The Indian Contractor visits Vietnam and China on a Shoestring

At around 0930, Gilberts dad woke us up and told us we'd be reaching anytime soon. I felt fresh and after brushing my teeth, I settled down at one of the seats. I saw the Australian talking to the guys at the seats near the exit and asked her if she slept the previous night. She said it was a nightmare with the guy next bed snoring away. Apparently, she woke him up and told him he had to stop snoring if she were to be able to sleep. And surprisingly enough the guy complied and the snoring stopped. Wow!

I walked over to the wash basin and washed my face. On the way back I saw a lady open the toilet door and suppress a cry of fear. Gilberts dad had told me one of the toilets was unusable. I now knew which one he meant. Some crazy guy had aiming problems. Ugh! That was not something to see early in the morning!

We were only about an hour from Shanghai but the train was held up at one of the stations. 6 trains passed us before we started moving. This delayed our arrival by atleast half an hour.

We reached Shanghai around 1130. And my backpacker life would come to a momentary standstill from that moment.

Accmodation in Shanghai was nothing short of 5 star. Gilberts home was on the Pu Dong side of Shanghai. The other side, Pu Xi (pronounced like the english word which has a nasty double meaning) was where most of the tourist places were. And it was seperated from Pu Dong by this Huge bridge that allowed ships to pass underneath it. He lived in this condominium on the porsch side of town and had most facilities within a few kilometres. Gilbert's dad also had a car that made transport even more convenient. However, the conveniences significantly reduced the probability of any mishaps happening (like the beijing train rush or the uncomfortable train journey to Huangshan) hence there will be lesser noteworthy events henceforth.

We bummed around a while in his house and watched a few movies before going out for lunch at a Taiwanese restaurant. This place served great tofu and their pineapple rice was great! Finally I had one full meal with adequate rice. The problem with rice in China is that the grain size is smaller(Thai rice grains are much larger). So I need as much as 5 bowls of rice to fill 3/4th the stomach! Note that this comes from a skinny guy like me so no exaggerations here.

After that Gilberts dad drove us to the water town called... well lets just call it the Chinese Venice. It was this town that was located in between canals and had boats plying the waterways and moving people and cargo. We were lucky to have arrived at the place late in the afternoon as the crowds were much smaller and there was ample walking space in the narrow roads. The entrance fees here were lower as compared to Beijing and Huangshan.

We took a boat ride to get an idea of the size of the place. The boats were manually rowed so the boat wobbled left and right as it was powered by a single oar. But it was a nice experience.

Compared to the mad mobs we saw at many tourist locations in Beijing, this place was calm. Things moved slower(and so did the boats). People were more layed back and, like the Huangshan market, did not haggle you to buy their merchandise. The timing of our arrival might be one of the reasons for this as some places were already closing down when we got there(around 5pm). But it was a soothing experience.

After the boat ride we walked around the place and took a look at the shops. I bought a chess set with traditional chinese figurines while the others' shopping items far exceeded mine. We walked back to the entrance and thats where the whackiest encounter with the Chinese people took place. There was a park nearby kids where running around. I walked by them and they were surprised to see me. While they spoke Gilbert translated. One of them said,"That guy looks like a girl". The other one said," his head looks like my butt". They walked over to me, touched my forearm and checked if I was painted. Then they walked away rubbing their fingers on their clothes so as to clean them. I wondered what their parents had been teaching them. Here were two kids, not more than 6 years old , who had already developed a strong dislike for the dark colours.
I could have kicked up a fuss but there was no point doing so as I knew it was impossible to change these things here, what being a foreigner and all. I just smiled and walked off to the car.

We reached Gilberts place at around 8. We went to the "big thumb" shopping centre nearby and topped up some tit bits and tv eatables. We also bought some fruits. We Skipped dinner and watched more movies. I was slackening down after coming to shanghai. My sleeping hours had more or less regulatd into normal human hours in Vietnam and Beijing. But once I reached Gilbert's place the hours went back to the inhuman timings. I slept at 4am and woke up noonish.