Shanghai- My first bout of culture shock

I have been very lucky on my trip. Having travelled a bit in my past I know to expect the unexpected and that the journey is more important than the destination. But little could have prepared me for Shanghai. When the longest train ride ever finally ended in Shanghai's central train station bedlam broke lose. Everyone was pushing, shoving no order or common sense. The customs lines where one big stampede it was overwhelming.

After 20hrs on the train I went to use the washroom. I have come to expect swat toilets. What I didn't expect was human excrement EVERYWHERE. literally piles on the floor everywhere as if a dog had been locked in there. I thought I was going to vomit. I chose to wait till I reached the safety of my hostel.

Finding the hostel was the next chore, no one could help me as no one spoke English. Plus traffic laws seem non existent here. A red light is merely a suggestion and in no way guarantees the cars will stop. I eventually gave up and hire a taxi even he couldn't really help me that much. After 1.5hrs looking for the hostel I finally found it. I was tempted to look myself in my room for the next 24hrs until I could leave Shanghai.

I bravely ventured out in the afternoon to the french concession. A historical part of shanghai. It was lovely and then I enjoyed dumplings at a restaurant I found. With no English anywhere I point at the menu having no idea what I was ordering and lucked out that I got a pork and shrimp dumpling basket. Yummy!

That night I venture to the Bund a famous view point to watch the skyline on Shanghai. However, the smog made the view almost impossible to see. It looked more like foggy London than the clear day it was.

The next morning I walked to People's Square. Until recently is was prohibited to dogs and Chinese people (in that order). No longer the case I was wish it was that way still. I had read about a scam in my Lonely planet guide of Chinese students practising their English inviting you to tea ceremony's where they later charge you hundreds of dollars and wont let you leave until you pay. Well it was my luck that I was propositioned to a tea party. I told them no thank you and they persisted until I left. I walked down a bit further to a children's playground. This Chinese family saw me and held out they child to be to hold asking for a picture. I looked at the child and his penis was sticking out from his snowsuit! What is up with Shanghai? I later found out that many Chinese do not use diapers on their children but have slits in their clothing so they can go on the street/sidewalk etc. I ventured back to the safety of my hostel for another break.

Braving the city one more time I went out to Old town, which was really special. I particularly liked Old Town as it was the Chinese experience I was expecting. The buildings date back hundreds of years and the trees are in some cases 400 years old. Afterward, I had lunch at a 200 year old dumpling resturant. Again I chose blindly off the menu and had a lovely prix fixed selection of dumplings and wonton soup. Having enjoyed a great meal I packed up a headed to the train station for an overnight 14hr trip to Xi'an, but not before a man spit on me. He turned his head to spit just as I passed by and got it on my sweater, lovely.