Well, today has definitely been a great day! We made some great new friends. Initially Shanghai can be a little overwhelming because it is so busy and fast-paced. Imagine New York City with basically no traffic rules and you have an idea of what it’s like on the street. Just like New York City, people here do not make eye contact or acknowledge each other. The general rule seems to be that you get to where you’re going as fast as you can and try to not get run over while you’re on your way.
Today, though, I saw a different side of the people here. We went to a park about a mile from our hotel. It is very peaceful and quiet, and we were able to strike up conversations with quite a few people. Some spoke English very well and some barely spoke English at all. One thing that they all had in common, though, was that they were interested in us and interested in America.
I’m going to post some pictures of the park and some of the ballgame, and then I’m going to try to do something a little bit different: I’m going to post a couple of videos. I took them with my digital camera so the quality is not the best, but it’s still very decent. I’ll give descriptions of each video. But first, some pictures from the park.
Oh, and to Mom and Grandma: I had someone take a picture of me ;). Here it is just for you guys! It’s at a place in the park named Hope Fountain.
And now for the pics of the park!
And now here are some pics from the pick-up games that the guys played in the park…
And the girls as well…
And then we finished the night off with supper in a coffee shop. As you can tell, we were all a bit tired by this point ;). Well, I was actually feeling pretty good, but the people who played basketball all evening were feeling tired for some strange reason.
As a matter of fact, they were feeling so tired that they decided we would all just take taxis back to the hotel. Now THAT was an experience! Woohoo!! Imagine playing a game that was a combination of bumper cars and chicken; meaning that you want to get as close to you can to another person while trying to force your way through traffic and you see who backs off first. That’s the way the roads are here. It was great!!! I’d pay to do it again in a heartbeat! It was better than Disney World!
Well, it looks like I’m going to have to wait till I get back to the States to upload the videos. I’m having trouble getting them to upload from here. I’m not sure why. So I guess with this I’ll call it a night. Good morning to you all, and good night to me!
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Category: Photos, Shanghai 2008, Travel |
Tags: China, Photos, Shanghai
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 9:26 am and is filed under Photos, Shanghai 2008, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
So did the girls win, or what?!?
Josh,
Wow! Looks like a great time. Shanghai is nothing like I pictured in my mind. Crossing the street sounds like an adventure I’d be up for. Be sure to eat some of the really strange stuff. They do have strange stuff, right??? Like fish that is still breathing??? Remember, safety first and then lots of fun.
Aunt Stormy