I’m still here guys!! Sorry I haven’t updated for a while but these days I either spend time studying Chinese or working on my online sites. Lately though I’ve been playing golf on the weekends which I’m really starting to like 🙂 It’s a bit frustrating though trying to get the swing right but I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. If I’m not playing golf, then I’m probably at a bar or something. Anyways, it’s been almost two months since I’ve been here but it seems much longer. Definitely not in a bad way though as I can see myself staying here for at least another year or two. Why?
Simply because China is one of the only places where I can get by comfortably without having to worry about money too much. Average meals only cost me about $2-4, rent is $200 and even leisure activities like going golfing costs $5-15 depending on where I go. Groceries are definitely a lot cheaper compared to the prices in the States. Since I’ve been here, I have definitely been a lot more mindful of my spending only because I don’t want to get too carried away.
Plus, it’s really easy to bargain at department stores as well. I bought a pair of Puma shoes (pretty sure they’re fake…) for 70RMB or about $10USD but the quality is excellent compared to the Adidas shoes I had before which cost me about $70USD. Coming here though has definitely made me see how much money I’ve spent back at in the States in terms of food, alcohol, drinks, shopping, etc. Once my income starts to pick up and my speaking ability becomes more fluent, I want to start looking into business opportunities but that’ll have to wait. Overall though, China has been a great experience.
Everyone I’ve talked to have so far said that China is unlike anything they expected it to be. Anyway, I think I’m pretty well adjusted for the most part. I just need to explore the city more though. It’s still a bit frustrating getting around though because of the language barrier but I’m still learning so it’s not too late 🙂 One of the bad things though about China is how unpredictable the weather can be. Just last night there was a really heavy rainstorm but for the last month or so it’s been raining on and off. Summer is approaching too and I hear the humidity gets really bad… Can’t wait!
So about two months ago, my friend and I took a 2 week trip traveling around Shanghai and Beijing. I have a TON of pictures to post and a lot of commentary too (sometimes I like to ramble on and on). Anyway, I’ll probably split this up into a bunch of posts since I don’t want to upload everything at once. Oh yeah, to save money we decided to take the train to travel since it’s a lot cheaper than flying. One of the downsides though is that each train ride trip was 15+ hours but more on that later.
On the way to the train station in Guangzhou:
Entering into Guangzhou:
The train station:
The train station was REALLY packed as you can see. A lot of people here are really rude in terms of waiting in line. My friend and I will be waiting in a line for security and we’ll have people just cut up in the front. There were a couple of times where I had to just push through and shove people aside. I guess you can’t be too nice here otherwise you’ll get trampled on!
So after about an hour or so, we finally got into our compartment on the train:
In each compartment, there’s six beds total. Luckily we got the bottom ones which have a lot more space. Good thing we paid extra for it too since we’ll be on this train for 20+ hours. A couple photos on the way to Shanghai:
I’m actually kind of glad that we took the train since we were able to see a lot of China that we wouldn’t have seen if we took a plane. As you can see, we passed by a lot of rural areas and it got me thinking that these areas are a way of life for a lot of people. Even though these individuals may not have the same luxuries of living in the city, for all I know they could be the happiest people on earth content with what they have. It also got me thinking what it would be like to live in a place like this with just the bare necessities.
Anyway, here was the lunch I had on the train which was kind of nasty:
Some more scenery:
There’s actually a lot more photos that I ended up taking but this post would be mega long if I uploaded all of them so I just picked some of my favorites. The train ride was pretty comfortable too despite it being about 20 some hours. I think I would rather be on the train for 20 hours than be on a plane for 10 though. For one, we were able to freely roam around and we also had a decent sized bed too. We even brought a bottle of red wine to drink 🙂 Try doing that the next time you fly.
The whole time we just played card games, played 20 questions, talked about high school stuff, talked about future plans and pretty much just chilled there the entire time. We were also a bit buzzed too after drinking the red wine which really helped to pass the time too. I didn’t think I would be able to sleep that well but it was surprisingly comfortable. It was definitely a lot better than the plane ride from LAX to China.
After 20+ hours, we arrived in Shanghai:
The weather in Shanghai is pretty nice compared to the South. It’s definitely not as humid as it was a bit chilly. After walking for a bit, it became immediately apparent that people here are much taller compared to where we live. Not sure why that is… Also, the girls here are a lot better looking too compared to the ones I’ve seen where I live. Dammit, I moved to the wrong area!!
Anyway, it’s almost 2AM here and I’m falling asleep so I’ll continue this another day.
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