Before I continue I should probably tell you a little bit about my friend H.L. I met her about 4 months ago here in Korea. She had just recently arrived here to attend University. I met her online and we hung out about once a week. She was in Shanghai for summer break and suggested I go there for my vacation. She's a good friend but I don't really think of her as anything other than a friend. This would cause some friction a little later during our trip.
Anyway, on with the story.
Lets pick up the story during my first night there. After the taxi ride and dropping my stuff off in the hotel, I went with H.L. and her friend Ally to a nearby restaurant. I found Ally to be a really cool girl, even though she had just started learning English 3 months prior. I tried to talk to her as much as I could to help her practice and get to know her better. Ally was very friendly and flirtatious, completely different from the many Korean girls I had met before. However, after a bit I noticed my friend H.L. was starting to get a bit upset so I just concentrated on my food and let the two of them chat for a bit. After finishing I made plans to meet H.L. the next day about 11am for a day of site seeing. We left the restaurant and went our separate ways.
The next day I went downstairs a bit early to walk around, take some photos and get something to drink. The first thing I noticed when I went outside was the sweltering heat. It was a completely different sort of heat than what I was used too. Coming from Arizona I'm used to very high temperatures and very low humidity. This heat had a very high temperature and very high humidity. I began to sweat immediately. Here are some photos of the area around my hotel.
The entrance to my hotel is right next to the man standing on the left, looking in the opposite direction. On the right is some sort of bus station. It LOOKS like Korea, but my god it feels COMPLETELY different.
This next picture is from the hotel entrance looking to the right across the street. While the building looks run down, based on what I saw in other parts of Shanghai I would say this building isn't too bad. I did see some third world slums but I did not take any pictures of them for several reasons.
This picture also looks a lot like Korea. However, what you don't notice is the deafening sound of the insects in the trees, the pollution, and the raw sewage smell. It's not a pleasant place.
Same street different direction. I love the clothes hanging outside the windows.
I have to apologize for my pictures. I have really lost my creativity when it comes to photography. These days when I take photos I try to not focus on a subject, rather I want to get a general feeling for the area that I am in. I want to take people who see my photos to the place I am at. So I try to just take general photos of an area which will hopefully give you some idea of the surroundings. The only problem with this is the photos tend to be general boring, and you can only experience the visuals, no smells, sounds, or physical feelings. I did take some short videos, but they didn't turn out very well, one of them you can hear the sound of the insects in the trees, but its a little muffled and doesn't really give the full experience of the sound.
With that said, as you view my photos of Shanghai (minus the museum photos) I want you to imagine the smells of raw sewage, car and factory pollution, noise pollution from cars, insects, people, and construction, and a broiling heat that quickly overwhelms you. Enjoy.
End part 2. More story, photos, and videos coming shortly.
