April 3rd, 2009

At about 7 am our train arrived in Shangai.  A large number of us had paid our tour company to take us by bus to the ship so we wouldn’t have to deal with taxis and finding the ship.  We hadn’t realized that there would be 120 of us trying to get on the ship that morning and it may take a very long time.  So it was a race to the finish  pushing our way to the front of the group to get on the first bus and be closest to the front of the bus.  Some people who had even paid for the bus thought it might be faster to take a taxi and took off running for the cabs.  We all pushed our way to the first bus and luckily Kelly got on the bus first and saved the first four seats.  On our way to the port we even had a tour guide who taught us a little about Shangai, and how to count with our fingers in Chinese so we could impress people if were going to bargain for things.  Our bus was the first one gone and the first to the ship.  I think I was in line tenth and was so glad to not have to wait in a long line.  We even made it in time to eat breakfast on the ship.  We all met upstairs and had breakfast, then met up with the Abby, Dylan and Anna to see what they were doing for the day.  Courtney and I had still wanted to do a little shopping and find some postcards, and the other girls had done plenty of shopping the days before way more than me or Courtney had. 

 

So Courtney and I took off in a taxi and just pointed to a street on a map where he had heard there was some markets.  When the taxi stopped we got out to find a major shopping mall area with shops such as prada.  We walked down the long street hoping to come across cheaper stores or some type of market.  When we were stopped by a man who asked us if we wanted to buy some dvds.  We at first were a little creeped out and told him we had to exchange money at the bank, he said he would wait outside for some reason we went with it and trusted him.  We told him we wanted to go to some markets and he said it was about a ten or 15 minute walk from here but he had a shop in this area and would walk us there.  His name was Victor and he was very nice.  We talked and got to see different parts of the city as we walked with him.  When we entered the market he stayed with us and walked us from shop to shop.  It was slightly awkward and we didn’t know how to shop with him watching us so we told him we would be okay and thanks for your help.  He tried to tell us that if he was with us everyone would leave us alone but that if we walked alone we would be followed by ten people, we didn’t really believe him or get it and still decided to walk on our own.  After a few minutes Victor was right and we were being followed by ten or so men trying to help us.  One man was very persistent and we would go in stores he would wait outside, we would dodge and run through stores and he would come out the other hand.  It started to get a little strange and shopping was no longer fun but luckily we ran into Victor where he looked at us and laughed as we ran to him saying sorry for not trusting him.  He then said he would walk us around again but the man who had been following us was really angry and Victor and they yelled at each other for a good five minutes while we were in a store until the old man finally gave up and walked away.  We did a little more shopping but didn’t find too many things we were hoping the market would be more like the one in Beijing but this market was full of more junk then things I wanted to buy.  Victor then had to leave but took us down to an area in the market where all the shoes were and nobody would follow us around.  Again I found many shoes I loved and was probably looking at the most shoes I have ever seen in my life but once again my feet were too big.  I couldn’t find a single pair of shoes to buy.  But I did find a woman who was making personalized jewelry.  I got to pick out my stones and design and she made me a very beautiful anklet with a red string and green stones. 

 

We then made our way back to the ship after a tiring frustrating day at the market and were ready to rest from our very long but exciting and spectacular days in China.  At this point the constant traveling for the past month has started to take a tole on me but every time we arrive in a new port the excitement and newness of everything gives me the energy to keep going and do as many things as possible.