Firemen and Shanghai

So I 'm starting to feel that my pictures are very mundane, so I thought I would totally switch it up with black and white...no I'm just kidding but it does look better sometimes I think.

The day that I returned to Hangzhou from my Big Bad Trip through China, I stopped by the school and met up with some friends. They told me that one of the teachers arranged a basketball game between some of the foreign students at the school and the local fire department. Did I want to play? I suck at basketball, but I thought that last time our teachers arranged a basketball game between the foreighn students and the Chinese teachers, it was fun. So I said ok.

I dont regret it, because it was a cool experience, but what happened is that the firemen heard that "Americans" were coming to play basketball. They rallied the 5 best players between 20 local stations (over 1000 firemen). Also, let me say that the Chinese, though notorious for being good at ping pong and badmitton, also excel at basketball.

You have to consider that most kids grew up in overcrowded schoolyards, where basketball was probably the cheapest sport they could play in a small amount of space. They dont even need a paddle or a racquet. Anyways, the americans dont hear about them because they arent tall enough to make it to the NBA, but for those of us who are a normal height, they are really good. Oh yeah, and the local news station showed up to cover the game.

The game degenerated to them keeping their score low to help us not look so bad. When I "took it to the hole", they stood still and didnt put their hands up. It was pretty bad, but still a good experience because we got to hang out ant the station and see them so some of the drills that they do. Some of the guys even got to do some of the drills, one of which was to climb a hanging detachable ladder with a hook on the top. When you get to the second floor, you sit on the widowsill then lift the ladder and hook it onto the 3rd story window sill, then you climb it again (they had safety harnesses). However the newsteam only wanted the white people to do it in order to make it a better story :)




Next topic: Shanghai


I just got back from 3 days in Shanghai...and I have to say that I like that city. The air is dirty, but other than that, it is a really cool city. They are so driven to be among the best in the world. I kind of chanced upon their City Planning exhibition center and decided to go in. They are very ambitious on the levels of development, recycling, solid waste management, cleaning the air and water...and "greening" the city. Its nice to see these things addressed so directly. They are planning a new airport (they will then have 2 large airports), a new shipping port...and there is too much. I am forgetting alot.

Itinerary (I did this thing right)

Day 1

• arrived at night, walked the Bund at night. It is the famous waterside walk. You can see the Pudong skyline across the Huangpu river

Day 2

• Went to the Shanghai Technology fair in Pudong: a five day fair, once a year. I played a harp with no strings. Instead, it had green laserbeams. I also tried to find a job. yup.
• Got a haircut and shampoo/head massage (its what they do in China)
• Ate dinner from a convenience store with a guy selling DVDs and another guy selling fruit
  

Day 3

• Rode the fairy across the Huangpu River to the Pudong side again,
• Rode the crappy tram under the Huangpu river over to the Shanghai side again.
• Went to the Ancient Sex exhibition that I chanced upon in the same place as the crappy underground tram..supposedly the first of its kind in China.
  
• Walked along Nanjing Road: a famous city walk in Shanghai
• Went to the City Planning Exhibition

One of the exhibits in the City Planning dept: a model of Shanghai in the future
(it was too big for my camera)

• Went to the Shanghai Museum
• Went to a modern dance show at the Shanghai Grand Theater (by the way, they opened the first 3 numbers with Pink Floyd songs...a fantastic surprise)

Inside the Shanghai Grand Theater

• Walked home on Nanjing Road and got solicited by about 14 guys trying to sell me female hookers...and one guy trying to sell me male hookers. Let me take a time out because this is something else fantastic that I forgot to mention about my in-Chinese Swiss girlfriend Sabina. She warded off the hookers in Xi'an, just by mere presence. Where was she this time?

Nanjing Lu

Day 4

• Went up in the Pearl Tower...something like 209 floors? I saw the polluted city.
  
• Returned to Hangzhou

View from the Pearl Tower

New Convention center and Pearl Tower

So now that I have thoroughly enriched all of your lives by telling you about my life (or bored you to sleep)...I will put those pictures which I have not shown you, but still want to.

Example of a display in the marine museum
(right next to the crappy tram under the Huangpu river)
Why?