Hard Sleeper

Today I tried biking photography; I don’t know if it’s a fad or not. According to the movie “Yes Man” running photography is hip. I’m not entirely certain of this, but if Zooey Deschanel’s character says so, I’m willing to accept it as fact. Anyway, I tried photography, while biking the Xi’an city wall and they are blurry and interesting. As for the wall, it is massive and you feel like you have risen above the city - strangely it even makes a city the size of Chicago feel small.

FYI: Xi’an has the pickiest cab drivers I have ever encountered. We asked about 6 cabbies to go downtown and they kept saying they only go to certain areas or they don’t want to go downtown because of traffic. It was frustrating. However, with much persistence, we were still able to make the train to Shanghai and I even had time to enjoy a bunch of lychee nuts (a Chinese fruit).

The train to Shanghai was a trip that truly added to our China experience. It was our first time to travel in a hard sleeper train, and there are six bunks in each compartment and there is little padding. This weekend is the Dragon Boat Festival in Beijing and many people are on an extended weekend so the train was packed. It was great being crammed with so many different Chinese travelers, even for all 15 hours.

The last day in Shanghai is bittersweet. Part of me wants to continue south to Hong Kong or maybe Thailand. Perhaps I could head north and go into Mongolia? There are so many options. For the final day we went to the top of the Jin Mao financial building and viewed the smog that is Shanghai, then we did a bit more shopping for gifts before heading to see the Acrobats. Extremely touristy, yet extremely entertaining, acrobatics were born in China and are a must if you travel here. Unicycles and children balancing on stacked chairs – it was a great way to end the trip. To finish the night we went to a fancy Thai restaurant and had some amazing Pad Thai. So good.

In a few days I am going to recap the trip in five parts: food, film, lodging, transportation, and sights, giving you a general overview of the experiences of the trip for all who are interested in China travel and how the filming went.

Zaijian from China,

David