Shanghai, Hong Kong and Bangkok

Day 6--CHILL

We woke up at noon and spent the whole day on the Internet...hehe...off to dinner with Cindy soon...
So we get to the restaurant with Cindy, a really nice Sichuan restaurant. Our favorites had to be these really awesome ribs covered in fresh cumin seeds, some really tasty (and spicy!) tofu over some rice, and this really amazing tree fungus. Actually, just about everything was slightly spicy, but nothing that two New Mexicans couldn't handle. Also, we had the waiter take a picture of the three of us, and get this--he asks the guy sitting at the table behind us to get up so that there is nobody in the background of our picture. The Chinese are super serious about picture taking...it was crazy. After dinner we just headed home, tired, ready for bed.

Day 7- EXPO!!!

Today we woke up with business in mind- we needed to buy train tickets to Hong Kong. We really didn't want to have to repeat our epic voyage on the slow ghetto train, so we wanted to be sure to purchase tickets on a sleeper train. Trains to Hong Kong only run on odd days of the week, and we needed to get to Hong Kong on an even day (of course), plus they were sold out of Hong Kong tickets (since it was the Chinese National holiday), so we settled for a train ticket to Guanzhou (about 2 hours outside of Hong Kong). All that was left was buying a Guangzhou-Hong Kong ticket when we got there. After purchasing our tickets (and feeling amazing to have that out of the way), we decided it was about time to do something touristy in Shanghai and headed over to the Yuyuan Garden. Funny thing is, however, we never actually made it to the garden. We got off the metro stop and started following the signs, but instead of finding a garden found this really awesome market. If I ever wanted a watch, today would have been the day. "Watch, watch, do you want a watch? Purse? Iphone? You want Iphone?" Anyways, the market was really crazy and was where I saw my first little kid peeing in a drainage vent. Through the butt slot in his pants. Thats China. After Yu Market, we decided that it was about time to head over to the Expo, which we got free tickets for from Cindy. Expo was AWESOME!!! So a little bit of information about the World Expo. Basically, most all the countries in the world design and pay for these huge exhibits which show of some part of their culture and country. The theme for this expo is "Better city, better life". Some of the exhibits were really cool and some not so much. (mostly we didn't get to see the inside of any of the cool ones because the wait was ridiculously long: from 1 hr for Saudi Arabia to 2.5 for Japan). Here's a few thoughts:

Highlights:

- Denmark- Really cool. A huge, white circular building. You walk in and there's a large pool in the center with a mermaid statue sitting on top of it. Then you walk up and around the building till you're finally on top, with a really nice view of part of Expo Park. You can ride bikes around during the day, but we got there too late.

- Israel- Awesome theater experience outlining some of the major innovations Israel has come up with. It was a really neat experience.

Lowlights:

- Iraq- It was horrible. My 8th grade dance was more decorated than that. It was like... painted murals, a tiny gift counter, and a tacky motorized sculpture remanent of the "Its a small world ride", only worse. Horrible.

- UK- Initially on my top 5 most wanted exhibits, IT SHUTS DOWN AT 10pm!!!! ARGGGGG!!!! So I didn't get to see it... damn...

Exhausted, we leave the expo and take the long taxi cab home (subways shut down at like 10:30 or 11pm... whaaaat????)

Day 8- National Day (October 1st)

61 years ago, on this day, the Peoples Republic of China was founded in Tiananmen Square. Its a huge holiday for Chinese people; they get the entire week off. And when I say huge, I mean huge. But before we truly experienced it, we had a great day at another market. This morning we decided to go to this market called Tianzifang Market (recommended by Cindy), which is nice little market consisting of a series of side streets lined with small little shops. Its kind of like the Shanghai version of Nob Hill, but not really, but slightly. Way more shops, some nice stuff, some really nick-nacky touristy stuff, and a bunch of restaurants catering to the more business like attitude of Shanghai (meaning food thats not Chinese, like Italian or a sandwich shop). After finishing up at the market, we wandered around and found a nice little place for afternoon lunch. There weren't any white people in the restaurant, so it was perfect. We had a really nice soup there, and some so so soup dumplings. After lunch then headed over to a really famous place in Shanghai called "The Bund". The Bund is also called the "Wall Street of China", but from my experience at the actual Wall Street, is really stretched comparison. The Bund is now just a tourist attraction, consisting of a walk next to the river to look at the city skyline of Shanghai, which is really cool. Tonight, however, was probably different than most nights you might spend at the Bund. It was packed. But not just sold out stadium packed really packed concert packed, it was China packed. Seriously. I think there were probably close to half a million people who visited the Bund, if not more, on National Day. We should have been tipped off by the fact that the nearest subway station was closed, but we werent, so we walked out there with the other 499,998 people to see the lit up skyline of Shanghai. After we had our share of the sights, we then got in the mass of people trying to leave the Bund, which was equally as crazy. We were walking like packed sardines, on one side a wall and on the other a line of Chinese soldiers keeping the peace (they were stationed about every 30 feet or so). In order to take a break from the crowd, we luckily ran into a bar on the bund that had been recommended by Cindy. As we walked into the place, the atmosphere instantly changed around me. There was a string trio playing classics in the lobby and a small jazz band playing New Orleans style jazz in the bar (they sang Edelweiss!!!). After an Old Fashioned (me) and a Singapore Sling (Steph), we decided we were properly relaxed to face the crowds and headed back out, into the crowds, into the subway, and eventually back to Cindys.

Day 9- Zhouzhuang

So today we wake up, cleverly having loaded the Mandarin characters of the bus stop we're heading towards on my iTouch, and catch a cab. The cab driver takes us to the Shanghai Stadium and drops us off, since this is where we need to catch the bus to Zhouzhuang. Everything was going great, but then... tragedy strikes. Steph had left my itouch in the cab (FAIL). Holy shit- this is bad. Not only was that our only source of internet, but it was our alarm clock, regular clock, music device and had my favorite game Tubes on it!! (it was especially annoying because without a source of time, we now had to try to buy a watch from the super annoying vendors). Well, we let ourselves feel bad and pissed off during the entire bus ride to Zhouzhuang, but then, after deciding nothing could be done about it decided to just keep going (its hard enough getting anything back from a cab in the States, let alone Shanghai). Now, enough sad stuff, now about Zhouzhuang. It was awesome. Its called the "Venice of China", which having never been to Venice, still seems like a pretty appropriate title. Its filled with little shops all along a neat little river system. We could have taken a little ride around the river, but we ran out of time shopping and exploring the sites of the town. We did have this absolutely disgusting tofu there; it was like... a spongy... gross... squishy.... juicy.... gross.... it was just gross tofu. After getting back to Shanghai from Zhouzhuang, we decided to hit up one of the really tall buildings there and chose the Park Hyatt Shanghai, a really famous building in China. We were zipped up to the 87th floor to the bar there where you can enjoy the view and a drink at the same time. I had some Japanese Whiskey and Steph enjoyed some really nice tea. The perfect ending to our stay in Shanghai.

Day 10- Preparing for Hong Kong

Today we woke up and prepared for our travels to Hong Kong (via Guangzhou). We pretty much just sat in Cindy's living room looking for things to do in Hong Kong, went to the quick-e-mart to get our plastic bag full of dinner/snacks (we were a bit more prepared this time), then boarded the train at about 6pm. This train was freaking awesome compared to the Beijing-Shanghai excursion. It was a 'hard sleeper', which was just as hard as any other bed in Asia, so not a big deal. There are 6 beds in each cabin--3 beds high on each side. We had both settled in on a bottom and middle bunk until we got exiled to the very top-most bunks by an old man and a lady with a baby. Sleeping up top was kind of cool, although climbing down was always rather awkward...hehe... Highlights of the train were some bad sausage things, cup of noodles, a couple croissants, meeting this Finish woman (who hadn't spoken English in 2 days), and SLEEPING!!!!! And then....

Day 11: Hong Kong (via Guangzhou)

We get into Guangzhou, and spend forever looking for the place where we can buy train tickets to Hong Kong. Finally we found it, and only had to wait a couple of hours before we hopped on our train, which had super comfortable seats and they even gave us a bottle of water (gasp!). Once in HK, we cleared customs rather quickly and hopped on the subway to our hostel, or should I say mansion. We stayed in a place called Chungking Mansions, which is rather difficult to explain, so it might be better to just read the wikipedia page about it haha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chungking_Mansions. Anyway, we checked in, took a shower, and headed out on the town. Turns out, we were pretty well located, and after wandering for food for a while, we found a little side street with several restaurants. To our dismay, many of them were not chinese food (Indian, Irish, etc) but after a bit of searching we found one! And enjoyed some delicious noodle soup and warm almond milk (which was good, but a bit strange). Then we headed to the waterfront and checked out the Avenue of Stars--something similar to Holywood Blvd, where all the famous Chinese movie stars put their handprints. We enjoyed a beer and then headed back to the water front for the AMAZING HK light show. This show happens every night (MWF it's in English), and although it holds a Guiness World Record for longest running light show, it is probably the lamest thing either of us have ever seen. Thoroughly disappointed, we headed back to the hostel to get some much needed facebook time (ah, nearly 10 days without fb!) and sleep.

Day 12: Hong Kong

We started out the day in Central. First, with the mid-level escalators, the largest set of escalators in the world, designed to help commuters in that area get to work. Then we got some delicious dim sum at a place that Phil looked up (Anthony Bourdain went there). This place was really crazy--once you find it, you walk up a giant staircase and end up in this huge room, maybe 150-200 people. You basically just wander the room until a couple of seats open up, and then sit down with a bunch of strangers. The guy brings you tea and a bowl and plate and a stamp card, and then you just go around to all the different carts and get whatever you want. We had a whole bunch of dumplings, some little buns that we thought we pork buns, but turned out to be ?turnip and peanut butter? buns (or at least that's what they tasted like). Then we got this weird cabbage wrap which contained 3 long sticks of random meat-stuff and a mushroom...turns out it was pretty delicious. By this time, we are getting ridiculously stuffed, but I see the cart go by with real pork buns, so we had to grab a couple of those. We barely finished the buns along with our third pot of tea when some people came around searching for a table and we decided it was time to roll out. We finished going up the escalators (which I thought was a circular system, but turns out you just go to the top and then, well, you're at the top. So we just kind of wandered for a while and ended up at the HK Botanical Gardens, which was free admission and with a bunch of cages with some sweet birds, some weird mammals and some orangutans. It's a really cool layout--on the side of a steep hill (HK is pretty hilly, kinda like SF but maybe not as bad) with lots of trees; it feels like a secret park. Afterwards, we just walked down the huge hill we escalator-ed up and wandered around some more, saw some sweet markets with lots of weird meats and fish. We were trying to identify all the organs we saw, but were only successful with a few, such as heart, liver, and intestines. Then we caught the subway and took a bus to Stanley, which is a little village on the waterfront on the opposite (southern) side of HK island. We did some shopping and had a coffee while it was raining, then headed back to the northern part of the island where we began our ritual food search. After searching for a while, we both decided we really had to pee and were excited about the "Traditional Chinese Noodle" restaurant. Turns out it was one of the worst meals we had--the soup broth was so disgustingly fishy that we could barely eat it. In order to redeem ourselves, we decided to get some skewered meat from this stand, which was maybe one of the most delicious things we had eaten. They were famous for their chicken and beef, so we got a skewer of chicken, duck and octopus, and ate it around the corner like two kids who had just stolen candy from a store. soooooo good. Feeling appropriately redeemed, we headed back to the hostel. Our roommates knocked on the door around 5am (apparently there is only one key for the room we were staying in) and we had a good 10-15 minute discussion about girls, dancing, and buying drugs in HK, and then finally we went back to sleep.

Day 13: the Big Buddha and Mongkok

We took a cable car up to the very top of Lantau Island, where the world's biggest seated bronze buddha is located. Rather touristy, but still pretty sweet, especially the cable car ride over the bay and up through the mountains. Afterwards we headed to Mongkok, a bunch of markets. We found the goldfish market, which is basically a whole street selling lots of tropical fish (which I'm pretty sure is illegal, but it was still cool). We wandered, but couldn't find the bird market, and we ended up at the Ladies Market. I don't even know why it's called Ladies Market, but its just a bunch of stalls selling all the same stuff that all the other stalls are selling. Bored with Ladies Market, we grabbed some cart food and headed to the Night Market, which we hoped would be a bit more exciting, but turns out it was the same thing except at night (and also a section with dildoes). So...we ate some more food and headed home for the night.

Day 14: off to Bangkok!

Slept in pretty late, packed our stuff and headed to grab some food and a last shot of the pier. Enjoyed some amaaazing singapore noodles and some dumpling soup. Satisfied with our final meal in "China" (I guess HK doesn't really count), we headed to the pier to enjoy a coffee and the view, then headed back to our hostel to grab our stuff. Grabbed the subway to the airport (an agonizingly expensive $6 ticket for a ride that was no further than any of the other stations--arg) and hopped on our Sri Lankan flight. Sri Lankan airlines was awesome. We were a bit worried at first boarding, since everyone looked very Indian and for a sec we weren't sure we were on the right plane. Turns out Bangkok was just a stopover on the way to Sri Lanka (duh), and so we felt better. Just a short 2 hr 20 min flight and delicious chicken curry later, we hopped off the plane, on to a couple of different skytrain lines to meet Nathan, where he was definitely not waiting for us (ha). We borrowed someone's cell phone and discovered he was on his way (phew). We took a taxi to his place (in Rangsit, about an hour or two outside of Bangkok) and all three snuggled up on his bed for some good sleep.

Oct 8-11: Bangkok and around

And the laziness sets in...summary of the few days we spent in Bangkok. (8th) We hung out in Rangsit, saw Nathan's University, ate delicious food for about $1. (9th) Took the 2-ish hour journey to Bangkok to check out the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha, a 45 cm tall Buddha made out of jade and on this huge stack of golden shrines a few stories tall. It is the most venerated Buddha in Thailand. Afterwards, we found a market where we found a GIANT pot of curry, and Phil decided he needed some of it (rightfully so; it smelled delicious). We ate some delicious curry and pad see ew, and it started to downpour, so we waited for a 20 mins or so and then headed to Ko San Road, which is the ridiculous tourist spot full of backpackers, over-priced food (psh, $2), and lots of places offering massages or 'ping pong shows.' We ended up having a couple of beers and then heading over to Chayani's parent's house. Chayani's mom prepared a myriad of amazingly delicious dishes. We ate until we couldn't eat anymore, and then we ate some more. For dessert we had unripe mango (surprisingly good), apples, and rice cakies. We went to bed and then (10th) had a comparably amazing breakfast including pumpkin with fried eggs, coconut curry, delicious soup and more. Then we headed out to the Vimanmek Mansion and surrounding areas. It's the largest teakwood mansion in the world, was built without any nails, and is where King Rama V lived for 5 years...it's now been turned into a museum of sorts. For all the museums and temples we've visited in Thailand, you always have to take off your shoes. I find it rather awesome--all the tour guides and everyone walks around for like an hour without shoes...Then we headed over to the Siem Museum but were kicked out early due to a red shirt protest. We headed over to Wat Pho, to see the world's largest reclining Buddha (46m long and 15m high). Here we actually got to witness monks chanting together, which was a really interesting and worthwhile experience. Afterwards, we hung out on the river front, enjoying the early evening twilight, took a 2-min water taxi ride to the next station (totally worth it) and grabbed a bus to some random part of town, ate some so-so food, and grabbed a taxi home. (11th) Mostly a lazy day, consisting of us sleeping in, reading/interneting, getting food, getting a haircut (which was rather interesting since I speak no Thai and the hairdresser spoke no English, but it was only $5), more interneting, and then heading to dinner with Chayani. She took us to this awesome place kind of in the boonies near her university that her foodie friend had told her about. The restaurant, which was actually someone's house, was sort of on a river, and we had to cross this rickety make-shift bridge to get to the building. We had the most amazing food--a whole fish, deliciously fried with a spicy/sour salsa-like concoction made of unripe mangoes, onions, garlic and chilies on top. We also had some coconut curry, pepper shrimp and squid, and sauteed morning glories. Supremely satisfied, we headed for some dessert at the university and found some delicious waffles and ice-cream. Then we grabbed a cab, and some beers and started packing. Off to Siem Reap at 4am tomorrow!