There is a countdown clock in the subway at people’s square that has Haibao (the expo mascot) all over it and announces how many days are left until mass amounts of people descend upon Shanghai. Some friends of Andrew’s called it the doomsday clock, and while I understood why at the time, I now fully comprehend the seriousness of that term. As of May 1st, Shanghai has officially gone to hell in a hand basket. Lujiazui is impossible to navigate and People’s Square is filled with people who have no idea where the heck they’re going. If I know where I’m going better than half the people around me, something is wrong.
The opening ceremonies of the expo on Friday night included a fireworks show all over the Bund. We found out about a cruise on the river that night so we bought tickets with some friends. Well the Shanghai fun police decided to ground all boats and close the river to the public that evening 2 days before the ceremonies. The party still happened, but the boat was docked. There was free beer and champagne, so it slightly compensated for it. However, we couldn’t see the fireworks at all thanks to the giant apartment complex next to the harbor. Thumbs up, Shanghai. Thumbs up. Apparently there were fireworks at the Pearl Tower, which we could see, however my bladder is the size of a small child’s so I missed those too. The boys and I managed to weasel 3 magnum bottles of champagne out of the bartenders as well as several bottles of Tsingtao to bring upstairs to the rest of the group who had camped out at the railing. There were 10 of us total so we had a stash to rival everyone else’s on that boat. One of the boys kept whining about getting his 150 yuan worth, and I feel like he did since they only had 100 bottles of champagne on the boat and we got 3% of their stock. I’ll concede that it was fun despite not being able to see the fireworks, though it did end just a bit early.
We’ve got the next few days off for Labor Day, so we’re going out to dinner with some of Andrew’s friends tonight, then on a picnic in the park tomorrow. It’s been 80 degrees or so here for the last 3 days and it’s lovely. However, I do not understand how people are still wearing suit jackets and trench coats outside. I had on shorts and a t-shirt the other day and some woman riding her bike was staring at me so hard I thought she would crash her bike. The way people looked at me you would have thought I painted myself purple and grew green antlers. It is 75 degrees out. I’m going to wear shorts. Deal with it, China. I know they’re thinner than us and have less hair but there is no way they’re that much colder than me. It’s not as though I’m a bear, sheesh.
I’m off to catch the bus…
71 days till we’re back in the States! Incidentally, if you could all improve the economy before we return that would be fabulous. Thanks.
Cheers,
Alyse
