Shanghai

“Sometimes a little bit of different is good.” -me

When I first looked at my roster and saw that I was going to Shanghai, I thought “Woohoo” because I had never been there and I thought that my trip there would be the first one where everything would be unfamiliar to me… and it was J

The first night in Shanghai a friend and I decided to go grab something to eat. We asked reception where a good place would be and they circled an area on the map and we hopped in a cab pointed to the destination that was circled for us. Once we got there, I could tell it was a more touristy area and not the true Shanghai that I wanted to see. It was packed with people, there was a really loud punk-rock-funky Chinese band playing in the center and many people crowded around the stage singing and dancing. After listening and cringing for a few minutes, we decided to look for a restaurant. We wanted Chinese food but to our dismay, there wasn’t a single Chinese restaurant amongst the 15 that were there- Yep, we were definitely in a tourist area. We decided on a German restaurant. I felt like I was in a dream because all of the locals were dressed in lederhosen and a live band was singing country music. So, let me repeat myself- I was in China, at a German restaurant, listening to locals singing country music.  It was really funny and a tad bit confusing. The meal was good, but I was excited for the next day and to properly experience Shanghai.

The following day I went into the city. I walked along the Bund River and was amazed to see how many people were there. You couldn’t walk without someone either brushing your shoulder or being stood right next to you. It was too crowded for my liking but again, stepping out of my comfort zone is what I enjoy.

I walked for a good hour until getting to the old city where I saw some small streets. A ton of local food was being cooked- lots of noodles and dumplings- even some snake and scary-large toads. I decided to stick to the dumplings and noodles and stuffed myself. It was in the old city where I noticed the poverty around me. Clothes were being hung outside on anything that the people could find and I observed a lot of toddlers wearing pants aka trousers (for my British friends) with a hole cut out around the bum. I later looked it up and found that this is common because diapers are too expensive. It was really shocking and eye-opening.

After walking around for a bit, I went to the Yu Garden. This was amazing because the architecture was gorgeous. There were bonsai trees everywhere and regardless of the massive crowd, it still felt peaceful. There was something very calming about being there and I loved it.

After my trip I thought about my time in Shanghai and couldn’t help but smile because going to destinations like this is why I wanted this job. The whole point is to go somewhere that isn’t remotely close to anywhere else I have been and feeling a bit out of place and having moments of shock. It truly is a passion of mine and I know I’ll never get tired of experiences like that--- Which brings me back to my first thought before writing about this trip: sometimes a little bit of different truly is good J