The Hangzhou Bridge was an engineering marvel to remember.  After watching the documentary it sounded impressive and it’s so much different being on it. Being on it I noticed a couple of thing like the railings and material will have a specific color for a certain distance it will be all blue then pink then green. The road is slightly curvy and to me bridges aren’t usually this curvy. But it makes sense because a long bridge can be dangerous for the driver. It is 22 miles long and that could have meant some serious highway hypnosis. This bridge really reminds me to think about consumers when building something. They built it while dealing with so many issues like the silver dragon, rusting issues, prebuilding certain parts and so much more. It’s even really crazier that there’s a longer bay bridge. It was also a pleasant suprise to see many wind turbines.

Left: Wind Turbines   Right: Hangzhou Bay Bridge

Coming from a young country where dictatorship never happened. I’ve never seen so many ancient and historical structures. The one aspect about most of these ancient places that amazed me the most was the reason why they were built. They were built for one person. Places like the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Terracotta Warriors and Temple of Heaven Park. They were mainly for the emperor or in other words the higher ups. These places are all humongous and eccentric. Beautiful and intricate paintings under roofs. The colors were mainly gold, yellow, blue and red. The Forbidden City was so big it had a beautiful small building built just for the emperor to rest in while walking toward the exit. All of these places covered a ridiculous amount of area for one person. I know I’m exaggerating a little because of course not one person liveed in the Forbidden City but the amount of space was unnecessary.

The Terracotta Warriors were all built for the death of the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. I’ve taken pottery classes and it is really hard to make real life sized things. But the people back then took the time to create unique life size warriors, horses and weapons to accompany the emperor in his next life. It must have taken hundreds of workers and months maybe even years to make those 8,000 warriors out of clay.

Many of these places were very grand. It’s a shame that back then the public didn’t have more access to these places. Like the Temple of Heaven Park was for the emperor to pray for a good harvest. It is pretty mouth dropping when you consider how much work went into building these places for the emperors but now it’s a great tourist attraction for people today.

   Left: Temple of Heaven   Right: Terracotta Horses

Similar to the pronunciation of salad. The China University of Mining and Technology- Beijing student, JinLi Wang gave me that name to represent Sarah. My favorite part so far is meeting the students at CUMTB and the students from Da Lian High School. I believe that seeing all the tourist sites is great. You see history at your fingertips but a place is more memorable when you meet the people! Meeting the students was fun and something I hope they never change on the trip. It’s easy to learn about the country from the locals themselves. They are just as curious about America as well. Most of them are a little shy but they still try to talk.

At CUMTB JinLI Wang walked me around her campus and I noticed a couple interesting things. One is they have to walk to a bathhouse and because of the limited access they shower before or after classes during the day. Kind of funny seeing people walk around with towels and stuff. They also hang their clothes outside their windows. Some of them live in rooms with 5 other people in a cramped space. Livable but not terrible. The students there all work very hard. They all have interests like basketball, ping pong and playing music. One of the girl’s dorm was half as tall as the men’s dorm next to it. Showing the ratio of woman to men in science and technology. JinLi was so excited to talk to me in English and this summer she wants to practice more English with me. She is going to be an exchange student in the states. Super excited for her!

The high school students in Da Lian first greeted us in their blue and white uniforms and in their hands they had presents for us. Charlene was the girl I ended up walking around with in her high school. She gave me a Chinese history book and a poem written by her teacher. Suggestion when visiting a college or high school in China and you know it’s on the agenda bring them something small but cool from America. A key chain or little postcard with a personal message from you. They will love it and they are hosting you and giving you stuff I guarantee it so give something back!

Charlene and I —>

The driving here is crazy. Taxi drivers all act like they are in NASCAR races. The amount of horn use and high beams is ridiculous. What ever happened to pedestrians first? Taxi drivers drive about 60 mph jerking side to side to maneuver their way through traffic. It’s scary and convenient as a customer using the taxi service. But as a pedestrian it’s very intimidating. New York is pretty bad where people walk and do not pay attention to lights. In Shanghai the cars and motorcycles hate waiting for you. There are 40 of us that have to cross and the cars will still try to squeeze through. They will have their car inches away from your body. My suggestion when crossing a road. Find the best possible opening and just got for it because in the end they can’t run you over or you can wait till others start crossing.

In the morning and late at night there are so many people walking outside. Well there are 14 million people in Shanghai and the sidewalks are barely 3 feet wide. Therefore the people walk in the street with the cars and motorcycles. I expected to see more bicycles but I guess the new thing in is motorcycles. It feel like everyone in Shanghai has one. They are pretty different compared to the US. In the US we wear helmets. Here they don’t. They also carry tons of bulky stuff on their motorcycle held together with rope. It looks very unsafe and looks kind of like a balancing act. When it rained the people had ponchos that were so big it covered not only the person but pretty much the whole motorcycle. Most of the motorcycles have big umbrellas that are attached to it as well as kitchen mittens attached to the handles. Seeing all of these motorcycles made me want to have a motorcycle.

Here everything is so cheap compared to America. It is awesome. One yuan or 17 cents for one bottle of water that would usually cost about 2 dollars. It seems traveling in China is not as expensive with taxicabs costing at most 20 yuan or 3.3 dollars. Also no taxes here gives you the opportunity to buy more. The only thing about prices is the bargaining sometimes. It is definitely fun but also a little stressful. On Silk Street which is not a street by the way. It is actually a 5 story building full of fake items. The prices are far from the real prices but not the amount you want to pay for something fake. Here is a little how to on bargaining.

HOW TO BARGAIN IN CHINA:

Example Situation: Trying to buy hello kitty bag

Step 1: Walk in and browse a little. Touch some stuff to tease them a bit. They might follow you around or just watch you like a hawk.

Step 2: Ask how much “Duo Shao Qian?” then they will give you a price that is crazy for the thing you are thinking about buying. Let’s say they offer the hello kitty purse for 60 yuan or 10 dollars. That’s too much and you should probably want it for 25 yuan or 4 dollars.

Step 3: To get the price you want. Lowball them and ask for a much lower price. “Too Much, 10 yuan” you say. They will probably respond “Impossible” and pull out their handy dandy calculator and quickly calculate a different price that is much lower than original but still a lot. “40 yuan” they’ll say.

Step 4: Now you repeat “Too much” or “I don’t have that much money” and you’ll say a higher price than your original offer. “25 yuan” you say. Then if they still won’t come down in price. You walk away. Yes you walk away. Left or Right or forward or backward as long as you walk away.

Step 5: Keep your ears open as you walk away and you’ll hear an “Ok”. Success you have just bargained with a Chinese person trying to get the most money out of you but instead you have your hello kitty bag and your money to put it in.

 Panda Themed Store in Silk Street