Thursday, March 27, 2014

Trips!

In two and a half hours I will be meeting up with my friends outside my dorm to go to the airport. Our flight to Changsha(长沙) is at 7:05am so we need to catch a taxi to the airport around 5am. It’s going to be a 3 day trip and my first trip outside of Shanghai. You bet I’m super excited!

We’re flying into Changsha, which is the capital and largest city of Hunan province in south-central China. Then in the evening of our first day, we’ll be taking a 4-hour bus ride to Zhangjiajie(张家界), which is another city in the Hunan province that has numerous scenic areas, including Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (known as China's first national forest park). We will be spending the rest of our trip in Zhangjiajie and departing from the near airport.

I just gave you some information about my trip, but I actually had so little idea about these places until I just looked them up. I’m not so much of a planner when it comes to travelling, and neither are my friends who are travelling with me, so we just planned it very loosely. I think trips are so much more fun when there’s some room for improvisation.

I’ll set aside my excitement for this trip for my next blog, and show you the pictures I took during my previous trips around Shanghai. There's a lot...
 
My first trip to Wujiaochang, the nearest downtown area from Fudan and where the subway station is.

Shanghai French Concession


Buildings of Shanghai French Concession seen from the Bund(Waitan)

Alex, Ashley, and me (the Gamecocks) on the Bund!

The Bund - you can see the famous Pearl Tower and the "Can Opener Building"


Me with the Bund Bull made by the same artist of the Wall Street Bull

The Old City of Shanghai - a very touristy area not too far from the Bund

In the Old City, Alex and I tried the weird dumplings that you suck the fishy juice out of with a straw...

More view of the Old City of Shanghai at night

A faraway view of the Peal Tower lit up at night


Eating huoguo (hot pot) with Alex at a restaurant near school. We got free beer for being foreigners!

One of the nicest clubs in Shanghai. It's supposed to be only for stockholders but club promoters let foreigners (mainly white people) in and give free drinks.

Yes, the club also has a huge tank with sharks.

And the drinks there are ridiculously expensive if you were to buy them.

A trip to another downtown area near Zhongshan Park subway station. Some of the buildings were massive and stunning.


Went to see the world-famous acrobatic show at Shanghai Center Theatre! They were simply amazing. Someone told me if you haven't seen them perform, then you haven't seen Shanghai.


Had another type of huoguo (hot pot) with people from my Marketing club. It was delicious but expensive! I forgot to take a picture, but this restaurant offered free manicure and board games for people waiting to eat there.

The rest of the pictures were taken at Tianzifang--an arts and crafts enclave with a unique atmosphere. The streets there were full of small shops and good restaurants. It's my favorite place in Shanghai so far!











The map of Tianzifang. The place is not that big so you can look around the whole place in less than an hour.