Take picture please?

At 5 o’clock in the morning, after 36 hours in the train, we arrived in Shanghai. We had to ask about 15 people before we found the hotel, but there we finally found a comfortable bed. O wait, no, we only have one day in Shanghai left, let’s not waste it with sleeping! Thus, we took a quick shower (which was like heaven; I did not know what to do first, shampoo my hair, use the delicious shower gel from the hotel or brush my teeth, so I did it all at once) and then headed to the city.

After the Chinese Breakfast (which was horrible: again rice? can I please get some cereal or bread?), we first went to People’s Park. Here we found a big matchmaking market, with thousands and thousands of little posters with personal information on possible marriage candidates. I guess in such a big country it is quite hard to find your man in a billion. We took the subway to what we thought was the old city centre, but ended up in very poor streets. Well, I guess you can call them slums. It is a bit hard to describe what we saw, and I did not feel comfortable taking pictures, but it was a very intense experience. Walking there made me realize how incredibly rich I am and also how big the differences within one city can be. The people who take cabs or have their own cars work in skyscrapers and are perfectly dressed. The subways are filled with fashionable youngsters, absentmindedly looking at their smart phones. And in these poor parts of the city, everyone has a (motorized) bicycle and that’s their most valuable possession. And all these people live right next to each other. I guess the hope that one day you will climb to the next level on the social ladder is the biggest incentive for people to come to the city.

After this experience we needed an old fashioned touristic activity, so we went to the real old city centre and the king’s temple. Yes, that was very touristic indeed. You only had to look at something and according to the shopkeepers you had already bought it. “You like? You buy?”. In the evening we found it time for some authentic Chinese food (is that a chicken heart in the soup?) and a walk to the Bund. There you have the most stunning view of Shanghai’s skyline. We had a lot of fun taking pictures and attracting attention of the Chinese. They are really not used to foreigners and everyone wanted to take a picture with us. First they asked it politely, but then they got rude and wanted to make like a hundred pictures because their handbag wasn’t showing or I didn’t put my arm around their shoulder. We just smiled and waved.

Shanghai was amazing, but somehow I was not disappointed when the next day we already had to take the train to Beijing. The city just doesn’t appeal to me, maybe it was the intensity of everything, maybe it was the tiredness, I don’t know. Anyway, the night train we took had no delay but nevertheless wasn’t the most comfortable ride. Dominic and Julien were real gentleman, and gave me my own ‘bed’, while the two of them had to share one (that’s what you get if you are on a budget). We are now in Beijing and stay at a huge hostel that calls itself: “backpaker’s luxurious hotel/ businessman budget stay”. Unfortunately ‘luxurious’ has a different meaning here in the East. (Oh, when will we ever learn?) We don’t care, we still enjoy our time. The first day we just walked around at random places and then went to Tiananmen Square and The Gate of Heavenly Peace. Again, these white students were a bigger attraction than the gate itself. So we made it our challenge to take as much pictures of Chinese who secretly tried to make a picture of us, which was hilarious. The next day (yesterday) Dominic’s girlfriend Corine arrived in Beijing (she will be studying in Tokyo for her semester abroad). Her company is very nice because she is a lovely girl. And she has red hair and attracts even more attention than I do. The four of us headed to the forbidden city to see some true Chinese history. Again, amazing!

Unfortunately, after dinner that day, I felt miserable. I could barely keep my eyes open and had a huge headache (dehydration? A run-down? I still don’t know). Back at the hostel I went to bed, only to wake up with belly-ache and some other very annoying bodily circumstances I will not bother you with. So today, I am lying in bed and trying to rest, while the other’s have headed to the Chinese Wall.

Whereas at the beginning of the trip, all these things like terrible beds and being ill only made me want to be home, right now I don’t feel that way. Of course I want to get better, but mostly because I don’t want to miss so many nice things here. I guess the culture shock is kind of over. Who knows what it will be like in Korea? I still can’t wait to get to Seoul, settle down (buy lots and lots of cereal) and create new social bonds. Only two more days to go!