Cord Houle: Shanghai day-1
Today I woke up at 5am in order to get a better look at the second part of Wu Zhen before we headed to Shanghai. Wu Zhen was as beautiful at dawn as it was the previous night. I was able to walk around the streets in a rare moment of quiet in china. I was one of the only people out at that early in the morning. Since we landed, I couldn't remember a time when I couldn't hear the sounds of traffic or horns honking so I savored this rare moment. After a couple of hours to myself I joined my fellow students in front of the hotel rooms as we walked to the building our breakfast was in. after a great breakfast and grabbing all our luggage we crossed the river to front desk and the bus were and said goodbye to out secluded paradise.
We the left for Shanghai and I grabbed a couple of hours of sleep to catch up for what I had forgone in order to fully enjoy Wu Zhen. When we arrived in Shanghai we immediately had free time. This was my first look at public transportation in china. We decided to utilize the massive subway system in Shanghai. Entering to the subway tunnels I immediately noticed how clean they were. Having used the New York subway system and the L in Chicago this places cleanliness caught my eye the moment we entered. The fair was 3 Yuan for a one-way ticket to anywhere which seemed affordable. The train also didn't lurch forward like the subways in New York. Chinas efficient use of public transportation really impressed me on my trip. There high density cities made the utilization rate of any mile of road or any mile of track much greater than in the states.
We also visited a mall that rivaled that of most malls in the states. This mall had 7 main floors and stretched a big distance. Many popular American stores were here as well as some major European and Japanese stores. We finished off the day with a boat ride on the river at night were we got to see the entire Shanghai skyline lit up and the buildings built by many foreign companies. This boat ride gave a great perspective of how large the city actually was and provided a unique way to look at it.