We got rooms in a student exchange dorm program through my fathers college. Unfortunately the rooms really suck, stained carpets, smoky, building is kinda run down but the room has AC, TV, and the internet so so far I'm not complaining too much. Will be staying here for the next 4 or 5 days. Plan to shoot lots of photos and post the best when I return. Just had a meal at a noodle place that looks like will test out my HEB A vacine. Will let you know the results, but the noodles were awsome! Plane ride in was a little bumpy but nothing too bad. Took the worlds fastest train from the airport to city center. Maglev FTW!! You haven't experienced ridding a train till you go past another train head the opsite way closing at each other at 600+ Km/h. Train reached a sustained 430 Km/hr!
Lived in china for 4 years when I was really young but that was a different time. This city is FUCKING CRAZY! Take futuristic Tokyo and meld it with the craziness that is the street life of any major Asian city! Fruit vendors selling fruit on the street next to electronics shops with all the latest knockoff toys next to massage parlors and thousands of pickpockets and the smell of something rotting. And traffic that does whatever the fuck it feels like. Yeah it sounds awful but you really have to experience a big Asian city to appreciate it. Kind of scary but fun too. Just wish our accommodations were a bit better.
Edit: After getting some sleep the accommodations actually look fairly good. Like much of China the campus we are on is made up of modern buildings and crumbling old shells. When walking up to the "hotel" you pass a number of old crumbling buildings that look like are used to house none faculty working on campus. Wow one would NOT want to stay there.
Lived in china for 4 years when I was really young but that was a different time. This city is FUCKING CRAZY! Take futuristic Tokyo and meld it with the craziness that is the street life of any major Asian city! Fruit vendors selling fruit on the street next to electronics shops with all the latest knockoff toys next to massage parlors and thousands of pickpockets and the smell of something rotting. And traffic that does whatever the fuck it feels like. Yeah it sounds awful but you really have to experience a big Asian city to appreciate it. Kind of scary but fun too. Just wish our accommodations were a bit better.
Edit: After getting some sleep the accommodations actually look fairly good. Like much of China the campus we are on is made up of modern buildings and crumbling old shells. When walking up to the "hotel" you pass a number of old crumbling buildings that look like are used to house none faculty working on campus. Wow one would NOT want to stay there.