I'm in Hangzhou now, and I have to say that so far, it's been awesome. I liked Shanghai, but being here has made me realize just how ready I was to get out of that city.
Hangzhou is a ~2 hour train ride southwest of Shanghai, and its main attraction is the West Lake, which is said to be the most beautiful in all of China. Hangzhou was (and is) an important city in its own right, as it was the capital of China for a time (during the Song dynasty, I think). The lake is surrounded by pagodas, temples, and gardens, and I spent the entire afternoon walking around it. It's about 3km on a side, but I would guess that I walked closer to 15km. As a result, my feet are quite tired now :) The lake is indeed pretty, and it was nice to have a quiet afternoon stroll to take away the lingering ringing in my head from Shanghai.
I also really like the hostel I'm staying in - it makes the one in Shanghai look like a pretty poor excuse for a hostel. First of all, I paid RMB 60 (RMB stands for renminbi, which means "people's currency" - it's another way of saying yuan, and there are ~8 yuan per dollar) per night, for a 10 person dorm room. Here, I'm paying RMB 40 a night for a 4 person room. In Shanghai, internet access was RMB 20 for 30 minutes; here, it's RMB 5 for an hour (!). Plus, this place is more like a real hostel, in that it actually has a common area where people can hang out - and it's a nicer building, to boot.
So needless to say, I'm a bit more relaxed. It could also be that I'm getting much more adjusted to being in China, which is good. The first day was pretty rough, and I started thinking "what did I get myself into"? But once I forced myself outside, I started to feel more comfortable. Being a solo traveler definitely has its advantages (since I do only what I want to do, and I don't ever have to worry about compromising on what to see), but it has its downsides as well. Obviously you tend to be a bit more isolated, though staying in a hostel helps, since you meet other foreigners. But once you walk out the door, you realize how far away home is. I don't know if it's that there aren't that many foreigners in China, or if it's just that there are so many Chinese, but I have gone for hours on end without seeing another foreigner (even in Shanghai, which is about as international as China gets, aside from Hong Kong).
It's a bit disconcerting at first, because you stick out like a sore thumb. I have yet to be on a bus or train where I'm not the only foreigner, and it takes some getting used to. I've definitely received quite a few stares, and have had "hello!" shouted at me frequently (most often by shopkeepers who want me to buy something). I have also been asked 3 times now to take a picture with a Chinese person - probably so they can show people that they met a foreigner. I thought it would be annoying to be such an object of curiosity, but I'm growing to like it, in part because I think it's really cool that I may be the first foreigner some Chinese have ever seen. I may be here in part to learn about Chinese culture, but it's also great that I can show other people what my own culture is like.
There are some aspects of Chinese culture that I already know I can do without, though. For starters, I will never again complain about how bad New York drivers are. What I thought was anarchy on the roads in Greece was really just pseudo-anarchy - here in China it truly is insane. First of all, the roads are a conglomeration of people, bikes, mopeds, cars, buses, and trucks - and they all do what they want. Feel like running a red light? No problem! Feel like crossing the street with cars zooming at you? Go right ahead! There really are no rules at all, and it amazes me that the roads aren't filled with smashed cars (and dead people).
The other fun (not) part was trying to get on and off the Metro in Shanghai. Don't get me wrong - it's fast, efficient, and cheap. It's just that the Chinese apparently don't understand that you let people OFF the train before you get on. If you're getting off a train, you literally have to shove people out of your way, otherwise you ain't getting off. The best was when Jocelyn (a girl I met up with in Shanghai) and I were taking the Metro back from the train station. It turns out that the Shanghai train station is the terminus for line 1 of the Metro, so the train was empty when it pulled up, and there were a lot of people waiting to get on. Oh my God. I have never seen anything like it in all my life...there was this massive surge of people all trying to get on the train simultaneously (so they could actually get seats). Somehow the two of us managed to nab one, and to this day I don't know how we did.
There's also the pollution (quite a few people in Shanghai wear masks outside), the awful traffic, and the ugly architecture. There were some neat-looking skyscrapers in Shanghai, but unless it's a traditional Chinese building, it's probably going to have zero style. Chalk that up to half a century of Communist rule, I guess. Chinese men also smoke like chimneys and spit like crazy (though the latter is now supposedly illegal).
What else, what else...there are so many things banging around in my head I'm not sure what to write next, so maybe I'll stop for now. I need to get something to eat, after which I'll probably lay down in bed, attempt to read/listen to music, and promptly fall asleep. Which is fine, because I'd like to be up to see the sunrise tomorrow. I'm going to hopefully get a few pictures uploaded in the next day or two, but I can't promise much. Internet access is pretty slow here, so uploading lots of pictures would be an exercise in futility. This is a concern, because I was planning on uploading pictures to my online storage space so that I don't fill my memory card up. Jocelyn said the place I'm staying at in Beijing will burn pictures to a CD for you, so hopefully I won't fill it before then (unless I find a place that offers the same sooner). Keep your fingers crossed!
Currently feeling: drained