China - Aug. 12

August 12th:

This morning I woke up psyched to wander downtown Shanghai alone. I was a little nervous, because I don't speak or understand a word of Chinese.

I had to catch the hotel shuttle bus to People's Square at 9:15, and I woke myself up at 8:15, before Angela's alarm had the chance to at 8:30. I first went down to the main desk, to get written instructions in Chinese for taxi drivers to take me to a certain place, or for help finding the subway - I hadn't decided myself, which I was going to use. Rachel came down while I was there, because she and Natalie were doing the optional tour to the river town of Zhujiajiao - meaning they had to pay extra for it. She sort of raised her eyebrows and wished me luck.

I then went back up one floor to get breakfast, which was 3 scrambled eggs with cheese made to order, some potato and orange juice. By the time I got back to the lobby, ready to go, the people on the optional tour had just got on their bus. While waiting, I got my maps together and talked with the other adventurous people. I decided to take the taxi from People's Square to downtown, across the river, and then on the way home, use the subway all the way back.

The bus was ready at 9:20, and everyone got on right away. After a while on the road, I asked the guide about getting a taxi and how much it would cost. He thought it'd be around 25 yuan one way on a taxi, and suggested taking the subway instead.

They dropped us off at the Shanghai Museum, across from the city's government buildings. If we wanted a ride back, they'd come at 3:50 pm and would only wait for five minutes.


At first, I thought I'd pop into the museum, since it was free admittance and it was right there. I had to walk around the building to find the front door, and there I discovered a huge line, so I just kept walking to go find the subway. People's Square is very large and confusing. Major streets ran around it, so as I found a pedestrian tunnel, I ran into a group of Australians from the "Green Band" and we went down together, all of us unsure about precisely where our destinations lay. They were not going on the subway, so when our tunnel turned out to be a complicated system of passageways that led to the subways, I went on alone. There were signs leading to "Line 2", which I needed. I looked for a moment at the ticket machine, but I realized there was no chance of me getting it right, since it was all in Chinese. Good thing there was a person selling tickets as well! I got in line, and then simply pointed to where I wanted to go on my map, and she gave me a ticket for 3 yuan (~45 cents!). Gosh, my tour guide was right! When I finally got to the platform, I ran into a lady with the Green Band, who had done this before! She helped me figure out which way was east. She and the couple students with her were going just a little further than me to the technology museum. The downtown stop I needed, Lujiazui Road, was only two stops away.

When I walked up, out of the subway station, I was ecstatic with the thrill at having made it on my first try, and being all alone in downtown Shanghai. It was so easy! And the aquarium, my destination, was on the very same street as the subway and the TV tower. I could not believe how cool this was! And, Joy! for there it was! With no crosswalk, I was momentarily concerned about how I was going to cross the 6-lane street, but after watching several others, I said "what the heck" and became a veteran tourist by just going for it.

It cost 12o yuan (~18 USD) to get in, but that is pretty much what it cost at Monterey Bay. And it was worth every Yuan. They had so many creatures that I had never seen before! I was overwhelmed with the many species, and how well the exhibits were laid out. There were five or six walk-through tanks, and two escalator tanks, and specimens from Africa, South America and the Caribbean, besides around China and Japan. There were crocodiles and penguins and frogs and turtles and lizards. I saw a saw-tooth shark for the first time as well as a lungfish, an electric eel, a Crown of Thorns starfish, Japanese cold-water Giant Spider Crabs (some of which were at least four feet across), and lots of lionfish, which are my favorite. At the giant Manta ray tank, (two hours into my tour) I sat down and wrote in my journal for 45 minutes or so (I was way behind). A Chinese girl sat down next to me once, and watched my writing intently. She tried talking to me, but I could not understand a word. She understood that after a while... I tried to ask her what her name was, using my trusty little handbook that the band gave us, but she just shook her head and smiled. We both laughed. A couple people took pictures of me sitting there, because I was so different.

Total time spent in the aquarium was four hours, and I loved every minute. The sharks were incredible! They were huge and they came so close, but my favorite part of the aquarium was the poisonous creature room. They tend to be the most intricate and beautiful designs in the ocean. There was a "cone shell" creature, as they called it, that looked like a snail, and it was walking around for me! They had scorpion fish and rabbit fish and devil fish and jellys and nudibranchs and a dragon moray eel. Other exhibits featured fishes from the Yangtze River, others had sea turtles and seals and horseshoe crabs. I really loved the tank with all the seahorses in it... there were hundreds of them.


As you may probably tell, I just adored my time there. I am into marine biology quite a bit, and even considered doing it as a major for a short time. Last year I visited five different aquariums in three states... Seattle, Westport, Point Defiance (Tacoma), Monterey Bay, CA, and Waikiki, Hawaii. My goal is to visit every major aquarium on the west coast, including the three that are in British Colombia, and wherever else I may visit. Unfortunately, I didn't go to one in Japan, but these things cannot be helped. I hear there's one in Pittsburgh... :)

The aquarium store was crazy. Not only did they not have patches (I had to settle for a button magnet), but they sold generic things such as tennis shoes instead! And once I had picked out what I wanted, I realized that I needed to get receipts from the people standing in each aisle, to take up to the register. So I went back around, putting my things back (they probably thought I was trying to steal them) and getting slips for the prices. Once I had paid, I had to go back and re-find all the things again. I dislike store shopping in China. Their processes seem slightly superfluous and backwards. Once I made it out of there, however, I had to decide when and what I wanted to eat. I finally settled on a Burger King Whopper from the mall we ate Pizza Hut at yesterday. I just crossed the streets with the Chinese, which is to go out into the middle of the crosswalk and wait for the cars to zip by before making it across. I felt very Chinese, and it was much fun. I am glad of the American system, however, and am also glad to be returning soon. China is great, but there is no place like home.

I sat down near the subway entrance, and ate my burger quietly. I then repeated the process I used to get here, and went back to People's Square to catch the bus to the hotel. If I happened to miss it, I could always get back to the subway and continue on to the stop, four blocks from the hotel. On the way there, and on the way back to the museum, I was the only white person I saw. For the first time on the trip, I wasn't surrounded by someone from my group, and it was kinda cool to be an extreme minority.

Once I got out at People's Square, I got a little lost, because it was huge and confusing. There were shops everywhere, and signs for 6 or 7 different exits in all directions. I couldn't find the words "Shanghai Museum" on any sign, so I picked a path and followed it. When I came out, I found myself at the north side of the People's Park. I went through the park (it was very nice) and finally found the right street, but I was on the wrong side of it, and there was a barrier down the middle to prevent desperate people like me from crossing 8 lanes of busy traffic. It was also in front of the government building, so there were policemen about. So, using hand signs, I asked a Chinese man standing nearby how to cross the street. He directed me to a pedestrian tunnel at the end of the street, about 75 yards away. I did a little running, because it was only five minutes until 3:50, but I shouldn't have bothered, because it didn't come for another 15 minutes. Thank the Lord! I spent the time catching my breath, drinking water and reading Romans 2, because that's where my Bible opened.

The other students on the bus congratulated me for being brave. I sat next to some brass players from the U of Oregon, who had gone to the museum... all day. Apparently, it wouldn't have worked very well to "just stop in" even if the line was short. I told them all about the aquarium and showed them a few pictures, including the little movie I took of the scorpion fish that hopped along on the bottom of the tank with his fins! Those poisonous guys are awesome!

We got back to the hotel around 4:30, and I went up to my room to relax and look though all the pictures again and write in my journal before we were to meet for dinner at 6:15 in the lobby.

When Natalie met me in the lobby she asked me about the aquarium, and when I told her about the solo trip on a subway, she was a little surprised. We told each other about our various days - she had an excellent time on her trip - and then we got on the bus as it started to rain. All of a sudden, it started down-pouring with thunder and lightning. She told me about her crazy weather experiences, especially on her trip to New Mexico, with the flash floods and lightning storms.

Dinner was excellent! There was a lovely breaded and fried fish (except it still had it's head - which weirded most people at my table out) and I loved it. No one else I've eaten with on this trip has liked fish - what a weird thing.

Back at the hotel, I had followed Natalie to her room because I wanted to know what we were doing the next day. She was excited about sleeping in and relaxing most of the day, and it sounded pretty good to me as well. While we were there, Erik stopped by and started waving to us, so we waved back... it was a game he played (sort of like not blinking) to see who could wave the longest. Fortunately, Chuck came by and grabbed his hand, so we were all able to go to bed. Janelle called Natalie and invited her to join them at the bar across the street. I might have tried it out too, but I was pretty shot already with all the walking around I did that day, so I retired to my room and journaled for a little while. Natalie went and had a drink, and we ended up going to bed about the same time, according to her account the next day.

Jp