Last day in Shanghai.
Today, we woke up and packed everything real good. We checked out of the hotel around 930AM and thats when Wen showed up with his friend Wang Ying who wanted to meet us. She was a classmate from highschool that went to a different college in Shanghai. They see each other alot, but they aren't dating. Oh well. I asked front desk if they had any tape or rope to tie my sword boxes together, but they had none. We checked our baggage so they hotel would watch over it. Wen had given us some pre-made jiao-zi. I love that stuff. We put that in the fridge and I would need to cook it up tonite or else it would spoil. After we took care of all that, we headed out.
We headed for the subway stop to hit up the Pearl Tower. On the way there we would check little convenience stores. No one had it. We finally found some wide pink plastic string that fruit vendors and stuff tie things up with. I bought a bunch of strands and I packed it away for use later when we got back to the hotel. We grabbed food at that little fast food place across from the Subway station that we hit up last nite. Yumi and I just ate quickly because Wen and Ying already ate. It was ok. We headed to the subway and got to the Pearl Tower and bought the 50 RMB tix. They had like, 5 or 6 options. You could just go into the center at the bottom, or take the 50RMB option which is where you go up to the upper ball. Another option took you up to the big ball, then up to the Space ball. And another took you to the Space ball and allowed you to dine. And another option was just straight up to the space ball.
The prices got to be real expensive, so we went with the 2nd cheapest. It was a great view. Really pretty. We took lots of fotos up at the top. We posed a few and what not. It was very enjoyable. Yumi was acting like a kid in a candy store, very excited. Things were going a billion times better than yesterday. We did the views upstairs and then went down to the lower level where the exit elevator was as well as a walk outside. Unfotunately they way they had it fenced off was really hard to take any pictures without getting the fence lining in the shot. We then headed down the main floor where we debated what to do. Yumi had mentioned that if we had time she would like to check out Xintiandi quickly for some shopping for her mother, but we didnt have the time. So we debated on whether going to Nanjing lu for some last minute shopping or go into the Wax Museum at this center floor. I heard some good things about it. The concensus was to go to Nanjing Lu. No problem. Before I left, I took this killer picture of an elevator shaft that looked exactly like the inside of the weapon control room on the Death Star that fires the laser. So, I took a foto.
We headed out to Nanjing Lu and thats where Wang Ying seperated from us, she was heading back to her school. So we said goodbye and thanks and everything and split up. Wen came with us shopping and we found some things. We headed back to the hotel and got our stuff and I tied my boxes together for the trip. We then got a taxi to the Hong Qiao airport. I was very surprised that Wen came along. He didnt have to do that at all. They said it takes about 45 minutes to get to the airport, we got there quicker than that and they said the price was 50, but we got the fare for like, 43. Kool.
We then went to check in. They had a packaging service that had a machine that tied things down with plastic straps. So, I had them do it 3x on my swords. Great. Just in case. I checked it as luggage. Right away the scanner went off and they pulled it aside and started asking questions about it. "What are they? Where did you get them? Why?" Luckily they didn't open it so i didnt have to deal with replacing the straps. I am sure they would have in America just to piss me off. The image of them on the x-ray scanner was cool. Things are all lit up in different colors on those things. Very neon looking against a white background. The computer itself identifies issue things and circles it on the computer.
After doing that, we got our tickets and headed to the gate. Wen waited in line with us until the security check point and we said goodbye and thanked him for all his help. We then headed to sit down. We didn't wait too long because they started boarding almost when we got there. We got on the plane and got ready.
The plane ride home was fine. I noticed some yellow duct tape on the exit door across the cabin from me and I felt so much more secure. GREAT! They are reinforcing the exit door with duct tape. Its shouldn't fall apart now.......
They had too baggage areas for the flight from Shanghai for some reason. We went to the first and it there was nothing left after about 15 bags were taken off. I was like, THEY BETTER NOT HAVE LOST OUR STUFF!
But it was at the second claim thingy. Right away we found our bags and headed out. We had 3 options to get home. 1. Take a taxi all the way back 2. take taxi to bus station, get bus back. 3. take bus back to bus station and take a bus back to xiaolan.
Of course, spending so much money in Shanghai, taking the taxi all the way didn't seem too bad. We wanted it for 200RMB, and I figured we could pull that. Plus it would get us home quickest and I didn't want to spend so much time on a bus like last time. We asked around the taxi people and they were saying like, "500 RMB". We were like, Hellz NO! The guys wouldn't go below 300 because it was May Holiday and I was white. We said, 250 was fine and still no takers. One guy was like, yeah sure! So we snagged him, and we followed him and he took us away from the taxi line. Oh crap, this better be a licensed taxi. They claimed he was. They took us to this guy in a black sedan. He was a driver.
He reminded me of Jason Stratham in "The Transporter". I didn't have any bad feelings about it until after he asked Yumi her name and Yumi refused to tell him. I was like, OH CRAP! What did we get into. We were both nervous about the whole thing, and for about the first hour, we were quiet and stuff just trying to get a feel for the situation. I had my fone on speed dail for someone if anything happened like he attempted to abduct us. But, I started to notice landmarks that I have for going to Guangzhou, or Foshan. The major one is the giant Buddhist monastery on top of a hill. Very pretty.
So, once we got to the develpoing area that I recognized from the drive to Shenzhen, Yumi and I started feeling much better about it. And Yumi felt that she needed to apologize. So she did, and then we used the opportunity for me to practice some chinese with the driver. It was quite good. He was very nice and spoke with us. He helped me out alot and said my pronunciation was good. He said if Chinese would speak slower, I could understand much more. Which is very true. He was from Sichuan and has been living in Guangdong for 15 years. He is an independent taxi is what he said. He doesn't work for a company, so I am guess the income he makes is his. I guess thats good. The car was really nice and looked as if it was well taken care of and you could tell it had been in use for awhile. The beads on the seats, some scuffs, etc. The many CDs in the visor and a bunch of other things.
We got stuck behind a broken truck in Shunde and he would move around it because he wasn't paying attention because he was jabbering on his cellfone. I think that we couldn't have gotten back about 20 minutes sooner had he paid attention. We got back to Xiaolan around 745pm. He dropped us off at Yumi's place and i grabbed a covered taxi back to my place so Yumi could take care of some stuff and then head over for dinner, we had to eat all that Jiao-zi.
The food was ok. I have had better, but still good.
Well, time for bed. Sleep well.