Our train SUPPOSED to arrive at 11.09am and Rex (LCP of AIESEC FDU, met him when he's in NZ for CEEDership; who's the initiator of this Shanghai intern tour) planned to come and pick us up. But due to the maintenance and road works on the railway all the way from Beijing to Shanghai, our train was delayed for one hour. After arriving at Shanghai, I realised that one of the most terrifying things that I was praying not to happen, has just happened on me!!! the sim card I bought in Beijing DOESN'T work in Shanghai!!! How crazy is this...... That means I'll have no way of contacting others nor utilising my phone :( Arturs was quite happy though, he said it's time for me to try the 'non-cellphone freedom'. Lol. 
REX~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally saw him outside the train station! He came to pick us up alone so the other interns can start their tour without waiting for us. Rex still look the same, still energetic, still have all these different plans on his hands. He just finished the new president election for his LC, so he will be passing his presidential role to the new president early next year; then he'll be going to Canada for a study exchange; then return back to China and continue his journey in AIESEC China. 
We hopped onto the tour bus that will be taking us around for the tour and we went directly towards the Shanghai Museum. We will be spending the first day of the tour in west Shanghai. The museum is located in the central of west Shanghai, surrounded by tall and funny shape (well, i should be nice and say, 'modern') buildings; and a lot of trees and greens around! This really surprised us, it's so green around this area! Well, ok, it's not THAT green when compared to Auckland or anywhere in New Zealand. But to be honest, I have not seen one green field in Beijing yet, and the little greens you see around are quite dusty and dull looking. I really like the environment around the museum. The museum is free of entry, but we still had to line up to go in. We stood outside for probably 10 or so minutes? Then we realised lining up is for the security to scan through our bags checking for dangerous weapons/explosives. 
As soon as we got into the museum, I heard a girl's voice calling out my name. I turned around, and I see Chrissy running towards me!!! It's Chrissy!!! She's also an AIESECer, from AIESEC Waikato (Hamilton, New Zealand). We've been really close friends because of AIESEC but only get to see each other every now and then during conferences etc. We were so happy to see each other again, we hugged and we briefly talked. Chrissy is also doing her AIESEC exchange in China, she'll be based in Shanghai in a project for prevention of HIV/AIDS. Behind her was a crowd of people looking at us, some looking confused and some looking excited. This is the intern group that we will be travelling together in this tour. Those who were confused had no idea why Chrissy was so excited, but the ones that were excited are the kiwi interns!!! In this Shanghai tour, kiwis are the dominant, wakakaka, this is so rare for kiwis. 
The Shanghai museum have about 6 floors, and each floor displays quite a few different exhibition. We went into few exihibitions, including potteries from different dynasties, personal collection of paintings (which then was donated to the museum) etc. To be honest, although the decorations and interior designs inside the museum are quite ancient styled, but with the marble stone walls and floors with hunderds of lights shining and reflecting of the walls, I would say that the meseum gave me more of a modern feeling rather than serious and ancient feeling. Personally, I think it's quite a mismatch of exhibition and meseum style, just a personal opinion. Soon we left the museum and went out from the back door. The back of the museum actually made us more excited. It's a leisure park at the back of the museum where we can see open space and tall buildings further behind; family and kids walking and running around; people 'playing' kite; and to our biggest excitement, the grassfields here are so green! hoho, this is quite new for me. This place reminds me of New Zealand, maybe not so much of the sky, but the 'green-ness' here really reminds of Auckland. yayyyyy!!!
We met the rest of the group on our tour bus, and Rex, finally began the welcoming speech. This is the first intern tour offered in AIESEC China, and he did it because he promised the MCs that he will have an intern tour before he finish his LCP term. AIESEC receptions has been quite flaky in some countries but in general it's quite ok. I like intern tours, because as AIESECers we can become friends really quickly (with the same common language and AIESEC experiences we share). There are 17 interns in this tour and about 7 or 8 FDU AIESECers. An information sheet of the tour was given to us, it's 250RMB (to cover snacks, water, bus and accommodation at night). The tour includes Shanghai Museum, Shanghai Old Street (famous walking street for traditional snacks), Yu Yuan, dinner, back to accommodation (rest), then clubbing; the next day (sunday) we will be going to the west side of Shanghai, Pudong, see Pearl Tower and JinMao Tower, and a special place called 1933 Millhouse.
Rex packed some breakfast for me knowing that we'll miss it this morning. Hoho, it was so nice of him and it definitely is the one dish that I want to have the most when I think about Shanghai, it is Shanghai Steam Buns!!!!!!!!! It's the best and most representative Shanghai food. Imagine little buns size at about 3-4cm diameter, steamed, contains usually pork mince, sometimes with some crab eggs; and the most amazing thing: it contains so much soup inside the bun!!! The way to eat it is to be very careful when you pick it up so you don't make a hole on the thin-as pastry, then you bite a little hole and suck all the soup out!!! mmmm if you got it fresh, it's going to be SO hot, but the bun and the soup inside is just too good for me to wait, hoho, i love it soooo much! Rex got me the most famous ones: mince and crab buns, mmmm so good!
Today is my happiest day with food, hoho. After having the Shanghai steam buns on the bus, I'm about to have more Shanghai food!!! yus!!!!! Our next stop is the Shanghai Old Street, 上海老街. This is one of the most famous food street in Shanghai, selling the most traditional and popular Shanghai food and snacks, with some of the most famous shops in the city. We had about 50 minutes in this street and each of us had so much fun and food! CHEAP and TASTY food!!! Rext first led us to this shop where customers are lining all the way out of the shop. This shops is 'Yang's Fried Dumplins', it's sooooo good and popular that the staffs are nonstop working and making food and still couldn't supply to all the demands from the customers. I bought a tray of fried dumplings (I would actually say the size of a Shanghai style fried dumplings is the size of a bun), 4 dumplings for 4RMB. It's simply DELICIOUS. Really recommend anyone to try this. This is Jordan's favourite food as well, he's so enjoying it and just couldn't stop eating (lol). mmmm Really recommend this =)
Then Rex took me to this really amazing dessert shop, called 甜蜜蜜, apparently it's one of the most famous dessert shops in Shanghai but this is the only location. The major ingredient used in the desserts are fresh fruits, e.g. mango and grapefruit; milk; red beans; basically anything sweet. We ordered a bowl of 杨枝甘露, which is like milk with tapioca pearls and fresh mango. It's sooooo good! A little chill, a little sweet, thick and creamy; the mango gives out this refreshing sour taste; and when it's combined with the sweet tapioca pearls and milk, hoho, it makes me feel like i'm in LOVE~~ hoho. After dessert we joined the rest of the group again and I bought this freshly squeezed mango juice. Jordan bought the freshly squeezed watermelon juice. It's at about 8RMB per bottle of freshly squeezed juice, which is quite pricy for China, but considering that it'sll be 8NZD in NZ (and if we're lucky to have those fruits imported at the time), i'm just really enjoying my time in China, haha.
Rex showed me one interesting thing, well, I know about it, but I never wanted nor dare to try it. This particular snack is so famous and popular in China and within other Chinese community around the world: Smelly Tofu (literal translation from Chinese). This is basically fried tofu after it's been fermented (kinda stinky smell), then mix it in with chilli and special sauce. Some people really like it, in Chinese poverbs, there's a saying like this "smelly tofu, smells bad, but tastes really good". Some people hated it, because it seriously smells awful (just like tofu gone bad). I personally don't fancy tofu, and now it's 'smelly' tofu....... ewwwwww. But then I thought, why don't I just give it a try and just step outside my comfort zone? I can't really say I dislike it without giving it a try right? 6 smelly tofu for 5RMB, cheap and let's give it a try. Haha, I just wanna say, yeah, for those who wouldn't think they'll like it, just give it a little tiny try and leave it. Haha, after the first bite, I made sure that I dip my tofu in as much sauce as possible, with as much chilli as possible and just quickly swallow the tofu. Lol, not my personal favourite. 
This so called 'Shanghai Old Street' is in between these old old old Shanghai buildings (where there're not too many people living here now). But very controversially, behind these short and old Shanghai buildings, you can always see sky scrappers shooting out like bamboo and into mid-air. It's flashy, modern, tall; and where we're standing is shatty, old, very underdeveloped. Shanghai Old Street is famous for its traditional Shanghai snacks. It used to be much longer and with more shops and customers; however due to many reasons, e.g. development plans, World Expo 2010 etc, many parts of this street has been closed down and replaced by modern shopping centres. We're in the part that's still being preserved (but under a lot of reconstruction and improvement), and it's only about 500metres long now. I hope this place will still remain with its traditional style. 
We continued with our journey. Our next stop is Yu Garden (豫园). This is located at the north east side of the old Shanghai. This is the last remaining garden from the Ming Dynasty, it was built in 1559 so it's 450 years old now. It was built for a personal / private garden in the Ming Dyasty but now it is open to shops and customers and tourists. Many of the buildings that we saw (due to limited time we couldn't go through the whole garden) were built recently, but maintaining the traditional Chinese architecture styles. 
I really enjoy walking around these buildings and atmosphere. The mixture of ancient art and history, with the modern innovation and technology, a not too old but not too new feeling, comfortable and not extreme for either styles. A group of 20 something people walking in a busy little 'town' like this in China is practically impossible to stay within a team. Sooner or later, we realised that we were separated. But it doesn't matter match, we have one hour to look around before getting back to the bus for the next stop.
Jordan and I started our own little tour in Yu Garden. We both saw our favourite Shanghai-nese food: Steam Bun!!!!Although we are very full but we just couldn't resist the call from the buns, omg, these buns are just too good. We saw so many interesting things in Yu Garden. A sculpture of dragon inside a turtle shell (see photo), ready-to-eat honeydew melon pieces for 1RMB; 2RMB shop; I bought a scarf for 10RMB; Jordan bought a pair of leather shoes for work for 60RMB (original ask price 120RMB); endless photos. One thing that really excited me was finding Starbucks inside this heavy Chinese cultural garden. haha, seeing 
Starbucks, the big USA coffee brand inside a shop that's decorated with Chinese symbols and colours, this is similar to mixture I was talking before, this is the combination of Eastern and Western cultures.
Starbucks, the big USA coffee brand inside a shop that's decorated with Chinese symbols and colours, this is similar to mixture I was talking before, this is the combination of Eastern and Western cultures. 
Yu Garden sells not only local and international branded foods, but also many arts and performance and souvenirs. There are little stalls that will design your signature for you; or making a piece of art from cans, straws, paper etc. I also saw these two massive man-size soft-toys in the shape of sushi and a monkey. LOL! They're posing for the sushi shop, haha. I asked to take photos with them, and the sushi girl was so excited and decided to hold my head, haha, I thought I'll be 'very Chinese' in my photo, YEAH! ^_^
Another thing that I see everywhere is the World Expo 2010 logo, sculpture, posters etc. There are so many shops inside the Yu Garden selling Expo only related products, and these are the only 'authorised' shops to sell Expo products (of course, authorised by Expo and Chinese government). But to be honest, there are exactly the same products on the street and by those little street dealers, haha, cheaper (MUCH cheaper), so i guess the only benefit you get from being in the shop is the status of 'being in the official store'. 
Like I said before, in this group of interns, kiwis is the biggest population group, haha. This year there are so many kiwi AIESECers this year in China. Firstly because we are one of the few countries that'll have study breaks at this time of the year (so yes, there are few Australians in China too). Secondly, exchange in China has been one of the primary focus in AIESEC NZ. Thirdly, we alllll wanna experience China!!! 
After Yu Garden, Rex told us that we're going to a very special and beautiful place. He suggests that allf of us should take our camera. We walked for a few minutes after getting off the bus, nobody apart from local AIESECers knows where we're heading to and what we're about to see. Suddenly, the view that came into my eyes was so astonishing that I almost forgot to breath. We were standing on a bridge that looks directly at the CBD of Shanghai and the symbol of Shanghai - Pearl Tower. This is so beautiful. It was really cold that night but just for those few minutes that we stayed on the bridge, I forgot about everything but just trying to grasp the beauty in front of me. It is dark already, but the lights from all the buildings in the CBD lightened up the stky, it's gloomy 
and mysterious, it's modern and fascinating. The view from this bridge captures the essense view of symbolic Shanghai view. All the interns as well as local AIESECers are so excited about this. Although the sky isnt' clear but rather misty, but the lights are shimmering and glowing in the dark. The waterfront reflecting the lights and sending little waves here and there. The gentle breeze blowing onto my face, refreshing and cooling. I love this place!!The finance directors from Cantebury, Waikato and Auckland (Calum, Chrissy and me) took our first group photo together. I miss these guys. I miss the finance directors back home. I miss the OGX directors back home!
After dinner we were taken back to our hostel. It's the International Traveller's Hostel, built underneath a massive bridge (not too noisy though). The interior design of the hostel is very home feeling, very warm and fussy. I was the first one to take a shower, and OMG I regret it so much. It was a COLD shower!!!! The boiler was just turned on and man....it's so cold. To check-in with the hostel we must present our passport or Chinese ID for registration, some of the interns left their passport at their Shanghai home so it was just a mess trying to get everyone settle down. Our plan was to go out and experience Shanghai nightlife but we couldn't leave until 11.30pm (which is still ok).
Initially we were going to go to a club that's really popular in Shanghai, however we were just so unfortunate that it was holding a 'invitation only' party, or else we have to pay 500RMB to enter. We quickly moved onto another club, and eventually we arrived at Tanghui VIP唐会. There's also a 唐会in Auckland, so hoho, this looks familiar!! The one thing that I hate about clubs and bars in China is the indoor smoking habit. It's just so disguisting, especially when there's sweat + smoke, yuk!! The music in 唐会 let me down again, it's soooooooo much of techno and so lack of hip hop. Chrissy and I were so unhappy with the music, it's just so hard to party it up! Some of the people in the club are, haha, quite aged, like maybe 35+??? holding a ciggar on the left hand, grabbing their 'girl partner' on the right hand, looking at other girls around, giving off that yuky slimy look, drunk, eww!!!! The best part of the night I think it's just that we're with AIESECers and friends =) that really made a difference. Suddenly during one of the songs, three girls dressed in white / black / red (each) stood on the bar table and started dancing, another girl was standing on a little platform in the second level in front of the massive LCD screen. I guess this is one of the unique things about this club. Quite a lot of people were staring at these dancers until they finally finished and got off. They were ok, but the moves were quite repetitive and looks like they've been trained before. But nonetheless, I like this little 'spice' added into this clubbing experience =)
There goes my first day in Shanghai! Look forward to a better day tomorrow =)
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