The train ride to shenyang wasn't that bad, the train was air conditioned and luckily we were surrounded by middle class chinese people and not tshirt less and sweaty farmers. The journey took about 2 hours and we arrived at the south station. We took a cab and the cab driver took us in a huge circle and then ended up dropping us off about 3 blocks from where we were supposed to go. After walking for about 20 minutes we found the hostel that the lonely planet had recommended. It was in a old and very communistic style building the price for a double room was 128 kuai which included tv, aircon and a shower, however there was no internet.
After dropping off our stuff we headed straight out to look around and find some food. A 5 minute walk led us to a huge congregation of people watching some famous chinese singer. We then walked on and found a discount shopping mall for brands such as nike, adidas, puma, lining (very famous chinese brand)... the prices were really good considering that normal prices of these brands are more than back home.
When leaving this mall we spotted a even larger one across the road, it was chaotic, most shops were offering specials ranging from 20 - 80% off. The discounts in China can be confusing because they don't use percentages. Instead they just use a number from 1 - 10 indicating the fraction that you are paying. So if a pair of shoes is marked as 2 it means you are paying 20% or effectively 80% discount. I was extremely tempted to buy some things but decided against it because I already have more than enough clothing here in China.
At this point we were rather hungry so we went down to the food court and after having a look at home made dumplings, bread soaked in oil, pigs noses, ducks heads & feet and other chinese specialities Dan and I decided to look elsewhere. So we left the mall and spotted a magical golden yellow M in the distance. Dan hadn't had Mc Donalds in about 3 years and my last time was over 8 months ago so we decided to have some junk food. We both ordered a Big mac (23RMB for meal) as well as a Spicy chicken burger (14RMB) with fries and coke. The MSG on the fries and the soft texture of the fake beef and soft bread complemented each other so well it was just so delicious especially when washing it down with some ice cold coke. We both agreed that the meal was in fact really good and possibly more nutritious than any of the food we receive back at the academy. Afterwards we had an Oreo Mcflurry which too was was delicious but a bit too much.
We did stay out too long because our flight (HO1128) was at 11:30 am the next day. At about 8am the next morning we made our way to the airport and we were checked in by 9:30am. Finding breakfast wasn't easy at the airport, the Chinese buffets were shocking and the fresh fruit at 25 RMB per apple (3 times more than at Zurich airport) was just a rip off. In the end we found the standard meal consumed by millions of Chinese daily, a pack of noodles in a bowl for 10RMB just add hot water and eat, flavoring is provided a sachet of pure MSG, a pack of oil with some more MSG and some dried bits of beef and celery definitely not bad but definitely not as good as the Mc Donalds. Our aircraft (Airbus A320) arrived on time, this was my first time flying Juneyao airlines and it wasn't as bad as I had expected, we even got some food which was pretty good (some more noodles but with real beef this time).
We arrived at Shanghai Pudong airport at 13:30 pm, our parents had arrived that morning at 7:30 am so we were going to meet them at the aiport. We discovered the Maglev (acronym for Magnetic Levitation) when leaving the airport, something from the future a train that travels from the aiport to the city at 430km/h, designed in a small village somewhere in Germany it holds the title of the fastest train in the world in use everyday. We bought our tickets for 50RMB which is 10 times more than the subway and 5 times more than the airport bus but it was like a theme park ride the acceleration up to 200 km/h was slow and gradual but after that we rocketed up to 431km/h before leveling off. Only 8 minutes had passed and we had completed the trip 30km from Pudang Airport to Longyang Road.
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and we went to the "fake market" on Nanjing road which is pretty much like the pearl and silk market but the products seem a lot better and the sales people are less aggressive. Afterwards we went to restaurant to have dinner, the first thing I ordered was garlic bread and then a greek salad but that was a bit disappointing because it was only cheese however it was great cheese and the first proper cheese in 8 months.
As a main I ordered a 250gram, it was good but coming from South Africa I have high expectations and it just wasnt as good as a woolies 28 day matured rib eye steak with woolies original braai marinade.
But in all the food was amazing and I felt revitalised. After dinner we walked down to the Bund and the Shanghai business district was amazingly lit up, just lights everywhere.
The following we all slept in and got out at about 11:00am and it was already boiling we went to go see the Lupu bridge, it was quite an engineering marvel however we didn't really spend much time looking at it because the sun was scorching.
We got back onto the subway and found a place to eat, we got off at Qibao station which was near to the Qibao ancient village we wanted to see. There was a shopping mall which had a food court and we ended up choosing a Teppenyaki restaurant (no english speak staff), the food was amazing eventhough the cooking area would have made most western food and health inspectors cringe.
Afterwards we went to go see the nearby Qibao ancient village, personally I wasn't that impressed, the water was very polluted and it was very touristy with a lot of cheap low quality gifts at tourist prices, no "ancient" feel to anything.
After we were done we got back to the hotel and got a cab to the airport, we opted for the Hongqiao aiport which is a little closer and also focuses more on domestic flights.
I was expecting it to be small and old but I was surprised it's more spacious and better appointed than the Pudong airport and easily more pleasant than most european airports. We enjoyed some good coffee and cake before the flight which was sheduled to depart at 20:00 however typhon Kompasu was nearing China so the entire airspace was literally brought to a halt.
Every flight was either cancelled or delayed, Air China promised us a flight and that they did at 2:30am almost 5 hours later, they also used an Airbus A330-200 instead of an 737-200 so they could stuff twice as many unhappy passengers in as possible.
The airport was quiet so early in the morning but with hundreds of passengers suddenly arriving the cue for the taxis was rather long. At first glance I thought it would be another long wait because there were no taxis around but within 5 minutes there was a sudden swarm of taxis that had emerged form nowhere. Getting to our hotel was no problem and upon our arrival we just went straight to bed and got up at about noon and had some coffee, we had missed breakfast so we decided to go out and look for some food. We were rather impressed by the Teppenyaki meal we had in Shanghai the previous night so we ended up at another restaurant just like it. This one was in the Oriental Plaza in Dongdan and the quality and appearance was significantly better despite this there was no english staff.
some Salmon, Rump Steak and Prawns
 |
| Nobody behind this "Windoew" could speak english |
The train station was chaos and if you can't speak any chinese or have just arrived in China it can be a terrifying place. We wanted to take the Express train on Saturday afternoon however there were no tickets. After exhausting all possible options we were left with only one and that was to take a hardsleeper train on Saturday evening which would arrive Sunday morning. After standing in a cue for 15 minutes they closed it just as I had come to the front, this happened 3 times and after about 50 minutes we finally bought the tickets which were 201RMB each and they only had top sleepers but it would do for a good cultural experience for my parents.
Next we went to Tian'anmen Square, despite being surrounded by many huge roads the big open space felt peaceful and quiet.
The subway to the Silk market was packed during peak hour but luckily it wasn't too far away.
The following morning the weather wasn't great, it was overcast and raining, my parents and Dan had booked a great wall tour which I decided not to go on because I had already seen it and I knew how much walking it involved.
So I checked online for something to do and I found the Zhongguancun Plaza and Electronic city which is on the outskirts of the city. So I made my way there which took about 40 minutes by subway. The Zhongguancun plaza was filled with outlet stores that all had reductions from 20 - 80%. On the street level there were four 20 story buildings, this was the electronics city. I didn't know where to start and just had a look at a bit of everything. After about 2 hours of browsing I headed back to the hotel and had some lunch. I then made my way to Qianmen to drop off a memory stick that Harry had forgotten at the academy.
For dinner we went back to the Oriental Plaza and had some salmon, lamb and beef Teppenyaki. Afterwards we went to the Sony story to have a look at their latest items, the new 3D Tv's were spectacular.
The following morning we checked out of the hotel and decided to go to the electronics city again and the Zhongguancun Plaza because everybody wanted to do some shopping.
After a lot of looking through the chaos we had lunch at starbucks which was the only place that was empty. After lunch Dan bought himself a new CF card for his Camera.
My mom also wanted a new compact camera because the SLR camera is a bit too cumbersome and heavy at times. In the end we decided for the Canon Powershot SX210IS however the prices varied, we started off at 2900 RMB but after walking around we finally found one for 2200 RMB. But we had to wait about 25 minutes and go up 15 stories to the supplier who then told us they dont have stock. As we were leaving we saw another supplier and I asked them, they said they could get it for 2700 RMB I told them we want a purple/pink one for 2200 RMB, take it or leave it and we walked out, they pulled us back inside and told us to sit down. After about 15 minutes a lady brought one up and also included a 8gb SD card for 130 RMB. We couldn't pay with card so we ended up going downstairs to the ATM and drawing the cash, the seller even came with us.We then went back to the mall and ended up buying a whole bunch of stuff before heading back to the hotel to collect our luggage. We didn't have much time and were all a bit hungry so we went to Mc Donalds. It was my dads first time and my mothers first time in about 5 years. Needless to say my dad actually enjoyed it which was quite surprising, because I never thought I'd ever see him in a Mc Donalds. We got to the train station on time and didn't need to wait too long for our train.
My parents were quite excited about their first chinese train journey, my dad was very impressed by the smoothness of the train. As we left I called my usual taxi driver in Siping to come and fetch us at 5:50am the following morning, in Beijing and Shanghai we only needed one taxi but in Siping we needed two. We arrived on time and I bought our tickets from Siping to Shenyang. It was quite chilly and extremely foggy in Siping, we arrived just in time for breakfast and our parents were already stunned, not only by the food but also by the bowls and spoons, something I had never noticed before. After breakfast we showed our parents around and my mom was shocked by the showers and toilets.
Now our parents have an idea of the facilities we live with on a daily basis and the remoteness of the academy. Just living here is extremely difficult, but living here and training is on another level, it can't be far off from fighting a war out in the desert or being in prison. But wherever you are the experience can be made positive and memorable by focusing on what is good
After a nap we had lunch and then had a look at the "Ancient" castle and after seeing the great wall and other great historic monuments the ancient castle isn't impressive at all. In the afternoon we headed out to Siping which was chaotic as usual, we also bumped into the shaolin and kids shaolin shifu.
First we headed to the Zhongxing and had a look around, after looking at various shops I had never been to before we ended up at a high end clothing department store. I never knew about it before and the items were extremely good quality, we ended up buying some stuff there before heading back to the academy. We missed dinner so we ended up having some fried lamb and onion with rice at the restaurant outside the academy.
No comments:
Post a Comment