Saturday, May 2

What a Day! and Night

So besides being sick and in pain I ventured out into the world to continue with my plans.

A friend of mine wanted so bad to see Jay Chou in concert and so I tried to help her out. I went to the campus early and got a massage across the street. After my friends were ready so we made our way down to the Shanghai train station to buy a ticket to Kunshan. [It's about 25min away by bullet train.] In the purchasing area we found that there are certain lines for certain cities, so we had to stand in the line for Kunshan. While we were there, we noticed that the line wasn't really moving. Why? The girls at the front were taking money from people who had just randomly walked up and buying tickets for them. I don't mind finding ways to make money, but I don't want to be inconvenienced by it. We had to literally push them out of the way and then decided to take a long time, pretending we couldn't read chinese, to buy our tickets.

After we went to get lunch but since I was having trouble swallowing I just ordered something small. **Funny story. I ordered you tiao (a bread stick like food) and I think it tastes like funnel cake with out the sugar. Therefore I wanted sugar lol I asked the lady for tang but I was so worried that she thought I meant tang . at that time I wasn't sure of which tone to use hahaha**

Finally we got on the bullet train. It was kind of like an airplane. I think it was new. Someone was sitting in my seat so I just sat next to my friends, but a man came on complaining so I ended up asking the people to move and taking my actual seat. He wasn't able to sit with his friends so I don't know why he didn't let me sit with mine...:( Oh well.

So we arrived in Kunshan but no taxis knew where to go!! The concert started at 7 and it was about 6:45 already!!! We walked down a random street and found a taxi (it was rush hour so almost all taxis were taken). A guy was going to grab that taxi but he let us have it. I thank him and said a prayer. The driver didn't know the exact place but he knew the area but as we were driving he noticed we were talking about the concert and he knew where to go :)

when we got there (6:58) my voice was going, but I wasn't worried because I'd never lost it. ***Notice: There are many people selling fake tickets in the open!! With cops around!!***We found the ticket office and the only tickets left were the ones we wanted to buy :) 380 yuan. And it turned out to be directly facing the stage. haha no need for front row seats.

Unfortunately the last train back to Shanghai was 10:28 and we hadn't been able to pull that friend away until 10:00. and of course there were no taxis...I was a bit chilly from that concert outside and my throat was killing me, so I did the unthinkable. I had some random guy give us a ride for 20 yuan. **Notice: There are 'unofficial' taxi drivers who bargain with you to give you a ride.** I know it's not common in America but I did and I'm still here. So....we missed the train anyway and I wasn't about to trust the unofficial van/bus drivers...We bought tickets for 12yuan on a 4am train. we had no passports so we stayed in the station. I had completely lost my voice by then because in my group they depend on my Chinese...I think I should start charging for setting these things up.

It was horrible to spend the night sick and in pain there but I survived. Now that I am home at 6:40 I have to try and sleep before my next adventure.

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