Its been a recurring theme this trip. I fell asleep at 7pm and woke up at 1 am. Stayed awake for a few hours to plan my day out and finally fell back to sleep around 430, but only until 6. Headed off around 7, grabbed a dumpling from corner lady, and caught what was apparently rush hour traffic on metro to the Qibao old town in southwestern part of town.
I arrived through an arched gate just as shops were beginning to open. Wandered around a bit along the river, over some small bridges, and through some alleys. I sampled braised pig Trotters, red bean sweet cake, stinky tofu with fermented tofu sauce and Chili, and a sweet sesame dumpling in basically warm water. The bean cake was my favorite.
Visited a cricket museum (yea, and i paid $5 to do it!). Crickets were on display and showcases with various traps and cricket instruments were there as well. I was unimpressed.
I had to check out of my hostel by noon, so I headed back, stored my bags, and spent the remainder of the afternoon walking around in rain on the Nanjing Pedestrian street attempting to find a shot glass (I collect them everywhere I go). Apparently, every souvenir store in the entire effing city of Shanghai do not sell them?! I was told by three different people, "oh shot glass? Only in Beijing. You want tea set? Or massage?" God dammit.
My train left Shanghai's Hongqiao high speed train station at 6pm. And here I thought the Hauptbahnhof in Berlin was impressive! This building was MASSIVE: and by massive I mean its the largest train station IN THE WORLD. A model for any future train stations to be built, both in china and abroad. It really was just part of the Hongqiao transportation hub, which also includes Hongqiao airport and the intersection of at least 3 major Chinese interstates.
The ride itself was.uneventful, as it was dark out, but the train reached speeds of over 300 km/h. It was only a 50 minute ride, and I cabbed it from the station to my new hostel and managed to stay awake until at least 10. I think ill finally be on a normal sleep schedule again!
Tomorrow its supposed to thunderstorm, but here's hoping it doesn't as it will be my only day to.explore the famous West Lake of Hangzhou!
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