After six
months of living in Shanghai, I’m leaving.
My last
month was rough, as I was evicted from my house with six day’s notice. “Renter’s
rights? Never heard of ‘em.”
The people
at my school were super generous, and let me stay, rent free in a back room at
the school. It was a little creepy at night, but free rent and free food is
always a blessing.
My next stop
after Shanghai is Taiwan. The only way to Taiwan from China, without a plane,
is by boat. (Remember I’m doing the whole trip without a plane) The Cusco ferry
runs twice a week, and is the only ferry I could find. This is the company I
used to book the ticket is here, if there are any interested parties.
Standing in front of the ferry
My bunk
Looking for their rooms
Four to a room
It was about
$108 USD for the cheapest room, and the trip took around 14 hours. The ferry
felt more like a cruise though, I mean, look at this scenery.
Leaving China
Leaving China
A full moon over open waters. We also passed between two lightning storms, but the water was very calm.
The ferry
landed in Keelung, which is in northern Taiwan, and about a 45 minute train
ride from Taipei. After a stop
in Keelung and Taipei, it was off to Jiufen. (joe-fun)
Pictures are
below.
The view from my room in Jiufen.
The view from where the bus dropped us off.
Sunset in Jiufen,
Adjusting to Taiwan
People in Taiwan
and Shanghai both speak Chinese, but they could not be more different. Shanghai
is a loud, polluted, overcrowded cacophony of busy people, fighting for a
modicum of space. Taiwan is not.
Shanghai
people have been so generous to me, and I can’t count the number of kindnesses
I was shown. But still, life in Shanghai is rough, and the Shanghai attitude
toward personal space is hard to live with.
I
experienced Shanghai people frequently spitting, littering, yelling into their
phones on overcrowded subways, ignoring lines and cutting in front of everyone-
even if people had been waiting for over an hour. I also saw many instances of
kids peeing. I once went two weeks were I saw this happen every day. One time I
arrived at a subway station to find two young boys peeing on the stairs,
playing a game where they could see who could pee farther and cover more of the
steps. The father watched, and took no action to stop this or guide their urine
to an area that people wouldn’t have to walk through. (I promise that all of this
is not generalization or hyperbole- I lived with this madness EVERY DAY I was
there).
People in
Taiwan are very different. They file into orderly, almost OCD-like lines. There
is absolutely no cutting. There’s no spitting. No screaming into cell phones.
Almost no littering. Also, I’ve been here five days and haven’t seen one kid
peeing.
It’s kind of
funny, because six months of living in Shanghai has forced me to behave like a
Shanghai resident, bumping and shoving and fighting for my space. (If you don’t
fight for space you may not be able to board, or get off from, the subway) My
first few hours in Taiwan I had to control myself and remind myself that I wasn’t
in Shanghai. I didn’t have to push and fight for space on the subway because
people would happily move over for me.
In shanghai,
people tend to rush onto the subway as soon as it arrives, and promptly race to
any open seat, especially the old ladies. The people who want to get off the
subway must then fight against a flowing river of people.
In Taipei
the train stops, people get out, and the train makes a special noise, telling
people when they can board the train. Everyone waits to hear the noise before
boarding. No pushing. No shoving. No elbows or shoulders or backpacks to fight
through.
I cannot
express the joy I felt at arriving in Taiwan.
(Politically
correct side note: I hope the blog doesn’t seem racist or mean, this is simply
my experience of six months living in Shanghai. It was hard for me. China is
the most difficult country I’ve traveled in so far. And while the Chinese people have probably been the nicest, warmest, most generous people I’ve met on
this trip, the Chinese attitude toward personal, public space has been
incredibly frustrating.)
Anyway, this is Taiwan, I hope you enjoy. Lots more to come!
