My Trip to China (Page 4)

I used the subway system quite a lot. Sometimes I was lost, sometimes I knew where I was going. But if I needed to get somewhere in Shanghai, odds were that it was just a subway ride (and maybe a transfer or two) away. Getting lost near a subway station was never a problem, since you could always find the stop you'd need to get on to get to your destination.

I went to an area in old Shanghai called Yuyuan, or Yu Garden. It had a lot of cool signage and gates.

This area, while older and more low-rise, had a lot to offer.

Many of the stores were so small that you barely had room to fit 2-3 people in them. For example, I went to a tea shop with someone, and we were practically hitting the walls on either side. We got a free tea sample, and the person I was with ended up buying some tea. There was an astounding variety of teas, and I didn't even know most of them existed. It was much fancier than the plain old tea and tea bags I've had before.

Shanghai Old Street was definitely worth visiting. It's cool, and I used some of my research here for an assignment.

The roof and overall architecture here was really exquisite, but at the end of the day, it was basically just a fancy and high-density shopping mall. However, one interesting and different aspect of buying things in China was the haggling. Instead of set prices, you negotiate with the seller. I'm sure I was charged foreigner prices. And notice in the upper right of the photo, how modern surveillance is big even in older parts of town. Also notice how people are crossing the street even with cars driving by.

I'm not sure what this was for, but it looked cool.

In the distance, you can see the modern Shanghai Tower and the stark contrast between old and new.

Lots of packed and narrow corridors.

There was a pond with fountains, koi, and swans.

It was so packed that it was hard to walk around.

It was hard to get around, but it was worth it. There were also nearby places to get food and tea.

Many of the subways had doors blocking the tracks. I guess this is safer than the American approach, where people can fall or jump in front of the train.

The Shanghai Zoo had a lot of nice nature and plants.

Among many other kinds of animals, there were red pandas.

They also had other kinds of pandas, but they were resting.

The lions and tigers were also sleeping.

Not only was the data slow, but sometimes even text messages wouldn't send. It actually made sense to use physical maps, due to the unreliability of phone connections. I did have an offline dictionary/translation app on my phone though.

An unexpected issue was how I got locked out of my bank account. I had even let my bank know ahead of time that I would be going to China, but they still froze my online banking anyway. I was still able to use ATMs to withdraw money though, and eventually I contacted my bank and got it sorted out. If you study abroad, or even just go on a trip to another country, let your bank know first. Being stuck in another country with no access to money can be bad.