First Day Out And About

I met Jennifer at 11:00 am. She came with a Rockwell driver. She took me to the Pudong side of Shanghai. There are two sides, Pudong (Which is new) and Pushi (Poo-Shi). Once again driving was quite the experience. There were two near hits this time, but no one seemed to care but me. We went for a walk on a board walk along the river. I didn't know we were going there or I would have brought my camera. It has a great view of the Pushi side. I pointed things out and said them in Mandarin as we walked.

I had my first encounter with street vendors. Man, they are aggressive! A guy was selling some kind of little bamboo wind chime thing. He followed us for about 50 yards, just talking and talking. Jennifer just acted like he wasn't there, so I followed her lead. The boardwalk had a McDonald's and Starbucks on it. That was interesting to see.

Once we were done walking the boardwalk, we went to a mall that was right on the river. It was a new mall, very modern lots of different stores. It's hard to remember what all was there, because your just trying to take it all in.

Once we were in the mall we needed to get to the third floor of the mall for the restaurant we were going to. So we needed to take an elevator. This was my first experience with the Chinese elevator. It was action packed. First, they have people that work the buttons on the outside of the elevator. They have it roped off like a movie theatre and everyone is waiting in a group for the elevator. As soon as you hear the ping of the elevator, all bets are off. Everyone starts scrambling for the door (It isn't even open yet). What happens next I can best describe as a battle scene from Braveheart when they charge each other and collide into a mash of people. The people getting on and off just collide! The struggle is on to exit and enter the elevator! It was something to see, fortunately I hold a distinct advantage in this game. I got on, but there was a lot of pushing and shoving! Same thing happened getting off.

Once we got to the restaurant, our driver met us for lunch. He didn't speak any English, but Jennifer told him that I was learning Mandarin. He got a big smile on his face, and I pointed and said words to things I new. So for most of lunch he would point at something new and tell me the name. I would then repeat it. Jennifer would make sure I was pronouncing it correctly. They both seemed to really appreciate the fact that I was making an attempt to learn the language.

The restaurant was very nice. Jennifer said it's a very popular destination during holidays. There can be quite a wait to eat during those times. Jennifer asked what I wanted to eat, I told her to order whatever she wanted and I would try it. The waitress came over and it seemed like Jennifer ordered for 5 minutes. Finally she was done and the feast started! They just kept bringing food, food, and more food. All kinds of different things! There was a pork dish, a beef dish, chicken, shrimp, some kind of vegetable that was good, and 4 different kind of dumplings. There were also several kinds of noodles, and I've forgotten some other things. It was all very good. There wasn't anything I didn't like at this meal. I also learned how to use chopsticks. The driver was very nice and kept showing me how to use them. They got me a fork, but I turned it down. I was determined to learn how to use the chop sticks. They seemed to appreciate the effort!

Dinner is served very differently from America. All the food except for the soup is served family style. They just bring out plates of food. You take what you want whenever you want. The double dip is very much alive in China! You just have to deal with that. All in all, a great experience!

After lunch the driver dropped me off at the hotel. As I was standing outside another Ex-Pat asked me about my Pirates hat. His name is Mike, he is from Greenville SC. He is maybe mid 50's, short, and gray haired. He was really friendly and we hit it off. He told me he was going to Hooter's for a beer and asked me if I wanted to come along. Of course I said yes, who is going to miss an opportunity to go to Hooter's in China?

We walked about three blocks and there was Hooter's. It looked exactly the same as the kind in America. So it wasn't to different. Mike works in the textile industry. He comes to China 3 or 4 times a year. He also told me a couple good places to go for dinner. Once we finished our drinks we headed back to the hotel. There were lots of street merchants along the way. These guys weren't as aggressive, but they were selling everything: watches, pens, DVDs, books, trinkets...you name it, they were selling it.

That's about all. It's Monday morning here, and I'm just about to leave for my first day at work. I should have a better idea of my itinerary tonight.