Our second day in Shanghai was a lot of fun, definitely my favorite day we were there… because we went shopping ;) We went to the Bund early in the morning but it was just so hot and humid that we were drenched so fast. It was very cool to see all of the architecture though and especially the tower that is so famous.
After we finished at The Bund we got back on the bus and we went to a mall/market that we asked about because some of us really wanted to find some good knock offs! And oh boy, we definitely did. I know some of us were in heaven, including me. It was very similar to the Silk Market in Beijing that we went to the past 2 years so most of us were pretty familiar with the atmosphere. Everywhere you went there were purses, wallets, bags, phone cases, knick-knacks, just about anything you could think of.
It was the normal process, "Oh, you are very pretty girl, I give you very good price, student morning price." Then they would type in some huge number into their calculator and we would gape at them. They would then ask for us to give them a price then have the same shock we showed them when we typed in a much lower price. In the end almost all of us got close to the deals that we wanted…and probably bought more than we needed. Especially since after we leave Chenzhou we can only have one carry-on per person, and we have to fit all of our belongings in it so that we can take the train to Hong Kong.
Later that night we decided we just wanted to order pizza from Pizza Hut and eat it in Shannon's room since we had to be up so early the next morning to catch our flight to Changsha. We had planned on just ordering cheese and pepperoni pizza but we later found out when we arrived that our guide had also ordered us seafood. It was not the best smelling pizza I have ever smelt, that was for sure. She also ordered us 2 boxes of a Hawaiian type pizza with sausage, which wasn't that bad by the time we got the guts to try it. In the end it was a successful pizza night and we got to spend time with each other, do a devotion, and just talk about what was to come. I think it was really good for us as a team to bond.
The next morning…well this morning…as I'm typing it, it seems like it was forever ago. Anyways, our wake up call was at 4:30 and we had to be down in the lobby by 5:15 all packed and ready to go! We hopped on the bus with our breakfast to go and went to go check our bags in. We all brought a large suitcase with donations for the orphanage that we are planning on leaving in Chenzhou and then we all have a carry-on and backpack. Well, this morning Shannon's Walmart duffle bag started to rip, we were scared that when we went on the plane it would break and lose everything. So when we got to the gate she had to pay to saran wrap her whole duffle bag. It was pretty funny looking, but ended up working so that's all that matters.
So at 7:40 we were off to Changsha on the plane and it took about an hour and a half. When we landed we got our luggage and went to the bus, which took us to a McDonalds at the Changsha train station. We all got our meals and some of us even got oreo mcflurrys and oreo/mocha or caramel mcflurrys, different, but still good!
After that it was onto the bus for a 4/5 hour bus ride to Chenzhou. Our driver was quite the impatient man, which was ok with us because we got there safely and faster than most people would have. It was definitely a very bumpy drive though. I did manage to catch a quick nap, which I am very thankful for now since I am somehow still awake at 8:45 PM. So that is all for now… hopefully in a few minutes I'll be able to write a little about the short time we were able to spend at the orphanage today.
Thanks for all the prayers.
Elyssa
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