China Diaries - Day 1
June 6-7
So, after 18 hours and two airplanes, I am in Shanghai! As I expected, Facebook does not work here, but neither does Wordpress. So seems like LiveJournal is my best option for now. No energy to type in Russian blindly - so English it is. Just want to note some first impressions even though I am pretty jet-lagged (day and night are literally mixed up in my head, as Shanghai is 12 hours ahead of Washington, DC) and have had a couple of drinks.
My first impression is that Shanghai is pretty similar to Moscow in terms of weather, poor air quality and its grayness. Aside from that, I noted very industrial urbanized landscape with a lot of clothing and bedding left outside of windows and balconies to dry out (apparently dryers aren't big here). Front desk of our hotel is on the 25th floor, which is quite unusual. Amazing view from our 44th floor room, although it's pretty smoggy/'foggy.
In terms of everyday observations - people drive pretty aggressively, change lanes without looking and honk all the time to others who do the same thing. Surprisingly, a lot of bikes and scooters. Most people seem to smoke - in cars, restaurants and hotels (there is an ash tray and a set of matches in our hotel room).
In the evening we went to 'Hong Kong style' dinner with a friend of ours, an American who has lived in Shanghai for 5 years, and his Chinese wife. In terns of food, Hong Kong style food seems to be what we call "chinese food" elsewhere, whereas actual Chinese food is spicier and oilier. Our friend advised us not to think too much about what we are eating, and noted that he still gets food poisoning every once in a while (although his Chinese wife does not - so apparently growing up here helps). Nobody speaks English except for the personnel of our hotel.
Pictures later. Sleep now.
So, after 18 hours and two airplanes, I am in Shanghai! As I expected, Facebook does not work here, but neither does Wordpress. So seems like LiveJournal is my best option for now. No energy to type in Russian blindly - so English it is. Just want to note some first impressions even though I am pretty jet-lagged (day and night are literally mixed up in my head, as Shanghai is 12 hours ahead of Washington, DC) and have had a couple of drinks.
My first impression is that Shanghai is pretty similar to Moscow in terms of weather, poor air quality and its grayness. Aside from that, I noted very industrial urbanized landscape with a lot of clothing and bedding left outside of windows and balconies to dry out (apparently dryers aren't big here). Front desk of our hotel is on the 25th floor, which is quite unusual. Amazing view from our 44th floor room, although it's pretty smoggy/'foggy.
In terms of everyday observations - people drive pretty aggressively, change lanes without looking and honk all the time to others who do the same thing. Surprisingly, a lot of bikes and scooters. Most people seem to smoke - in cars, restaurants and hotels (there is an ash tray and a set of matches in our hotel room).
In the evening we went to 'Hong Kong style' dinner with a friend of ours, an American who has lived in Shanghai for 5 years, and his Chinese wife. In terns of food, Hong Kong style food seems to be what we call "chinese food" elsewhere, whereas actual Chinese food is spicier and oilier. Our friend advised us not to think too much about what we are eating, and noted that he still gets food poisoning every once in a while (although his Chinese wife does not - so apparently growing up here helps). Nobody speaks English except for the personnel of our hotel.
Pictures later. Sleep now.