to the Chinese University of Hong Kong).
I was a little nervous about travelling in such a large group, because it can lead to a significant portion of the trip being spent waiting: waiting for people to go to the bathroom, waiting for people to go to the bank, waiting for people to make a decision about where to go next, etc. But, actually, being in such a large group was really, really fun!
So, we call Dennis (the best cab driver ever), and he picks us up from Campus at 5:15 pm on Thursday, March 5th. At 6 pm, we've arrived at the airport and we are checking in for our flight. Everyone is excited - especially Reda, who is known for constantly yelling out the nicknames he has created for everyone else, in a strong (great) French accent. Barbara is "Barbarina!" with a rolled-R. Lisa is "Mona Lisa!". Me? I am "Izzar!" - it kind of sounds like the way French people say "Heather", but not really. Hahaha.
The flight was good (I was a good Samaritan AGAIN and gave up my seat so that a couple could sit together!) but the airplane food wasn't nearly as good as it was when we went to Shanghai. Oh well.
When we landed in Taipei, the weather...sucked. It was raining. But by this time, it was midnight anyways, so we didn't let it get us down. We took a bus from the airport into the city, and then split up: Lisa, Chelsie, Barbara and Kayla were in one hostel (Eight Elephants) and Shannon and I were with everyone else in a different hostel (Camels Oasis).
Our hostel is cute, but weird. The location is great. It is right in the middle of Taipei, which is really the most important thing to consider when choosing a hostel. But the kind of weird part is that the hostel was, well, someone's apartment. It is decorated really nicely...there is cute furniture, maps and guidebooks, and free coffee and tea. But still...it's an apartment. There are four bedrooms. One is the owner's, one is a double, one is a triple, one is a quad (female only) and then there was ours: an 8-bedroom mixed dorm (with an ensuite, thank goodness!).
Like I said, cute, but weird.
Anyways, all of us head to grab some food...and then the guys decide to go out, and Shannon, Jess and I decide to go to bed. I was having a great sleep until the guys came home at 5 am and kept us up until...6:30 am! Boys, boys. boys.
Anyways, the next day, Shannon and I got up early and met with the girls at the other hostel. Our first stop was Taipei 101. Haha...actually, that is a lie. Our first stop was a bakery, for these delicious sugary buns that are really popular in Taiwan. I think I ate at least 15 buns throughout the trip. I miss them.
Anyways, Taipei 101. It calls itself the tallest building in the world (but don't a ton of buildings call themselves the tallest building in the world???). We take the elevator to the observation deck (I think it is on the 87th and 88th floors). It was pretty cool. They give you a headset so that you can listen to an audio tour (in English, yay!) and check out the whole city.
It was really cool! Especially because there was tons of information and displays all around the observation deck. There was a lot to look at!
One floor down, there was a coral museum. I'm sill not sure why.
After Taipei 101, we took a short walk down the road to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's memorial. In Taiwan, they love Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. He is Taiwan's "Founding Father", and as a result, quite an impressive memorial has been built in his honour. It is situated in the middle of a beautiful park that we took our time walking through (keep in mind, that it rained throughout this entire trip). In the museum, there is a HUGE statue of the Doctor, with a guard on either side. The guards don't move.
I went to the information desk to ask if there was a English brochure or something Well, we got something even better...or, well, different. At the desk, an adorable first year Taiwan university student wearing a vest that said "English Guide" insisted on giving us a tour. She was so excited! And also very shy,. We encouraged her, and she showed us around the main floor of the museum, which as really helpful because ALL of the material explaining the exhibits was in Chinese. And since I only know about 20 Chinese characters (which is 20 more than the other girls I was with - Shannon was touring something else at the time), we would have been lost.
After the tour, we got to see the changing of the guards that watch over the Doc's monument. It was pretty cool...lots of stomping and rifle-twirling and stuff. But in the age of STOMP (the musical) it just wasn't enough to keep my attention for to long.
After the changeover, we decided to head to the National Palace Museum. From what I have read, the National Palace Museum has the largest collection of ancient Chinese artifacts in the entire world, and it is one of the top four museums internationally.
Needless to say, I was really excited!
Well, jeez. What a disappointment. I mean, it was pretty cool, but definitely underwhelming. The stuff on display was beautiful, but there wasn't a lot of background information provided, and in a lot of cases, the exhibits were just plain boring. The museum wasn't nearly as good as the Urban Planning museum in Shanghai. But, well, at least I can say I've been there?
After the museum, we hopped on a bus (by the way, it was POURING at this point) and quickly visited the Grand Hotel. This used to be one of the top tourist destinations in Taipei, because it is SUPER cool-looking, but because there is so much other stuff going on in Taipei these days, it has become less popular. BUT look how cool it is:
Again, this is not one of my photos. Remember the rain?
By now, it was beginning to get dark. We hopped in a cab and headed to a popular nighttime destination for Taiwan locals - a night market.
We chose Shilin Night Market - it is the biggest and supposed to be the best. Our cab dropped us off in front, and...we pretty much went crazy. There were awesome, awesome, AWESOME food stalls everywhere, serving all sorts of delicious, strange food items, from stinky tofu (gross!), to candied strawberries, to fresh custard-filled buns, to popcorn chicken (Taiwan invented it!), to dumplings, omelettes, seafood, bubble tea...it was crazy. And very busy!
After tasting a lot of different, new things, we headed to another part of the night market, where there are tons of really neat clothing stalls. Lisa, Barbara and Chelsie bough rain boots because, of course, it was still pouring out, and they were only wearing flip flops! After meeting up with the boys, we all headed back to our hostels to get ready for a great night out!
Before heading to the club, we spent about an hour drinking beer and hanging out with other young people at our hostel. Around 11:30, we headed to Room 18, a club in downtown Taipei. Since there was such a large group of us (15 people or something), we decided to go VIP and get bottle service. For less than $20 CAD, we got our own special area of the club and all the drinks we could handle. It was a blast. Highlights include:
1) A dance off on the VIP dance floor with Taipei locals
2) A foam party! At least, it looked like foam...but it was actually fluffed cotton!
3) All of the girls dancing on stage in the main part of the club...people were cheering for us!
Around 5 am, we decided to call it a night. And a fun night it was.
The next day, we wanted to see a bit of Taiwan's countryside, so we called a cab and headed to Jiufen and Jinguashi, nearby towns in Taiwan's northern region. First, we went to Jinguashi.
Jinguashi is called the 'Old Town' because it used to be totally bustling - back when it was being mined for gold! Now, the place has been carefully restored by the Taiwan government. It is nestled right in the middle of the mountains, and has a bunch of historic buildings within it. We hiked around the mountains for a while (OMG IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL) and then checked out the 'Gold Museum'. Inside, there were some neat exhibits, and I was even able to touch the largest brick of gold in the ENTIRE WORLD. Cool, eh?
Next, our cab driver (his name is Mr. Chen, and he was the BEST) took us a couple miles down the road to Jiufen, a cute little town with a bustling pedestrian street market. Again, we went crazy tasting local specialties - donuts, ice cream wraps, potato chips on a stick, spring rolls, jelly candies...etc. Soon, it was getting dark, so we climbed back into our cab with Mr. Chen and headed back to the city.
Mr. Chen told us a bit about his life story. He was in the army for a few years, and now has a farm with his family, several hours from Taipei. He only goes home on Mondays, to give his family his earnings from his job as a taxi driver. Every other day of the week, he works for 18 hours a day - and only for 2 hours at a time, so that he can take advantage of the busiest times for cab drivers. Can you believe it? I still can't.
We had Mr. Chen drop us off at a huge bookstore with a teahouse inside, and we relaxed with a cup of tea for a few hours. When it became dark, Chelsie and Barbara headed off to get massages, and Lisa, Kayla, Shannon and I headed back to our hostels.
We were all supposed to go out that night, but the girls in the other hostel were too tired, so it ended up being just myself, Shannon and the boys. The boys wanted to go to a club again, but Shannon and I were looking for a different experience, so we found a cute bar downtown. We grabbed a seat on the outdoor patio and just relaxed, and we even met some neat people from Taiwan, Malaysia, and the US. It was fun hearing their stories, and what they think about life in Taiwan.
The next day, we started off by grabbing breakfast/lunch at a world famous dumpling restaurant - Din Tai Fong. We had to wait 1 HOUR for a table, and it was 11 am. Have you ever heard of such a thing.
Well, it was delicious. Well worth the wait.
In case you don't know what dumplings are, this is what they look like:
They are steamed, and served in this bamboo containers. They are a specialty in Hong Kong as well, and I probably eat them for two or three meals each week! They have tons of different types: vegetable, pork, shrimp...yum!
After our meal, we headed to Yangmingshan National Park to do some hiking. It was beautiful! We hiked in the mountains for about an hour...but then...it started to rain. Why does this always happen to me!
At the bottom of the mountains, Taiwan is lucky enough to have a variety of hot springs! Most of them have been "claimed" by hotels, or even homes, but there is a great hotspring that is for public access. We paid the entrance fee (it was $1 CAD) and joined the locals. The location of this public hotspring was crazy - it was literally RIGHT in the middle of a downtown area!
Here is a picture:
They were really hot.
After the hotsprings, we headed to Danshui Old Town. It is a harbour, and from it, you can look at the Taipei skyline. We grabbed a delicious seafood dinner at one of the restaurants along the harbour, and then, exhausted, we hopped on the subway to head home.
After showering, it was time for our final night in Taiwan, and we wanted to do something special. So, all of us (15 people or so) headed to PartyWorld - a KTV chain. What is KTV, you ask? It is KARAOKE TELEVISION!
KTV is a super popular activity for young people in Asia - Hong Kong, China, Japan, Taiwan, from what I can tell, they love it everywhere. We each paid about the price of a movie ticket in Canada, and for this, we were given our own private room with couches and a KTV system. Also, we were given almost unlimited alcoholic drinks! As you can imagine, this led to a pretty fun time for everyone! By the end of the night, we were all singing classic songs by Britney and the Backstreet Boys at the top of our lungs. This was a highlight of the trip, for sure.
Here is a funny photo from our KTV night:
Yes. We were really into it.
After our last night at our hostels, we woke up and had a few final hours to see Taipei before catching our flight home. We checked out the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial (he controlled the KMT after Doctor Sun Yat-Sen). It was massive, and kind of ridiculous, really. But the grounds it is located on are beautiful - there are also concert halls and parks nearby. After this, we went to a teahouse and relaxed before returning to our hostel to pack our things and headed to the airport.
All in all, it was a great trip. The things I will remember most are how friendly the people are (they were SO nice and SO helpful anytime we were lost or needed help!), how delicious the food was (we tried SO many new and interesting foods!) and how fun it was to travel with such a large group of people. Taiwan was nothing like I expected, and I really recommend going there if you ever get the chance!
Now, I am going to write about my next trip - a Yangtze River Cruise!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
My First Putonghua (Mandarin) Class
When I think about it, all I can do is laugh.
So, after I got back from Shanghai, I was really excited about learning Putonghua. In fact, I even (impulse) purchased a computer program (with CD-ROM) that teaches you Mandarin in the Shanghai airport. Early last week, I went to HKUST's language centre and signed up for Putonghua I for English-Speakers.
The class is every Tuesday from 5:30 pm until 8 pm (2.5 hours!). It is small, with only about 10 students, and it costs $145 CAD for 16 weeks of lessons. I think this is a great deal, because when I wanted to sign up for a Mandarin class in the summer, courses cost a lot more than this.
The class is really basic so far - we go over the phonetic alphabet and learn really easy phrases and vocabulary. The teacher makes us say sentences by ourselves, and it just sounds so funny, that even she has to laugh at us. I spend half of the class, and some time after it, just laughing at myself. You feel like an absolute idiot.
The main reason is because, in Mandarin (and most Asian languages), tone matters. There are four tones - and they all sound completely different. For example, the word "ma" has four different meanings, depending on which tone you say it in. It can mean mother, hemp, horse, or scold. When it is said with no tone at all (natural tone) at the end of a sentence, it turns whatever sentence you were saying into a yes or no question! For native English speakers...this is a real challenge.
It was really fun, though! The time went by really quickly, and I think I am actually doing a better-than-average job at picking things up. Shannon, my roommate, lived in China until she was 16, so she is really helping me with my pronunciation, and we have a "Word of the Day". This past weekend in Taiwan, I actually managed to communicate with a few people...I'm not good, but I definitely get an "A" for effort!
I am excited to see how much I will be able to pick up after a few months of lessons and dedication. In fact, maybe I will go through Lesson 1 on my CD-ROM one more time.
Zaijian! (Good bye!)
So, after I got back from Shanghai, I was really excited about learning Putonghua. In fact, I even (impulse) purchased a computer program (with CD-ROM) that teaches you Mandarin in the Shanghai airport. Early last week, I went to HKUST's language centre and signed up for Putonghua I for English-Speakers.
The class is every Tuesday from 5:30 pm until 8 pm (2.5 hours!). It is small, with only about 10 students, and it costs $145 CAD for 16 weeks of lessons. I think this is a great deal, because when I wanted to sign up for a Mandarin class in the summer, courses cost a lot more than this.
The class is really basic so far - we go over the phonetic alphabet and learn really easy phrases and vocabulary. The teacher makes us say sentences by ourselves, and it just sounds so funny, that even she has to laugh at us. I spend half of the class, and some time after it, just laughing at myself. You feel like an absolute idiot.
The main reason is because, in Mandarin (and most Asian languages), tone matters. There are four tones - and they all sound completely different. For example, the word "ma" has four different meanings, depending on which tone you say it in. It can mean mother, hemp, horse, or scold. When it is said with no tone at all (natural tone) at the end of a sentence, it turns whatever sentence you were saying into a yes or no question! For native English speakers...this is a real challenge.
It was really fun, though! The time went by really quickly, and I think I am actually doing a better-than-average job at picking things up. Shannon, my roommate, lived in China until she was 16, so she is really helping me with my pronunciation, and we have a "Word of the Day". This past weekend in Taiwan, I actually managed to communicate with a few people...I'm not good, but I definitely get an "A" for effort!
I am excited to see how much I will be able to pick up after a few months of lessons and dedication. In fact, maybe I will go through Lesson 1 on my CD-ROM one more time.
Zaijian! (Good bye!)
Shanghai Post: Finally Complete!
I finally finished writing about my trip to Shanghai...so feel free to check it out!
Monday, March 2, 2009
I Know I Have to Finish That Post...
...But in the meantime, I put up a few photos of my trip to Shanghai. You can check them out here. There will be more up later!
Friday, February 27, 2009
I love, love, love Shanghai!
Wow. What an incredible trip. It was maybe the best five days of my life. Let me tell you why. This post is going to be written with a ridiculous level of detail...that is just a warning.
Actually, first let me tell you about who I went with - Lisa and Hafida. First, Lisa. Lisa is an experienced traveller, and it was her idea to jump right in and take a trip to Shanghai. This is her second exchange (she did an exchange in high school to Switzerland), and she is super, super organized. She also has a friend of a friend in Shanghai, which turned out to be really lucky for the three of us!
Hafida is Lisa's roommate. She is from France, and has been at HKUST since August or September (she didn't even go home for Christmas! She went to Vietnam instead). Hafida is in her second Mandarin class now, and she is actually really good - she can communicate with taxi drivers, etc. She had a few friends from Paris in Shanghai, and we ended up meeting up with them, too! I also really appreciate her because she helps me to improve my French!
Okay, let's get this thing started.
Our flight to Shanghai was at 3:30 pm on Thursday, February 19th. The Hong Kong airport is so efficient...it took us no time at all to get to our gate, so we ended up with an hour and a half to spare. Better safe than sorry, though!
We actually took a giant bus to where our plane was parked...it was kind of in the middle of a huge lot. The flight was good - the Dragonair flight attendants are great. Our in-flight meal was "Dim Sum," (literally meaning "touch the heart")which is a really popular Chinese cuisine. It was quite delicious...especially for someone who likes airplane food as much as I do. I really like it!
We landed at the Shanghai airport around 5:45 pm. It is spectacular. I think it is pretty new, and the design is gorgeous. We grabbed our luggage, and headed toward the Maglev.
What is the Maglev, you ask? Well, Maglev stands for "Magnetic Levitation," and in this application, magnetic levitation moves a train using a very large number of magnets. Trains that use this type of system have the potential to be faster, quieter and smoother than other mass transit systems (for more info from Wikipedia, click here).
Faster, indeed. On the way to the city, the train hit a maximum speed of 301 km/h! (Later, on the way back to the airport, the train hit a maximum of 446 km/h! Insane!) We then transferred to the subway and got off at the stop closest to the hostel we had booked - People's Square.
My first impression of Shanghai? It is so, so, so cool. It actually looks very different from Hong Kong, even in the downtown areas. It was night, so all of the buildings were lit up, and (unlike in Hong Kong) all of the buildings look different! Some are completely made of glass, some are European-looking, some look like temples...it is so great. And there is a lot more space in the streets than there is in Hong Kong. The streets are wider, the sidewalks are wider, and the buildings are all different heights, so the whole place just feels more open.
We asked for directions to the hostel at the Radisson (which is REALLY cool...it looks like there is a flying saucer on top of the 30 storey building, but it is actually a revolving restaurant) and went on our way. It really wasn't far.
From the outside, the hostel (called the Y35, if anyone from HKUST is reading this and wants to know a great place to stay) doesn't look like anything special. It has some lanterns hanging outside, and the doors are huge and solid wood. Inside, though, the place is so cute and full of character. In the entrance, there is a little wooden bridge that crosses a waterfall and pond with goldfish, and there is a bar on the third floor that serves really, really cheap drinks (like, $2 CAD for 600 mL of beer) and good, home-like food.
Check-in took only a couple minutes, because the staff speak English, and then we dropped our things off in our room (we decided to split a four-person room between the three of us, for extra space and so that we wouldn't be stuck with a random). The rooms were great. Small, of course, but nice and clean. Actually, I felt like a princess, because my bed actually had a pillow and comforter, which are two things I haven't gotten around to buying in Hong Kong yet. I know, I am ridiculous.
After changing, we went for dinner nearby, on a street called..."Food Street". It was so neat - the whole street (for three blocks) was lit up with lanterns strung across the whole thing! It was really pretty.
Dinner was delicious. We just ordered a ton of food to share. The best part was the "egg rolls". We thought they would just be egg rolls, but it turned out that they were more like donuts, with really, really soft centres. The other best part of dinner was the entertainment. The owner of the restaurant was talking to Hafida in Mandarin, and then he insisted on taking a photo with all of us, and then with just me. We assumed that this is because I am blonde. Later on, our hypothesis was proven correct...a lot of really funny stuff happened to me throughout the trip!
Next, we went to a place called Xintiandi. It is a really cute area of Shanghai, not too far from People's Square, that is a pedestrian area with cobblestone, and tons of cute restaurants and bars. It had a really European feel. We checked out a few places (it was only 9:30 pm, but some of the places were packed with people...mostly Westerners), and then headed to our intended destination, G +.
We got a recommendation to go to G + from a friend in Hong Kong who was on exchange in Shanghai last semester. He knows the owner, and said that we could get free drinks. Well, that sounded good to me! The place was actually super cool. It was located in a high-end mall, and you could hear the dance music from really, really far away. At the door, we grabbed our free drink tickets and headed inside. The place was decorated with a lot of mirrors, plasma TVs, etc., and there were two floors. There was also a DJ playing great house, and lights and lasers and fog and even bubbles! The place seemed to be full of locals, for the most part, which was cool. We grabbed a few drinks and had a seat to take in the atmosphere...
...but we weren't sitting for long. Two African drummers came out and played the drums to the songs that the DJ was playing! It was so cool! After that, we danced the night away...then, exhausted, we went back to our hostel to sleep for exactly six hours, so that we could get a good start on a full day of sightseeing!
In the morning, we grabbed breakfast in the hostel, and then attempted to execute our plan of going to the "Fabric Market", another recommendation we received. It is a mall that is filled with shops selling fabric, and tailors are ready to take your measurements and make you anything you desire, to your exact specifications. You can even bring them a photo, and they will make an exact replica for you! We needed to go there right away, though, because it takes a few days for the items to be sewn.
We decided to walk, and headed out down Nanjing Road, a (mostly) pedestrian street that is famous for its shopping. It wasn't relaxing, though. I guess we really looked like tourists (maybe it was the Canadian flag on my bag, or the colour of my hair?), because people continually came up to us, saying over and over again, "Copy watches? Bags? Shoes? Wallet?" and following us, even when we said no. It is pretty annoying, but I guess it is to be expected. If I were them, I would probably do the same thing.
Kind of by mistake (we don't know if we had bad directions on what), we ended up in Xipulu Market, or the "Fake Market". There were no tourists to be seen, though. This was a fully local shopping place. It was a really interesting place to see - there was tons of street food, people selling anything you can imagine, and there were people EVERYWHERE. There were also a lot of beggars. One guy saw me and yelled "Beautiful!" and came at me with open arms...like he wanted a hug. I ran away.
Since we were a little off track, we grabbed a cab and asked them to take us to the Fabric Market. Actually, we didn't ask. We used the "Magic Number". It's the best. You call this number, and tell the operator where you want to go, in English. You can even say what type of restaurant you want, if you don't know the exact name. Then, you hand your phone over to the cab driver, and the operator will tell the cab driver where to take you, in Mandarin. It is a really good way of overcoming the language barrier!
The Fabric Market was really cool. It was just booths and booths of vendors, and they all wanted to make us clothes. We did some bargaining (we are getting REALLY good!) and ended up finding a place that would make us custom suits for $50 CAD (actually, less than that...but I will explain later) and long-sleeved dress shirts for $13 CAD. I got a suit. And five shirts. Choosing our fabrics was really, really fun! They told us to come back on Monday at 10 am to pick up our things.
We grabbed lunch in a restaurant on the same street (Chinese food again...good thing I love it!) and then took a cab to the Yu Bazaar and Gardens in the "Old City". The place looked completely traditional...there were tons of shops (the whole place was shopping), but the stores were inside what looked like temples. It is funny, though. The Yu Bazaar isn't old...it was built recently, and just looks old! We did some bargaining here, too. I got a silk scarf with a Chinese Opera singer on it for a couple dollars (CAD). Lisa bought some really nice pearls.
The gardens were beautiful. On a nicer day, it is definitely the kind of place that you could spend a few hours. It was pretty cold, though, so we decided to have afternoon tea at the Huxining Teahouse. I actually have to include a photo of the teahouse because it is so cool (it is on the left).
Actually, first let me tell you about who I went with - Lisa and Hafida. First, Lisa. Lisa is an experienced traveller, and it was her idea to jump right in and take a trip to Shanghai. This is her second exchange (she did an exchange in high school to Switzerland), and she is super, super organized. She also has a friend of a friend in Shanghai, which turned out to be really lucky for the three of us!
Hafida is Lisa's roommate. She is from France, and has been at HKUST since August or September (she didn't even go home for Christmas! She went to Vietnam instead). Hafida is in her second Mandarin class now, and she is actually really good - she can communicate with taxi drivers, etc. She had a few friends from Paris in Shanghai, and we ended up meeting up with them, too! I also really appreciate her because she helps me to improve my French!
Okay, let's get this thing started.
Our flight to Shanghai was at 3:30 pm on Thursday, February 19th. The Hong Kong airport is so efficient...it took us no time at all to get to our gate, so we ended up with an hour and a half to spare. Better safe than sorry, though!
We actually took a giant bus to where our plane was parked...it was kind of in the middle of a huge lot. The flight was good - the Dragonair flight attendants are great. Our in-flight meal was "Dim Sum," (literally meaning "touch the heart")which is a really popular Chinese cuisine. It was quite delicious...especially for someone who likes airplane food as much as I do. I really like it!
We landed at the Shanghai airport around 5:45 pm. It is spectacular. I think it is pretty new, and the design is gorgeous. We grabbed our luggage, and headed toward the Maglev.
What is the Maglev, you ask? Well, Maglev stands for "Magnetic Levitation," and in this application, magnetic levitation moves a train using a very large number of magnets. Trains that use this type of system have the potential to be faster, quieter and smoother than other mass transit systems (for more info from Wikipedia, click here).
Faster, indeed. On the way to the city, the train hit a maximum speed of 301 km/h! (Later, on the way back to the airport, the train hit a maximum of 446 km/h! Insane!) We then transferred to the subway and got off at the stop closest to the hostel we had booked - People's Square.
My first impression of Shanghai? It is so, so, so cool. It actually looks very different from Hong Kong, even in the downtown areas. It was night, so all of the buildings were lit up, and (unlike in Hong Kong) all of the buildings look different! Some are completely made of glass, some are European-looking, some look like temples...it is so great. And there is a lot more space in the streets than there is in Hong Kong. The streets are wider, the sidewalks are wider, and the buildings are all different heights, so the whole place just feels more open.
We asked for directions to the hostel at the Radisson (which is REALLY cool...it looks like there is a flying saucer on top of the 30 storey building, but it is actually a revolving restaurant) and went on our way. It really wasn't far.
From the outside, the hostel (called the Y35, if anyone from HKUST is reading this and wants to know a great place to stay) doesn't look like anything special. It has some lanterns hanging outside, and the doors are huge and solid wood. Inside, though, the place is so cute and full of character. In the entrance, there is a little wooden bridge that crosses a waterfall and pond with goldfish, and there is a bar on the third floor that serves really, really cheap drinks (like, $2 CAD for 600 mL of beer) and good, home-like food.
Check-in took only a couple minutes, because the staff speak English, and then we dropped our things off in our room (we decided to split a four-person room between the three of us, for extra space and so that we wouldn't be stuck with a random). The rooms were great. Small, of course, but nice and clean. Actually, I felt like a princess, because my bed actually had a pillow and comforter, which are two things I haven't gotten around to buying in Hong Kong yet. I know, I am ridiculous.
After changing, we went for dinner nearby, on a street called..."Food Street". It was so neat - the whole street (for three blocks) was lit up with lanterns strung across the whole thing! It was really pretty.
Dinner was delicious. We just ordered a ton of food to share. The best part was the "egg rolls". We thought they would just be egg rolls, but it turned out that they were more like donuts, with really, really soft centres. The other best part of dinner was the entertainment. The owner of the restaurant was talking to Hafida in Mandarin, and then he insisted on taking a photo with all of us, and then with just me. We assumed that this is because I am blonde. Later on, our hypothesis was proven correct...a lot of really funny stuff happened to me throughout the trip!
Next, we went to a place called Xintiandi. It is a really cute area of Shanghai, not too far from People's Square, that is a pedestrian area with cobblestone, and tons of cute restaurants and bars. It had a really European feel. We checked out a few places (it was only 9:30 pm, but some of the places were packed with people...mostly Westerners), and then headed to our intended destination, G +.
We got a recommendation to go to G + from a friend in Hong Kong who was on exchange in Shanghai last semester. He knows the owner, and said that we could get free drinks. Well, that sounded good to me! The place was actually super cool. It was located in a high-end mall, and you could hear the dance music from really, really far away. At the door, we grabbed our free drink tickets and headed inside. The place was decorated with a lot of mirrors, plasma TVs, etc., and there were two floors. There was also a DJ playing great house, and lights and lasers and fog and even bubbles! The place seemed to be full of locals, for the most part, which was cool. We grabbed a few drinks and had a seat to take in the atmosphere...
...but we weren't sitting for long. Two African drummers came out and played the drums to the songs that the DJ was playing! It was so cool! After that, we danced the night away...then, exhausted, we went back to our hostel to sleep for exactly six hours, so that we could get a good start on a full day of sightseeing!
In the morning, we grabbed breakfast in the hostel, and then attempted to execute our plan of going to the "Fabric Market", another recommendation we received. It is a mall that is filled with shops selling fabric, and tailors are ready to take your measurements and make you anything you desire, to your exact specifications. You can even bring them a photo, and they will make an exact replica for you! We needed to go there right away, though, because it takes a few days for the items to be sewn.
We decided to walk, and headed out down Nanjing Road, a (mostly) pedestrian street that is famous for its shopping. It wasn't relaxing, though. I guess we really looked like tourists (maybe it was the Canadian flag on my bag, or the colour of my hair?), because people continually came up to us, saying over and over again, "Copy watches? Bags? Shoes? Wallet?" and following us, even when we said no. It is pretty annoying, but I guess it is to be expected. If I were them, I would probably do the same thing.
Kind of by mistake (we don't know if we had bad directions on what), we ended up in Xipulu Market, or the "Fake Market". There were no tourists to be seen, though. This was a fully local shopping place. It was a really interesting place to see - there was tons of street food, people selling anything you can imagine, and there were people EVERYWHERE. There were also a lot of beggars. One guy saw me and yelled "Beautiful!" and came at me with open arms...like he wanted a hug. I ran away.
Since we were a little off track, we grabbed a cab and asked them to take us to the Fabric Market. Actually, we didn't ask. We used the "Magic Number". It's the best. You call this number, and tell the operator where you want to go, in English. You can even say what type of restaurant you want, if you don't know the exact name. Then, you hand your phone over to the cab driver, and the operator will tell the cab driver where to take you, in Mandarin. It is a really good way of overcoming the language barrier!
The Fabric Market was really cool. It was just booths and booths of vendors, and they all wanted to make us clothes. We did some bargaining (we are getting REALLY good!) and ended up finding a place that would make us custom suits for $50 CAD (actually, less than that...but I will explain later) and long-sleeved dress shirts for $13 CAD. I got a suit. And five shirts. Choosing our fabrics was really, really fun! They told us to come back on Monday at 10 am to pick up our things.
We grabbed lunch in a restaurant on the same street (Chinese food again...good thing I love it!) and then took a cab to the Yu Bazaar and Gardens in the "Old City". The place looked completely traditional...there were tons of shops (the whole place was shopping), but the stores were inside what looked like temples. It is funny, though. The Yu Bazaar isn't old...it was built recently, and just looks old! We did some bargaining here, too. I got a silk scarf with a Chinese Opera singer on it for a couple dollars (CAD). Lisa bought some really nice pearls.
The gardens were beautiful. On a nicer day, it is definitely the kind of place that you could spend a few hours. It was pretty cold, though, so we decided to have afternoon tea at the Huxining Teahouse. I actually have to include a photo of the teahouse because it is so cool (it is on the left).
I called the Teahouse the original Starbucks, because it was over $10 for a tea. But it was SO cool. We ordered "Flower Tea" (mine was called something crazy like "When the Butterfly and the Flower Meet"...Lisa's was called "Jasmine") and it comes in a clear glass teapot. The server puts what looks like a bulb inside the teapot, and the hot water causes the bulb to open...and a flower grows out of it! It was so neat and pretty. They also served us some snacks...tofu, mini eggs boiled in tea (not for me) and some other things that were kind of gross.
Next, we took a "90 Minute Walking Tour" of the Old City that we found in our guidebook, and eventually ended up back at our hostel.
I don't think it was too late when we got back (maybe 7 pm or so), which was good because we had a big night ahead of us. Lisa's friend of a friend, Deidre, invited us to come out with her friends for Teppanyaki, a style of Japanese cuisine that uses an iron griddle to cook food. Apparently, going for teppanyaki is a very "Shanghai" thing to do. We were also planning on hitting up some great bars afterwards, so we put on some nicer clothes and headed to the restaurant.
Dinner was fantastic. It was about $30 CAD per person, and the food was virtually unlimited. So was the beer and Sake (a Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice). There ended up being about 15 people in our party - mostly Canadians and a few Americans, and it was really cool to talk to them about their lives in Shanghai. A couple of them were BCG consultants, on sabbatical in the city. Deidre works in PR for a Shanghai hotel chain. A few were in Shanghai teaching English. A few more were involved in start-ups, which is actually quite a normal thing in Shanghai. It was REALLY cool hearing them speak in Mandarin (also called Putonghua) to servers. It sounded so neat, and really inspired me to learn the language. More on that later.
Here are the three of us at dinner (please note the ridiculous quantity of food):
We left a lot of food on the table (there is no way we could have eaten everything!) and headed to a bar called Muse 1. It was a cool, young, local crowd...and the music was great! But, the group really wanted to show us Shanghai nightlife at its finest. So, after a while, we headed to Lounge 18, which is really popular among Westerners. It is located on The Bund, and it has spectacular views of Pudong, which is the new, very modern area of Shanghai. At night, Pudong looks amazing. In the summer, I could easily spend all night on the Lounge 18 patio.
Just above Lounge 18 is Bar Rouge, so we went there next. It was kind of similar to Lounge 18, but with different decor. I am pretty sure that cover is normally 300 RMB for both of these places...but the people we were with had connections, so we just walked right in.
Of course, three bars in one night is not enough. After a while, we headed to our final destination, a place called Shelter, in the French Concession. It is appropriately named, because it actually used to be a bomb shelter! It was really cool - super dark, crowded, and you could tell that it was legitimate. Around 3:30 am, Lisa, Hafida and I decided to call it a night. We headed back to our hostel and went to bed.
The next day, we wanted to go to a nearby city called Suzhou, but the timing was off...and there was lots still to do in Shanghai! We took the subway to Hongkou Stadium and Park. The stadium looked pretty cool...but pretty much just like a stadium. The park was neat. There were karaoke players set up all over the park, and people were loving it!
In the afternoon, we went to Pudong to see the new, futuristic-looking area of Shanghai. It is insane. There was construction going on everywhere. In fact, it was hard to take a nice-looking picture a lot of the time, because of the construction. Before checking out the city, we went into "Super Brand Mall", a super high-end mall (could you guess?) to look around and have a coffee (which I was desperately needing by this point in the day). Plus, stopping at a Starbucks always makes you feel like you aren't too far from home.
That feeling didn't last long, though. Right outside the Super Brand Mall is Shanghai's famous Oriental Pearl Tower. It is so weird and cool-looking. Check it out:
Oh, and I should mention...I didn't take this photo. I got it off Google...because for some reason, I only travel in the rain, and photos just don't look as cool.
According to Wikipedia, people actually LIVE in the bottom "pearl"...I wonder how much that would cost?
Next, we headed over to the Jin Mao Tower, which used to be the tallest tower in Shanghai. We headed up to the 87th floor to have a drink at a bar called Cloud 9 (what an appropriate name!). I had a latte (yes, I know...I need to curb my caffeine consumption) and just relaxed and enjoyed the bill. The atmosphere was great, and we actually ran into some people from HKUST. It really is such a small world. When the bill came, I was even happier. They forgot to charge me for my drink! Don't you love when that happens?!?
On our way home, we walked along Nanjing Road, which is a really exciting street at night. There are still people trying to sell you stuff, but there are also tons of neon and flashing lights, and lots of people enjoying restaurants and coffee shops.
After relaxing and putting on some nicer clothes at our hostel, we headed out to meet Deidre and her boyfriend at a really, really cool bar called Barbarosa. Actually, Hafida was meeting some of her French friends there, too, so we had quite a diverse group. Barbarossa is in the middle of People's Square (a park), which is pretty much the centre of Shanghai (and not far from our hostel - which was lucky, because it was raining really, really hard!). Actually, I have to post a photo of the place, just because I have never seen anything like it:
Yes. It is surrounded by a moat.
Anyways, it's not a night out in Shanghai if you don't hit up at least three locations. So, next, we headed to a private birthday party, which was located at another bar in the middle of the park (how cool is it that they have all of these bars in a PARK!?!?). The place was called Kathleen 5, and it was filled to the brim with people who I thought were really glamourous. There were some CBA (Chinese Basketball Association) players there. One of them was 7'1".
After Kathleen 5, we headed to Mint, one of Shanghai's best clubs. Deidre's friends hooked us up again, so we were inside sipping free drinks in no time. The place was gorgeous - there was even a 30 foot fish tank with baby sharks inside! We had a lot of fun dancing the night away...by the time we got home, it must have been 5 am.
The nest morning, we were up at 10 am, and off to brunch at Sasha's, a buffet place that had been recommended to us. It is in the French Concession, and it was adorable. And delicious! I had a great combination of foods...everything from croissants to sashimi. And too much delicious coffee.
At breakfast, a guy from Mexico who works in an Italian restaurant in Shanghai brought me a flower, and sat with us at our table for a long, long time. He had clearly consumed more than an appropriate amount of champagne for a Sunday morning. But it was funny.
After eating far too much (mmm...sashimi), I grabbed our Shanghai guidebook and led the girls on a walking tour through the French Concession (and only got lost once!). We saw great European-inspired architecture, cute tea houses, Fuxing Park, Taikung Lu (which I cannot even try to descibe - you'll have to see it for yourself!) and the former residences of Mao Zedong and Dr. Sun Yat-Sen (my Grade 12 Chinese history is really starting to come back to me!). Even though it was raining, Lisa, Hafida and I were troopers and didn't even complain. By the time we came to the end of the tour, it was the evening...and we were soaked.
We put on some dry clothes and went to meet some of Hafida's friends at their flat. They had just moved to Shanghai for an exchange program, and found an apartment only a few days earlier. Not that you would ever be able to tell. It is a four-bedroom apartment, on the 25th floor. The views are spectacular, and it came completely furnished. The furniture is really cool, too! Very modern and clean-looking, which is exactly my style. And how much do they pay for this incredible abode in one of the coolest metropolitan cities in the world? They each pay $328 CAD per month. $328 CAD PER MONTH! And this includes the services of a cleaning lady twice a week! When I heard this, I was blown away.
After a while, about 25 people had shown up at the apartment. All of them were French, so Lisa and I had fun practicing our French and hearing about these people's lives. Some people have some really fascinating stories.
I tried a shot of Baijiu - Chinese liquor that is 50% alcohol. It smells disgusting. It also tastes disgusting. But I would do it again...
At the end of the night, we said our goodbyes and headed home to Y35 for our last night. I was so exhausted!
In the morning, we woke up early to see the Urban Museum. This was so neat, and probably a highlight of the trip. It showed Shanghai's development, from a small town to the booming metropolis it is today. It even showed where Shanghai is going...with enormous scale models that you could observe from a raised walkway around the model's edges. It is neat to see the intense planning that goes on when a city meant to support over 20 million people is being built. It seems to me that Shanghai's city planners really know what they are doing.
We wanted to go to the MOCA Art Gallery, but it was closed (if you go to Shanghai, go there! It is supposed to be great!). We wandered through People's Square for a bit, and found it strange that three separate groups of local young adults stopped us to talk. They asked us where we were from, if we liked Shanghai, where we had been, etc. This didn't happen at any other time during the trip...so I still don't really know what to think. Perhaps they wanted to practice their English? Perhaps Mondays are particularly friendly days in Shanghai? Maybe it is something about the park? I really don't know.
Next, we were off to the Fabric Market, to pick up the clothes that we had ordered. Even though we said that we needed to pick up our things at 10 am (and we know they understood us...their English was very good), nothing was ready. This made us a bit nervous, because we needed to be leaving our hostel for the airport around 3 pm, and we still had lots to do. After waiting around for about an hour, our clothes were ready.
The dress shirts are GREAT! I love the fit, and the embroidered "HMP" on the sleeve looks really neat.
The suits were a different story.
I took my suit and tried it on - behind a sheet that someone held up for me (no changerooms here!). The skirt fit okay, but the sleeves were only to the middle of my forearm! I looked over at Lisa, and she was SWIMMING in her suit. We were not off to a good start.
As it turns out, they switched the fabrics by mistake - Lisa's suit had been made in the black cashmere that I picked out, and my suit was made out of black cashmere with grey pinstripes. Once I tried on the right suit (in the wrong fabric) I was happier - even though it isn't exactly what I wanted, it fits really well and looks very professional. Plus, I ended up paying them 50 Yuan less than I was supposed to, for the mix up. Now, the cuit cost $35 CAD. So, it really worked out okay for everyone.
Well, except for Lisa. Her suit (in my fabric) didn't fit at all. So, she got her money back. We thought that this might be a huge hassle, but it really wasn't so bad. I think everyone understood the problem, and so the tailor was okay with fixing it, as best he could.
Next, we were off to The Bund. We had seen it at night, but needed to check it out during the day. Even though it was raining, it was really neat. When you look left, across the river, you can see futuristic Pudong. It looks like this:
When you look to the right, you see The Bund, which is a street lined with historical European-inspired buildings (mostly banks). It looks like this:
We ended our trip to Shanghai with lunch at a great restaurant called Crystal Jade. We had Dim Sum, and it was (of course!) delicious. We relaxed and talked about the trip and all the fun we had...and how we didn't want to go back to Hong Kong!
But, alas, after gathering our things from the hostel, a short subway ride, another 10 minute journey on a 446 km/hour train and an hour wait at the airport, we were on our flight home.
It was a great trip. Being with Lisa and Hafida was easy and fun, and we really got a taste of what life is like for a young person in Shanghai - for locally-born Chinese or Ex-pats. It really piqued (re-piqued?) my interest in China (the next day, I went to the library on campus and borrowed American Businesses in China, Imagining Globalisation in China, and Understanding Emerging Markets). It inspired me to sign up for Madarin classes at the university - I will have to write about my first class later. It also set a really high standard for my next trip, which is to Taipei, Taiwan!
If anyone out there is planning to go to Shanghai, let me know! I will give you some additional recommendations so that you can have just as great of a trip as I did!
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