Can't quite make up my mind about China

Let me preface this entry by saying that Shanghai was not my favorite place. We started off on the wrong foot (getting horribly ripped off by a taxi, which my pride will not let me forget) and it somewhat soured our time there. I tried to be as objective as possible and would overall give the city a 6/10, but there were a lot of negative aspects (namely the overcrowding, smelliness, and rudeness of the people we met).

Once we arrived at the hotel, the trip got much better. Our hotel was fantastic. Anyone looking for a recommendation, Les Suite Orient is at the top of my list. Taking a nice hot bath while overlooking the river and the picturesque Shanghai skyline was pretty amazing.

Ahhh. Bliss.

But you're not here to read about the hotel. At least I hope not. That'd be weird.

First thing we did after settling into the hotel was to visit the observatories in Shanghai's tallest building, the Shanghai World Financial Center (or as I called it, the bottle opener). I say observatories because Shanghai scoffs at the paltry attempts of other buildings by offering 3 floors for viewing. The 94th floor has a shop and restaurant, the 97th  has glass walls and ceiling, and the 100th has glass walls and floor (kind of). We got there are dusk, so the photo quality wasn't ideal, but it was still amazing to see how far the city stretches beyond the small area we explored.

Dusk or pollution?

View from the 100th floor. Not as impressive as I'd imagined.

 The second touristy thing we did was go on a river boat cruise. 'Downtown' has built up around the Huangpu river, and taking a tour up and down the notable parts at night was incredible. The skyscrapers are lit up with messages in Chinese and English, with ads for Samsung phones covering over 70 floors with blindingly bright blue, and nearby towers are trying to compete with sparkling reds, greens, pinks, and purples. There were a surprising amount of boats on the river at night, many of them as lavishly decorated as the one we were on. It was one of the experiences that really enforced that we weren't in Kansas Korea any more...

... do I?

We started the next day by going to the YuYuan gardens, one of the top tourist places to visit in the city. Different parts were built at different times, but all within the 19th century. The architecture was amazing, my favorite features were the entryways into new sections; each frame was a different shape. As can be expected in every garden ever, there were a lot of fish. But these were not normal fish. Brightly colored and HUGE, they were everywhere. I spent a lot of my time watching them interact with the children that were so clearly enamored with them. There were toddlers being pulled back a millisecond before falling in headfirst trying to pet one.

A stranger asked me take a photo with her (is it weird that I don't think that's weird anymore?).

Possibly the highlight of my trip was the acrobatics show. Roberta was determined to go to one while in China, and I am so glad that she was insistent. Parts of it were expected (2 man strength demonstration, jumping through hoops, and the young girls with the bending and the flipping and whatever else hurts my back just to watch), but there were also spinning plates and diablos, chair balancing, bicycle pyramids, roller skating (WTF?), and a motorcycle cage. For the last one I'm pretty sure I didn't breathe, which caused Alex and Roberta great concern and amusement. Sorry for the lack of photos, they were very insistent about no cameras. Although there's always some guy in the front row with an iPad who thinks he's James fucking Bond being all sneaky. Dude. We see you.

And of course the food was amazing. We mostly ate dumplings (both the xiao longbao that's famous in the area, and other dumplings like gyoza, bao, and shumai). So. Many. Dumplings.

Eat ALL the dumplings!

Living in Korea for so long has made me comfortable with where I am. I hardly ever feel rushed or panicked in my day to day life, at least when I stay in my safety bubble of Daegu, and have so many people that I can call in an instant if I need help. Traveling (not by myself) outside of Korea was a bit of a wakeup call and reminded me very quickly that I am a very far way from home. In Korea, I can sound out most of the words I see on signs and menus, but when I tried to do the same with Chinese and obviously failed, the panic set in.

Writing this post helped me to remember that coming back to Korea was like coming home (a home where a trip to Hong Kong is a feasible weekend plan). I've decided to stay right where I am, at least for now. I'll revisit the idea of switching to high school or another country next year. Thanks to everybody for the support and advice :)

Next post: Taipei!

안녕!