Farewells, Maglevs, Friends and Tea

Goodbye Korea!
No more screaming kids! No more wacky bosses! No more fermented cabbage everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner! 5 months of tranquility, peace and adventure lie ahead of me....jealous much? :)

24/11/07
Wake up at 7:45, throw on my backpack and hit the Kwangju bus terminal with co-workers Micheal and Liz and friend Bell to see me off, thanks guys, much love. An hour later, arrive in Muan airport, destination SHANGHAI!
Cram myself into an airplane seat, chow down something resembling food, check out the stewardesses' cute butts and BOOM an hour and 20 minutes later, touch down in Pudong airport. We have officially begun this sheeiittt.

1300 hours, jump on the Maglev - Shanghai's turbo charged magnetic train - completely annihilate the 30km journey from the Airport to the city in 8 minutes reaching the insane speed of 431km/h. Feeling like Marty Mcfly in the year 1955 I step out into a bustling area of the city and it finally hits me that I'm in China, holy shit! Jump on the super efficient metro - line 2 - destination 'Peoples Square' in Huangpu and Jing'an the tourism hub of Shanghai, infamous for Nanjing Road and 'The Bund' Feeling completely lost I plonk down on a patch of grass and get stuck into the lonely planet, in a matter of seconds a young Chinese couple ask me if they can help me in perfect English. The women's name, Daisy, 23 year old English teacher and expert on all things Shanghai. The dude, Steven 22 year old graduate of Biology, eager to help me in anyway he can. Their complete and unbiased friendliness towards me is inspiring, they insist on showing me around and help me find a sick hotel bang smack in the middle of the action. After this we all go to an authentic 100% traditional Chinese tea lounge. We sit in a small room, beautifully decorated with Chinese writing with a plethora of Teas before us. A beautiful young lady wearing the traditional Chinese dress enters and presents an amazing tea pouring/history lesson to us, and everything is perfectly translated by my new Chinese friends, fantastic! We tasted Ginseng, Green, Lavender, Flower and fruit teas while being taught each of their medicinal properties and learning the drinking etiquette for each. Ladies drink with little fingers poking out, symbolizing beauty and Dudes drink with little fingers tucked in, symbolizing power. The tea must be finished in three shots and we give respect to a statue of the tea god (a weird frog or dragon thing with a coin in it's mouth) Stoking the god on its various parts is said to bring fortune, peace and happiness to ones family. I was so impressed I spent over $100 on Green tea, tea cups and hand blown glass pots. What a great experience for my first day of traveling, hope it's the start of many!

Grabbed some delicious noodles and stir fried pork for dinner and now sitting in an Internet cafe near The bund after taking in some sick night time panorama. Plan on hitting up the Shanghai museum and French Concession tomorrow, I'll keep you posted!

This concludes The Daly Report Day 1.