Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The toilets

I think people warned me about the toilets before I left, but I have to admit I completely forgot they said they were just a hole in the ground. Kind of shocking when you open the first stall of the bathroom (mind that you check the bathroom under "certain circumstances") and see this. This was the first day I got here too. Needless to say, I checked the next stall over, and same thing, hole in the ground.



I finally get to the third stall and see my beloved western toilet. My savior. So I did my business, went to flush, and just like in the movie Dumb & Dumber, there is no resistance from the button to flush the toilet, indicating a malfunction. So no flush, and a good way to start off my first day hahah. My apologies go out to the 2nd floor of dorm 31.

The toilet wasnt fixed the next day either, so I did end up having to use the squatter. Geez that sucks. Toilet time should be relaxing, not a test of how long you can do a wall sit for. I had to pin my arms against the sides of the stall as if I were trying to shimmy up it. Glad that the western toilet is fixed though.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

05-09-09 - From Xin Tian Di to Huangpu River. Pt. 2

Another funny translation. The bottom of the poster says "I corrupt all cops." Odd, and what of it?
Went into the NBA store where they had a life size Yao Ming. I think it was a bobble head too.

Escalator had growing grass in between. First time I had seen that, so thought I would take a picture.
If you didnt know any better, you would say that is Jackie Chan. But nope, just a wax replica. 

This is the urban planning building museum for Shanghai. Wait to you see what's inside!
Kind of interesting...

A little more interesting...

Forgot the order of my pictures. Quick tangent. These are photographs and stories of the children who lost parents in the earthquake that happened in the earthquake. Really sad stories.


Drawings of buildings falling over.




A miniature layout of shanghai. Pretty impressive, right?
Future buildings that are being built for the World expo next year. 





This is it! The coolest part of the urban planning center. The entire Shanghai modeled out! Its freaking huge! Makes you feel like playing Godzilla







On our way to the Old Street and Yu Garden Tour

This is another market where you get to bargain. This one was soo much fun. There is endless things to see, and they are all different. Unlike that other one we went to, where it was just purses and watches. I bought an oil canvas painting of a Buddah for ~150 RMB, and its 3' x 4.5'









This is on a ferry going over to our boat cruise on the Huangpu River



The boat cruise we went on was so nice inside! And a beer was only 5 RMB (~$.75). What a deal. And it was Ringenberg's birthday, so we had a cake too. Nice!