I went to the nearby shopping centre and walked around and found it had no logic at all. Each floor was different laid out and I hit dead ends and was exhausted so I headed to the basement to Carrefour. I managed to waste some time in there before going to KFC for some food. Normally I'm fine but when they ask me something really fast I have no idea what they said and then they know I'm foreign and their behaviour towards me changes.
Whilst eating and a bunch of teens sat at the table next to me when all of a sudden one of the guys sat opposite me. I just felt so awkward I got up and left. I went back to the hotel and told the worker outside I needed a taxi to the airport. My itinery said I need to go to the new terminal building but when I told the driver that he had no idea what I was on about and kicked me out!
So I went to the reception and she also didn't understand me so at this point I said just take me to the airport. I really wanted to get out of here. Waiting at the airport for 4 hours seemed much better than more of this. A taxi driver came into the hotel and between the receptionist and the worker from outside they were telling me he wouldn't use the meter and charge me 70RMB for the whole trip. I knew it only cost me 53RMB last time but I wanted so badly to get away and so I agreed to it. Then they told me the driver would wait with me until my flight! I had no idea why I stressed it was fine! What was I going to do sit in his taxi for 4 hours and not speak?! Crazy people.....
So I got to the airport and was way too early to check in so I went to the cafe, made to pay 38RMB for a plastic cup of Pepsi! At least there was free wifi and the minute I could check in I went to get my boarding pass. Its weird that the English version wouldn't work, it didn't recognise my passport number as a passport number but as an ID card number!
Going through security was relatively fast and I ended up waiting at the gate right until my flight.
My return flight was with China Eastern airlines and there was a man in my seat the stewardess had to ask him to move for me as he kept ignoring me. Luckily there were two foreign men behind me so when we were being served dinner I overheard what was being served so I could ask in Chinese. I got tripped up when I asked for hot water though and had to ask in English which then got the man next to me to ask about where I was from. Awkward..... then we just ignored each other.
3 hours later I arrived in Shanghai to be greeted by pouring rain. Its funny how at the domestic flight terminal taxi rank there were no "fake" drivers trying to con us out of money. Anyone who says Shanghai is big should guess again, the woman behind me who kept trying to push in front of me, then recognised the woman a few people behind us and decided to hold up the queue by having a conversation.....
I was so glad to be back in Shanghai and everything felt more familiar.
Shanghai Aquarium
I decided to go to the aquarium today to make the most of my week off from uni and since its a weekday figure it'll be less busy. It cost 160RMB to get in which is cheaper than I thought.
The aquarium is laid out across 3 floors which after you decscend to the next floor you are unable to go back up again. Some tanks were so small the fish looked miserable. I saw a video about shark finning and cried so much I left. I couldn't believe they let little kids see this. I'm so against sharks fin, I'm thinking to join some shark societies and stop this horrendous act. I saw the shark being finned whilst still alive and conscious, it kept blinking in pain, blood everywhere, and when the evil people were done they just kicked the rest of the live shark back into the water! I cried and cried.
I didn't like this aquarium much.
Then I went to the Super Brand Mall and walked around. I ate at Chamate and had a beef rice bowl which was really nice but so hot I burnt my fingers. I went to Renoir, the jigsaw store, and bought a cool new jigsaw that I'd promised myself after I finished my exams.
I took the Metro back and went back to the flat to rest a bit. At 5.15pm I headed to Xiujiahui and was amazed it took me 45 minutes to get to the book mall! I was so tired I made it just in time to Wall Street English where I was to meet my language partner who convinced me to come to converse with local Chinese and help them learn English too.
The English Corner was boring, but interesting to see how Chinese learn English. I heard my friend say it costs him 4000RMB for 2 years of class which I think is very reasonable but expensive to him.
After this class I went to an "egg" restaurant and had omlette rice with beef which was ok, cold though.
0 comments:
Post a Comment