Living Abroad

Since our last trip to Hangzhou, Sophia and I had been itching to get out of town and see more of China. On the recommendation of a co-worker, we looked into Huangshan Mountain, also known as Yellow Mountain.   It is a little bit confusing without a guide book and we were having trouble finding much information online.  We weren’t even sure if we should take a train or a bus. Turns out the bus is definitely faster, about 5 hours getting there and 6 coming back (in traffic).  We originally planned to go during the Labor Day holiday weekend, but that turned into our first lesson. If you want to travel during the holidays, buy your tickets in advance! The South railway bus terminal was a madhouse! They literally had soldiers in fatigues keeping people from jumping the lines! We waited over an hour and by the time we got to the ticket window our bus was long gone…we decided to purchase tickets for that following Tuesday to take advantage of Sophia’s days off work.

I wanted to tell everyone about my trip to the Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix race last weekend. If you’re looking for a great way to spend your weekend while teaching abroad in Shanghai, it’s a pretty amazing way to spend a Sunday.  In true Chinese – Shanghai fashion, they went above and beyond on constructing this track. From what I read, it is the most expensive track on the entire circuit. Looking at the pictures, I think you’ll understand why.

This journey starts out at 6:00 am with a 10-minute walk to the metro station on Dong an’ road. I lucked out and my flight to Shenzhen (borders Hong Kong) was leaving from the airport closest to our apartment, it’s called Hongqiao. Of course, you can fly directly into Hong Kong, but this route can save you around USD$100 depending on when you book.

I made it to the airport and was quite surprised that we boarded the plane on time. In my experience and from what I’ve read, flights in China are almost always delayed. Boarding was the only thing we did on time…once seated we sat on the tarmac for a good 45minutes.