Huangshan

The past three days, we have been in a small city called Huangshan, where Xinli grew up.  We were able to see what life outside of a big city was like.  There were lots of farmers and shops and wildlife all around.  It was a very interesting experience.  We went to some ancient mystery caves that were uncovered by farmers not too long ago.  They still don't know what the caves were for.

I am back in Shanghai after 5 hours on the bus, and I will be returning to Boston on schedule.  My flight leaves Shanghai at 5:10 PM China Time, and will get to Toronto at 6:50 PM EST.  Then I will be heading to Boston at 8:30PM and should get there at around 10 PM.  I can't wait to be back!  Here's some pictures from Shanghai and Huangshan.

Shanghai from in the city

A snapshot from our visit at Ford.  No cameras allowed.

Huntsman snapshot.  No Cameras allowed.

The greatest food in all of China.  Bowser (Juicy Dumplings)

Our welcome dinner in Huangshan hosted by Xinli's family.

A crazy structure that led to a really rickety bridge that led to the mystery caves. 

Me in a mystery cave with a big shadow.

We visited a school and the students basically went crazy when we got there.  We felt like celebrities. 

This is part of the shrine to the family of the current Chairman of China, Hu Jin Tao.

This is a wild panda caught in the forest eating some bamboo.

Shanghai

I have been in Shanghai for 3 days and have had a lot of fun.  We went to four companies and toured their China facilities.  The companies that we went to were Ford, Dow, Huntsman, and Air Products in the past two days.  I learned a lot about their products, but was not really interested in working for those particular companies because the jobs sounded quite boring.  I was not able to take pictures at these companies because we were not allowed to have cameras on the premises.

The food in Shanghai has been really good.  They have these things called Bowsa or "Juicy Dumplings" which are nothing short of amazing and you can get one for only 1 yuan (about $0.15) on the street.  We also had a crazy experience in a restaurant the other day.  The class was eating when some commotion broke out behind us.  A guy was really drunk (at lunchtime on a Sunday), and he was yelling at another customer.  He then proceeded to throw a bottle at a waitress and then was swarmed by like 6 huge guys and put into a headlock.  Then to top things off, one of the chefs came out with a meat cleaver in his hand ready to hit the guy.  It was crazy!  I got to have a true China experience.

Aside from the food, Shanghai is definitely my favorite city in China.  It is much cleaner and has less poor people than all of the other cities.  It is also very pretty and has many tall buildings.  It is a lot like New York except far less dirty.  This is the Bund (or downtown scene) at night.  I forgot to take my camera when we went, but this will have to do.

The Bund in downtown Shanghai

A few days in Xi'an

This will have to be a quick post because I have limited internet here in Shanghai.  It may also be my last one unless I can get internet again later on.  We spent the last couple of days in Xi'an, one of the old capitals of China.  This is where the Eighth Wonder of the World is:  The Terracotta Warriors. Basically everything in Xi'an was about the Terracotta Warriors and the Emperor who built them.  The warriors were built as protection to Emperor Qin Shi Huang's burial site.  There were over 7000 warriors found and they are still rebuilding them.  It was quite amazing.  Here are the pictures from Xi'an.

Me as a Terracotta Warrior

The Winter Palace in Xi'an

The Terracotta Warriors

Me with the Terracotta Warriors in the background

Me and the mascot for the International Horticultural Expo being held in Xi'an

Chongqing and Three Gorges Cruise

Finally a chance to blog!  I have had a busy couple of days and have not had internet for a while.  We just got to Xi'an on a 14 hour overnight train.  After flying from Dalian to Chongqing, we toured the city known for its spicy food and spicy women.  I must say, they were right on both accounts.  We ate some really spicy foods and saw some very pretty women.  They say that the water from the rivers makes the women prettier.  I'm not sure that is the reason, but there were a lot more hot women than I have ever seen.  We saw a bunch of sites in Chongqing and it got kind of boring.

The most fun thing we did was go out at night to a club called "The 88".  This club is considered one of the best in China and it was filled with tons of people.  I had a great time.

After Chongqing, we boarded a cruiseship on the Yangtze River to see the Three Gorges and the Three Gorges Dam.  This was a great cruise, with lots of relaxation and many beautiful sites.  I also learned a lot about the Dam project and how it has both positively and negatively affected the area.  Many of the sites that once were built close to the river have flooded or been completely covered by water.  Some whole towns had to be torn down and built elsewhere.  It was very interesting to learn about this huge engineering project.

Below are some pictures from the past couple of days.

A guy demonstrating a painting technique at the Flying Tigers museum

Me with General Chennault from the Flying Tigers Museum

Me with a Buddha guy somewhere (I don't remember where)

A building in Chongqing

View of the Yangtze River from above in Chongqing.  In the back is the Opera House.  There was a major drought, so the water level is unusually low.

The Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing

The cruise ship dining area

A bunch of us getting dinner and this guy decided to toast us to "improving the U.S. - China relationship"

An Emperor at the Ghost City of Fengdu

Buildings at the Ghost City of Fengdu

A very large building in Fengdu

Our Cruise Ship, Victoria Jenna

This is the Qutang Gorge, the first of the Three Gorges.  As you can see, it is featured on the Chinese 10 Yuan bill

Some sites from the cruise.

Mountain houses.  The sights like this go on forever.  I have more, but there are too many to upload.

Me in a weird pose with the gorge in the back

A cave at the top of a gorge.

Our ship in the ship locks.  This was really cool because it is a neat piece of engineering in which the ship can be lowered to the water level on the other side of the dam.

Me in front of the Three Gorges Dam.

The other side of the Three Gorges Dam

More Pictures from Dalian!

Our huge dinner table on the second night in Dalian

The Naval Base in Dalian

Riding the cable cars from above the naval base

Xinli wearing a funny hat.

The Liberation Tower

Xinli toasting at dinner

A really fresh lobster.  So fresh that we were eating it while it was still moving.

From left to right: Tong, Me, and Tong's friend Sewa

Me with Dean Pytel.  Steve with a great photobomb in the background

A bunch of people from the group having some fun.

Dalian: Great Friends and Awesome Seafood

When we got to Dalian, we had breakfast in the hotel.  The hotel was really nice (5 star).  After breakfast we took a tour of Dalian.  The city was really big and right on the water.  Dalian is a peninsula and was a Naval city that was captured by Russia and Japan in the past.  During our stay in Dalian, we saw remnants of the time when Russia was in charge of the city and we saw the Naval base that is there from above.  We also went to a really cool theme park and I rode go-carts there. 

The last night in Dalian, we had dinner with another one of Xinli's good friends from Dalian.  His son is my very good friend Tong, who is a member of my fraternity at school.  This dinner was extremely fun and really fancy.  In China, it is very polite to toast to other people and then you are expected to finish your drink.  Everyone drank a lot and the night was crazy.  After the really fancy dinner, I was invited with Tong to a coffee bar with all of the adults.  This was a lot of fun and I was able to make some really great contacts with some very important and wealthy people in Dalian.  After that, we went to a KTV, which is a Karaoke bar and met up with the rest of the students on the trip.  This was by far the best night of the trip so far. 

My friend Tong was a great host to me during my time in Dalian.  He came along with the group to all of the sites that we saw and he went out with us at night.  I had a great time in Dalian, especially because I hung out with Tong for most of the time. 

Breakfast in the top of the Dalian Everbright Hotel.

The Everbright Hotel

Our bedroom had a big window in the shower... only in China.

Crazy amounts of apartments in Dalian

This really cool park in Dalian with a scenic half pipe type thing

Sitting at the top of the half pipe thing

The theme park right next to the water in Dalian

An egg shaped building in Dalian

The theme park by the water again.

In front of the water in Dalian

The first Dinner in Dalian

This dinner had raw lobster

It also had sea cucumber.  This was not my favorite and really slimy

Tong and I eating crabs at dinner.