China Adventure Day 1

July 13, 2013 to July 14, 2013

U.S. to Shanghai, China

After all the vacations my family and I have been on, you would think that we would learn to expect some sort of trouble with the airlines or baggage or something. Honestly though, i dont think anyone expected what we encountered in the last few hours before we headed out for the airport. We were due to leave for the airport at around 3:30 in the on Thursday morn to make our 6 o’clock flight. However, my grandma calls at around 7 o’clock wednesday night and says our flight to Chicago was cancelled, which means that we needed to figure out some other was to get to O’Hare airport. Not good. It turns out that United Airlines cancelled over 600 flights that day for a reason that I still unknown to us unfortunate travelers. In the end, my fabulpus, master-planner grandma found us a flight on Spirit Airlines. Yes, Spirit. Never heard of Spirit Airlines before? Neither had we, which only speaks to the crappiness of the situation. To be concise and far more nice than it deserves, i will just say that Spirit Airlines is anything but spirited. Okay, well maybe the guy two rows ahead of us speaking in expletives the whole time (at 6 in the morning, mind you) was a bit spirited, if you know what i mean, but he was the only exception.

The 14 hour plane ride that came next was relatively tolerable. I watched Cirque du Soleil, Singing in the Rain, Hotel Transylvania, and half of the Hobbit and for the rest of the time I let my sweet eyes rest. There was also a really nice flight attendent named Jeff who chatted with the fam from time to time and gave us tips on some restaurants in Shanghai. He suggest a type of restaurant that uses a ‘hot pot’, which sounded a lot like fondu, so we filed that in the back of our jet lagged minds. Overall, it was pretty lovely until i had a huge sinus problem when we were landing, but it was soon forgotten, because we were in China!

Our arrival at Shanghai was spectacular. The fam, all 28 of us, met up with our Gohagen tour guide (proudly sporting our very own, personalized, offical name tags) and boarded the bus to the Fairmont Peace Hotel in the heart of the city overlooking the river. In short, this hotel is spectacular. Me and Abby got our own room, complete with a claw footed bathtub, monogrammed bathrobes, plush beds, an expresso machine, a gorgeous walk in closet and a plate of fruit and truffles to fill our bellies after a long day of travel.
While the hotel attendant was leading us to our room on the 5th level, me and Abby just simultaneously looked at each other in pure amazment and giddiness; and the moment our door clicked closed behind us we went crazy. Taking pictures marveling at the general luxury and spleandor of the place. Yes, it would be a very fun two nights here.

And it was indeed.
That night, I personally didn’t feel like i had the energy to leave the hotel room but perhaps it was the rush of adrenaline from arriving at the hotel together with my grumbling belly that motivated me and Abby out our comfy beds into the busy streets of Shanghai in search of some food. The Knutsons, David, Abby and I all went out around 6 and started walking down the street, half looking for restaurants that would be acceptable to our unaccustomed immune systems and half taking in the beautiful sights of Shanghai at dusk. We wove our way through some open air stores, shocked and quite frankly, disgusted, at some of the items: preserved frog feet being the most memorable. Then of course there were also many quaint food stands sizzling with some type of meat on a stick and dumplings coupled with a rainbow of exotic sauces. Further down the street there was a crowd gathered around a couple to watch them dance what looked to be a slow traditional dance. The city was beautiful and full of life. We passed an Apple store filled with people, Forever 21, Swatch, KFC, and a myriad of other well known and foreign stores. Another group of older women were dancing further down the street, seemingly uncaring of their surrounding.
Eventually our wanderings brought us to a street corner invaded by tchotchke stands. There was a sigh on the door of the building for a restaurant, but the door was locked. An elevator right next to the door suddenly opened and two women stepped on…sure, well see what was up there, I guess. Anna and Eric went ahead of us to scout out what was up there, but in the end we threw caution to the wind and followed before they got back. Eight floors later we stepped into a nice, clean, authentic restaurant. You can tell it was really authentic because they didnt speak a single word of English. But no matter, because the food was absolutely delicious. It was a restaurant that specialized in those ramen noodles. Before you start quaking with fear and recalling memories of college at the mention of ‘Ramen”, let me just say this was no ordinary ramen. It was nothing like what Americans believe it to be. This stuff is authentic.

I mentioned that none of the staff spoke English, so thank goodness the menu had pictures. I pointed to one that looked good and a few minutes later I got a bowl full of noodles with mushrooms carrots, corn, some more mushrooms, and the most amazing broth I have ever tasted. It was huge and steamy and delicious. I was essentially eating soup with chopsticks but when in China, do as the Chinese do, I guess. Thank goodness there’s no such thing as bad table manners in China because I’m sure I looked atrocious. Besides, who am I trying to impress? No one, that’s who. It was fabulous, and cheap. It really was a fabulous and unexpected find, and it made for such a nice welcome to China.
On the way back it was misting a bit outside but it felt nice. Now that it was dark we could enjoy the city lights for what they were. I’ve never been to New York, but I would guess that Shanghai is like the New York City of China. It was stunning and you tend to get caught up in all the lights and sounds and busyness.
Day one was eventually over. Once we got back to our room around 8 we pretty much went to bed. Our Mulan movie night would have to be postponed.The final thing I have to say is that I miss Lou. It was really hard to leave home without him. Its sad to think that were going on this amazing adventure without him and I really wish that he would be able to take part in all these amazing experiences. At the same time, I know he is far more comfortable at home than he would be on a plane or in a hotel room. We all love and miss you Louie!