Anyway, now that I'm back, I have tons of pictures and stories that I want to show everyone but couldn't even hope to in the amount of time that you guys were in Utah for. (It was so much fun to see everyone by the way!)
So when it comes to my China trip...well, to start at the beginning, the flight over the Pacific and into Asia was the most grueling experience. It was such a weird feeling to have left on a Tuesday, traveled for 30 hours consecutively, and then to land in Shanghai on the same Tuesday that we left.
The flights were nice though, because the airlines got progressively nicer and nice with each layover we had. We flew from Utah to California with Delta. Those guys are lame, they treat their passengers like they treat the passengers' luggage--they just kind of stuff you in and tell you to shut up. But from California to North Korea, we flew on Air Korea and they treat you like kings! Seriously, I've never been so pampered on a flight before. In fact, I've probably never been so pampered anywhere before that flight. They brought you full meals which consisted of actually good food, things like Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes. On the backs of each of the seats where you'd normally find a bulky phone that will charge you $11/minute to use they had a TV display built in where you were able to choose from over 30 movies, games and TV shows to watch and play throughout the flight. And a nice bonus was that all the Korean stewardesses were extremely pretty ladies!
You took out the little remote and it doubled as a game controller. I watched
probably half a dozen movies on the way over, and they weren't even crappy
in-flight movies like you'd expect--they had movies that had just barely
come out in theaters in Utah like Contraband or Ghost Rider 2 (Ghost Rider
was awesome, Dad. I don't care what you say)
Look at first class!!!!! Geez, Southwest or Delta would NEVER treat you so good!
I didn't get a good look of North Korea, unfortunately, because we were only able to see part of the terminal before our flight took off 15 minutes later. Scariest layover ever. I thought most of us weren't going to have time to get to the flight. We did have just enough time to take a look at a restaurant and the weird food they were serving.
Sadly, this was far from the weirdest food I'd see in Asia.
The top-left would actually come to be one of my favorite foods in China--
spicy tofu! I'd get that stuff every chance I'd get. The bottom right's not bad either, it depends on how they cook the squid legs. But any of these
6 bowls for only ₩45,000 (about $7.50)
The flight from Korea to China was nothing special, but the drive from Shanghai to Changzhou was a very interesting introduction to the country! The airport's terminal seemed to have been designed by some very macabre architect who wanted the visitors in the airport to feel like the sky wanted to kill them or they were in some cave where the stalactites could break off and impale you at any second.
It was here where we met Fei E or "Phil" as all the Americans who can't say "Fay-uh" would call her. She piled us onto the bus and we started a 3-hour ride to where my new home would be for the next 5 months.
3-hour ride. Normally that would sound like such a long time to me, but I was so amazed by everything we drove past that I loved every minute of it. I immediately knew what "communist architecture" meant when we passed the apartment complexes. It was just a jumble of identical buildings, I have no idea how anyone was able to figure out where they lived! Here are some of the things we saw from the freeway:
Fei E told us this used to be a private home. Kind of big
for a single family, even by American standards. That's why the
government had it stripped and had plans for tearing it down. You can see
the construction crew prepping for the demolition
This was in downtown Shanghai before we hit the freeway
(hence the low-shot), but this, sadly, was the condition
of a lot of the apartments that we passed. It was too close a shot, but
surrounding this building on either side were several others that looked identical
I wish the guardrail wasn't in the way! People are actually pretty smart
about it in China, because only the first and second floors will have bars over the windows, while the higher levels are uncovered. No doubt
someone could climb that high to rob you, but how will they unload all the loot?
Spooky
This shot wasn't actually taken on the ride to Changzhou.
This was on a train ride through the country. We came across
a smallish city and I had to include this shot because this completely
exemplifies Chinese communist blocks
It's like one of those magic-eye puzzles...
I'd feel a little wary about living in the other two buildings
if the one in front just toppled like that
This was taken in Changzhou. Changzhou must still be a developing city
because this was a very common site. In some parts of the city
the only buildings for blocks were ones that were under construction
like this. It was kind of interesting to see the contrast between that and America. In Utah, at least, there were plenty of businesses
being foreclosed whereas in China, new businesses and buildings
were being build on every street it seemed
We had to stop for a bathroom break midway through, and we were faced with what would have to pass as "public restrooms" for the next 5 months:
Good ol' Chinese ingenuity--see how a rusty pipe and a meager
water supply can transform this wall into a (semi) operating urinal!
Now this...this was just unacceptable. These are what pass as "bathroom stalls" in China. Communal trench, no doors, and walls you can see over even
when you're squatting
After seeing a lot of the really interesting, and sometimes depressing, sights that could be viewed from the freeway, we at last arrived at Qingying, my new home. I'll write about that in another post, because this one's getting pretty long as it is. Anyway, I'll try to get a few posts a week up so I can eventually cover my entire trip in China =)
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