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Mini Fun Fact/Today I Learned: I share my birthday with the Battle of Hanoi, the first battle of the First French Indo-China War, which is basically Vietnamese Lexington and Concord. While there didn't seem to be too much celebrating the government did decorate the streets and set up some exhibits about the French Indo-China War, or as the Vietnamese say the Anti-French Resistance War.
I had a bit of a quiet birthday this year, other than the hotel sending me up a cake I did not do anything too birthday today. I did however explored the Old Quarter and Hoan Kiem Lake districts by my hotel. Unfortunately, most museums are closed on Mondays for some reason so I didn't end up doing much, but exploring the streets of Hanoi is interesting. Furthermore, the ATM in the airport ate my debit card so I had to go back to Noi Bai international to get it back which took up most of my morning. Interestingly enough, even though I didn't have enough Vietnamese dong (due to the lack of debit card) the hotel was A-OK taking my American green-backs for the cab ride. They actually seem to prefer US dollars over the Vietnamese dong, with even the airport exchange rates being pretty good. Thankfully, I was able to get my card back and reactivate it, I tested it and all is good. That afternoon I got to walk around Hoan Kiem Lake, see two temples, and two monuments. There is a constant theme of resistance and revolution in Hanoi, Hoan Kiem Lake itself and the temple on the lake (Ngoc Son Temple) is named for Emperor Le Loi returning his sword Heaven's Will that he used to end Ming Chinese occupation to the Golden Turtle God, the other temple was a monument to a monument of a poem Li Loi wrote about crushing unjust rebellion, there was the Martyrs’' Monument dedicated to those who died for Vietnam in their three or four modern wars for independence, and there was a statue of Emperor Ly Thai To who overthrew the previous Emperor and moved the capital to Hanoi. Somewhat strangely, this revolutionary zeal seemed focused at the Chinese and the French, not the Americans. I also saw St. Joseph's Cathedral which had nothing to do with revolution but was kind of cool anyway. Finally, I walked around the Old Quarter, seeing nothing in particular but taking in the whole experience. While I like the Vietnamese people they are worse drivers than the Chinese (which is saying something). They don't stop, for anything, they just keep driving. If you want to cross a street you just have to walk out into it, cars and all, and there is an unwritten rule that everyone just avoids hitting you. It is terrifying and goes against everything my parents tried to teach me about roads as a little Jared. I have yet to be hit though, so that is something I guess. Note: I know this is a bit late but I was having some issues uploading this yesterday.
On Saturday, some friends of mine and I went out for one of my other friend's birthdays. After acquiring a gift a Global Harbor, we went to a German place just over the river in Pudong. While it was expensive for Shanghai my dish, venison steak and sausage, was good. They also made their own German style beer, meaning it didn't taste like Qingdao. We also ordered pretzels, while they did come with schmaltz and chopped liver the guys on the street in Philly sell better pretzels for less. Finally, we went to a rooftop bar on the Bund, Bar Rogue. Since it was their Winter event, my friends and I didn't have to pay the cover since most of us were wearing white with Santa hats. Bar Rogue also gave us one free drink each. The Santa hats were fun, one of the guys who passes out flyers on the metro stared at us for a good few minutes because he couldn't believe foreigners actually ware those things. I thought he was going to steal my hat though, which he didn't. It was a fun way to say "good bye" to a semester in Shanghai and a nice way to start my journey. It is time for Jared In China to go on a vacation I think I deserve. Thanks to my massive winter break and Asian budget airlines Jared in China will now become Jared in China in Other Places... I did not think that name through when I started this blog... The first leg of my extra adventure is Hanoi, Vietnam. I am now sitting in a coffee bar in Shanghai's Pudong Airport (PVG) waiting for Vietnam Airlines to let me check my bag, so it goes. Vietnam should be cool, I have heard good things about the food (a theme that is very common with my blog).
I started my study abroad study abroad from The Shanghai Maglev train. If you need to go to PVG this is an experance I might skip. It is not that maglev trains aren't rad, because they are, but because it is way to hard to get to the Shanghai Maglev to be a useful method of transportation for most. I spend about an hour trying to get my luggage through the subway system, and experance I also can't recommend, for about 7 minutes on the maglev train itself. I can confirm though, the train goes 301km/h and the ride is smooth. I don't believe there is too much of a cost or time savings between the subway to maglev and the taxis. If the Municipality built a longer line to connect the airports and some of the big hotel areas, I could recommend it, but until then it is a skip. Also, if you hear anyone tell you that China will take over the world because maglev, tell them for me that they are dead wrong. Today, I had to go to Shanghai’s outlying industrial districts to put some items in storage. The only eventful thing that happened dealing with the storage was that I could do everything in English, including signing the contract. I did though get some time to walk around the neighborhood before returning to campus. While I am not wholly sure where in the City I was it was very clear that this area was established under Mao. First, many of the shops and homes had the look of buildings built by workgroups under Mao. From everything I have read, architecture under Mao’s China was a dying art and that is plain to see looking at some of the buildings. The other thing Mao tried to do in Shanghai, that I believe wherever I was had a part in, was turn Shanghai from, as the good Marxists say, a city of feudalists, imperialists, and consumption to a city of production. Factories and other large industrial buildings, like storage centers, were all over the place. While Mao would probably be pleased that there is so much production going on and that many of the factories are relatively new, he might not have been too happy about how they were built. Many of the factories were joint-ventures between a Chinese company and a foreign company. My storage center proudly flew the Bundesflagge und Handelsflagge, the German flag, the factory across the street flew the Stars and Stripes, the American flag right alongside the Five-star Red Flag of the Chinese state. The last interesting thing was that right along the factories was small family farms, a rather strange combo.
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AuthorI am a junior at Juniata College spending a year studying abroad at East China Normal University. Please feel free to join my on my journey to China and beyond. Archives
November 2021
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