Uh, where am I?

On my way to the airport in Hong Kong this morning I noticed signs to Disney Land. And now that I'm in Shanghai it's clear: Hong Kong not only has a Disney Land, it is the Disney Land of Asia. Hong Kong is a tourist and businessman's destination. Shanghai is real, or at least more real.

When I first arrived in Hong Kong I was greeted at the airport by a Sheraton attendant and escorted to hotel transportation. And when I arrived there the staff were always around, almost underfoot, ready and willing to help with any question, like with the sim card thing.

If I hadn't met a young Taiwanese woman on the flight to Shanghai, I'm not sure I would have made it here to Tongji University. I didn't have the address of the Guest House, and at the curb the taxi attendant just couldn't understand when I said "Tongji." Fortunately she explained and got me into a cab and sent me on my way.

We drove for what must have been over an hour ... we zoomed along at 130 kmh around and between trucks that didn't stay in their lanes. There's an excessive amount of nudging, jockeying for position, and horn tooting. "Shanghai driving" works for Shanghainese, but I doubt whether I could master it. Eventually we hit rush hour traffic which was complete gridlock and yet somehow my taxi driver was navigating through it, inching in, squeezing by, and prompting more honks.

I tried to reach some of my Tongji contacts with my cell phone as we drove, thinking I might get some help and have someone meet me. But, alas, my Hong Kong sim card just wasn't working ... it successfully registered itself on some Chinese mobile network but I kept getting some kind of recording that began with "dui bu qi" and then it was all downhill from there.

But eventually we arrived "somewhere" (where the hell am I?) and my non-English-speaking driver opened my door and placed my luggage on the sidewalk. "Ni hui shuo Ying Wen ma?" (Do you speak English?) He didn't answer, but pointed in the direction of what I assumed was Tongji. A student and his girlfriend noticed me and helped out and got me to the Guest House. He spoke English well, was from Mongolia, and studying surveying at the university.

Arriving here wasn't like arriving at the Sheraton, and the staff here speak very little English. But they're all friendly and they try to help. Unfortunately, there's no internet access here and there's a charge for using the local phone, so I decided another (local) pre-paid sim card was the way to go.

So I ventured out tonight, again making sure not to get lost, and came on a little "phone card" stand in front of some shops and got a card and number for 100 RMB. The girl at the stand couldn't speak English, but when I pulled out my phone and opened the back cover she knew what kind of card I needed, and she let me put it in to make sure it worked before I left.

So I continued walking in the excessively hot and muggy night air of Shanghai and came upon a larger-than-average store with bright fluorescent lights and people heading into it. So I followed inside and saw the store's name in English characters: "Wu Mart: Hypermarket". It was fun to look at all the Chinese variations of groceries, appliances, and other goods ... I did notice however, that in the tea section there were more boxes of Lipton (not marked as such, but I recognized the packaging) than of traditional Chinese teas. Hmm.

I left the store with a cold Sprite and a can of Pringles and headed back for the Guest House. Along the way I was stopped by an older woman and what must have been her husband, and she began talking to me (imploring me?) in Chinese. I assured her I couldn't speak Chinese and that I was American. "Wo bo hui shuo pu tong hua. Wo shih mei guo ren." But the more I repeated myself the more emphatic she became. Finally, I turned and walked away.

I made it back, hot, tired, and ready to fall into bed. My bed? The only firmer surface I've slept on is a floor. But I like it enough that a thought ran through my head: "I wonder if I can get one shipped to Raleigh?"