Dave’s Wagon

I finally have Internet in my room after an application and setup process that was much more complicated than it should have been. Obviously my new connection is more “limited” than that back in the States, and for some reason my FTP client no longer seems to work. Still, I can upload photos directly through Wordpress, so here’s my experience thus far in photos:

The plane we took over, a Boeing 777, a large enough aircraft to be comfortable in were we not packed like tinned fish in our peasant-class cabin.

This is what happens when you don’t own a globe: you think laterally. I was surprised to realize that the shortest path to Shanghai was to go north from Chicago, over the north pole, south through Russia and Inner Mongolia, and down to Pudong Airport.

A view out the window over the north pole and away from the horror of the Chinese subtitled version of The Da Vinci Code movie.

Only a 14-hour plane ride could push a man to ask “Can’t this thing go any faster than 600?”

Immigration at Shanghai-Pudong Airport. Length of wait for Chinese nationals: 0 minutes. Length of wait for foreigners: 45 minutes. Temperature: mildly sweltering.

The main area of Pudong. You call this over-population?!

The exquisite Chinese porcelain that awaited me in my dorm room after the three-hour bus ride to Hangzhou. All our group’s rooms are single occupant ones with showers, sinks, and toilets. Admittedly, I’m living better here than I did in the States.

The manly water thermos that came with the room.

A view out the front of the International Student’s dormitory towards Slightly Obscured by Smog Mountain.

The tree-lined streets of our campus. I have no witty comment for this image, just the observation that this city is much more beautiful and well laid out than most American cities, especially of this size (population: six million).

The roast duck at our first lunch in China. I offered to pick up the bill.

There is no Red Alert 3, but I spent five kuai in the hopes that somehow that hadn’t stopped the Chinese from pirating it. It turned out to be the expansion pack to Red Alert 2. What a waste of 60 cents.

And that’s it for now. More Sino-tastic updates to follow!

This entry was posted on Friday, September 8th, 2006 @ 6:33 am on the category China, Photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

I finally have Internet in my room after an application and setup process that was much more complicated than it should have been. Obviously my new connection is more “limited” than that back in the States, and for some reason my FTP client no longer seems to work. Still, I can upload photos directly through Wordpress, so here’s my experience thus far in photos:

The plane we took over, a Boeing 777, a large enough aircraft to be comfortable in were we not packed like tinned fish in our peasant-class cabin.

This is what happens when you don’t own a globe: you think laterally. I was surprised to realize that the shortest path to Shanghai was to go north from Chicago, over the north pole, south through Russia and Inner Mongolia, and down to Pudong Airport.

A view out the window over the north pole and away from the horror of the Chinese subtitled version of The Da Vinci Code movie.

Only a 14-hour plane ride could push a man to ask “Can’t this thing go any faster than 600?”

Immigration at Shanghai-Pudong Airport. Length of wait for Chinese nationals: 0 minutes. Length of wait for foreigners: 45 minutes. Temperature: mildly sweltering.

The main area of Pudong. You call this over-population?!

The exquisite Chinese porcelain that awaited me in my dorm room after the three-hour bus ride to Hangzhou. All our group’s rooms are single occupant ones with showers, sinks, and toilets. Admittedly, I’m living better here than I did in the States.

The manly water thermos that came with the room.

A view out the front of the International Student’s dormitory towards Slightly Obscured by Smog Mountain.

The tree-lined streets of our campus. I have no witty comment for this image, just the observation that this city is much more beautiful and well laid out than most American cities, especially of this size (population: six million).

The roast duck at our first lunch in China. I offered to pick up the bill.

There is no Red Alert 3, but I spent five kuai in the hopes that somehow that hadn’t stopped the Chinese from pirating it. It turned out to be the expansion pack to Red Alert 2. What a waste of 60 cents.

And that’s it for now. More Sino-tastic updates to follow!

This entry was posted on Friday, September 8th, 2006 @ 6:33 am on the category China, Photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.