June 19
Let's start with the flights. I left SFO on June 18 on United flying to Incheon where I would catch a connecting flight to Shanghai on China Eastern Airlines. I was lucky enough to be upgraded to business class for the SFO-ICN flight (thank you mom and dad's frequent flier miles) and I have to say, it was exquisite. They served me three glasses of champagne before we even left the gate (one I had when I first sat down, the second when my seat mate [an anthropology professor from Harvard] joined me and the third when the flight attendants had to finish off the bottle before take off [I guess we looked like we would oblige another drink]).
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| 747-400's at SFO. I think one of them was mine | A little pre-flight champagne |
Once the flight got underway it was quite nice. The food was better than expected and the wine kept flowing. After dinner we were served dessert and liqueurs. Suffice to say, I was feeling the alcohol by then. Rather than going directly to sleep, I finally watched 12 Angry Men, which was quite a good movie; although I think it didn't have quite the punch to me as it did 50 years ago. After the movie, I gave into the desire to sleep and lied down for a 2.5 hour nap on the lie-flat bed (which was just a little bit too short for my 6'3" frame). However, I only got through an hour of that nap, but I felt pretty refreshed anyways. With a little more than half of the 12 hour flight remaining, I started watching Alice in Wonderland and working on revising the FO Manual (SSE can't let go of me even when I'm an ocean away). I was pleasantly surprised by Alice in Wonderland: I loved the Jabberwocky references and it was actually quite fun. An excellent airplane movie. After that I tried to watch some TV, but I felt self-conscious about my choices sitting next to a Harvard professor. So, I opted to watch another movie, this time the Book of Eli. This movie was decidedly less good than the last two, but I do love Gary Oldman being evil. After this movie ended, I realized that we were in South Korean airspace, which meant that I should get ready to land. However, I jumped the gun and still had to wait another hour before the plan actually touched down.
When we landed in Incheon, the first thing that struck me was the heat. It must have been 15 degrees hotter and twice as muggy as San Francisco. The next thing that caught my eye were the ads for Hangzhou, my final destination, which got me excited. The third thing that hit was the realization that I was the first person from my family to set foot in Asia. After all of these simultaneous realizations (and knowing that my flight to China left in an hour), I schlepped my way to my next gate, stumbling through security much to the delight of the Korean TSA. I got to my gate only to be told that I have to find the F ticket counter on the floor above. I went left to the information desk only to be told I should have gone right and now had to cross most of the terminal again. I finally got to the F ticket counter and found a line. Luckily for me, the gate agents had called ahead and they were expecting me at the F ticket counter and they had me exit the line. While I was waiting to get checked in for the ICN-PVG flight, Susan, also in the Stanford China Internship Program showed up. We got her checked in too, I got some won for my brother and I and then returned to the gate 15 minutes before the flight was scheduled to leave. The flight coming in was delayed, so we didn't miss boarding.
 | Incheon International Airport. Renowned for it's fantastic weather |
As we walked down the jetway, I noticed that the airplane looked old. Once we had boarded, I knew the airplane was old. The A321 looked like it had been pulled directly from the early 90's. Despite the relative decrepitude of the airplane, the flight attendants were dress very nicely in silk dresses, which surprised me. The surprises kept coming, as I ended up with an entire row to myself (all 6 seats). But the biggest surprise was that they offered us a meal on a two hour flight. I'm not used to that kind of hospitality from my airlines, but I quite like it. On that flight I had a personal realization about globalization: I was an American, reading an English magazine (the Economist), listening to a French singer (La Roux) on a Chinese airplane (China Eastern Air) in South Korean airspace. It was a strange feeling indeed.
When we landed in Shanghai, it was June 19 and I had slept for 1 of the previous 20 hours, but I didn't feel tired. We breezed through Chinese customs (much easier than dealing with their consulate in San Francisco). Our bags were some of the first ones off of the plane. As we left the security zone, we found Mr. Wang, who would be driving us and the other interns in Hangzhou/Shanghai to our hotel/apartment. It turns out that Susan and I were the first two to arrive, so we set up camp in the waiting room and waited. Ricardo, it turns out, landed at a different terminal, so Mr. Wang had to drive over there to pick him up while Susan and I waited for Phil. Phil arrived next, about 20 minutes after Susan and I, then we waited another hour for Mr. Wang and Ricardo (who's flight was delayed).
As we drove from Pudong to Shanghai proper, we could see the city lights, which were absolutely beautiful. The expo looked fantastic. On this drove I also learned a few important things about Chinese road rules: the only rule is don't get in an accident. Lane lines are a mere suggestion and turn signals are unheard of. The strangest thing is that the police don't really care, as long as you don't hit anyone. When we got to the hotel, I had my first inclination that I might have overpacked, despite my belief that I had seriously underpacked. Well, we didn't actually get to the hotel, we got out of the taxi on the opposite side of a busy pedestrian mall and had to schlep our stuff across the mall, much to the intrigue of passing tourists. As we crossed the mall, Shanghai became the City of 1000 Smells. I wish I had a more coherent way to describe this feeling, but I can't. We got to the hotel, only to find that we had to carry up a 2 story staircase to get to the elevator to get to the 4th floor where our room was. It was then that I regretted bringing about 120 lbs of stuff with me. We got to the room, got situated and then headed downstairs to find something to eat, as we were all starving. We ended up going to a dumpling place that Phil said was Taiwanese cuisine, I was not one to argue. When we paid the bill it came out to 61RMB, which is about 9 dollars, for which we received a feast-worth. Considering I have paid more than that for a sandwich, I was starting to like the food situation in China.
After dinner we wandered around Nanjing East Road some more, walking all the way down to the Bund. The Bund is famous as a clash of old and new Shanghai; The Bund is where old colonial powers built offices that they used to consolidate their power. Those buildings have been wonderfully maintained and they are a beautiful contrast to the new building across the river in Pu Dong. The one thing that isn't wonderful about the Bund is the crowds. Oh the crowds. Excuse me for going all Tom Friedman again, but the emerging Chinese middle class is definitely, definitely a real thing and they appear to love to travel within their own country.
Following our trip down the Bund, we came back to our hotel room to go to sleep. This probably wouldn't be interesting, except the first light switch I flipped while brushing my teeth caused a lightbulb to explode right next to my ear. Phil thought I was lighting up firecrackers in the room and Ricardo thought it was hilarious. I finally went to bed after having been up for 27 of 28 hours.
 | As seen along Nanjing East Road on the way to the Bund. Only a few people will likely appreciate this. |
I meant to put my first 4 days into one post, but it looks like Day 1 (and a half) took more space than I expected. Other days (and pictures) to follow.
Count of people (I've seen in China) taller than me: 1 (a tourist walking along the Bund)
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