My journey to China began in Shanghai. I've been told by a few people that this was not the real China though. I didn't realize what they meant at the time but now at the time of writing this, I do. Shanghai is a very modern city or so is the part that I saw. There are tons of skyscrapers all over especially the area of the bund. Once I finally get good enough connection, I will upload pictures for you all to see. There are not a lot of historic places to visit in Shanghai so there is not much to write about other than my walking downtown getting slowly used to the Chinese culture. Unfortunately as I've previously written the scams are so numerous that it's made China my least favorite place to visit so far because it's hard to trust the locals with so many tricks prevalent. A couple highlights before making my way to Beijing include finding this neat little Chinese cafeteria and eating the most unbelievable dumplings I've ever had. I arrived in Shanghai having already eaten the plane food which was nice as I was able to explore for a restaurant instead of being too hungry and going by smell or rushing too fast. I walked the east Nanjing road and saw a supermarket that looked pretty cool so I checked it out. Lots of different kinds of food including a pigs head (eyeballs still intact) sealed and flat as a pancake. Anyways, as I continued to wander they had several signs advertising for KFC, McDonald's, Subway and also a tiny little sign that I couldn't read. I trusted my instincts and as I went to the second floor, all the western food was smack down in my face...but I saw this little hallway leading to who knows where so I went. There was a Chinese cafeteria which was packed to the gills and no other foreigners, a sign of a good place to eat! By the way, there was not a soul at KFC or McD's.

So on to Beijing I went. Unfortunately I bought my ticket too late and I wasn't able to get a sleeper on the fifteen hour train ride. Instead, I got a hard seat. And not just a hard seat but a perpendicular seat with little padding. The first eight hours weren't too bad. I was able to just barely communicate to the five Chinese people sitting in my row and the one facing. I even learned my chinese numbers from 0-100. That'll come in handy when bartering for the rest of China. After about eight hours, a lady across from me pulled out a little mat that looked like a blanket. She then rolled it out in the aisle between the seats and she got comfortable and started sleeping. She was woken up every once in a while when the man with the food and drink cart walked by. A few people gave her funny looks but at least she got some sleep like few people on the train did. I could just imagine the reactions when the foreigner with a white beard and blue eyes proceeded to sleep on the floor as well without a mat. It probably wasn't very hygienic but worth the three hours of sleep or so. As long and arduous the train ride was, it was worth experiencing just to see how the average Chinese person travels. It didn't take long until you became friends with a complete stranger beside you to have a lap to sleep on or to sleep on another's shoulder. This may be the reason why I'm doing this again, (this time from Beijing to Xi'an). Plus it's cheaper than the sleepers.