Man I love Journey. But that’s beside the point. Today’s our last full day in China with the program—we started in Beijing, then went to Xi’an, then ended up in Shanghai. Most everyone’s going home on the same flight tomorrow—I’m pretty excited to be staying here in Shanghai for a few more days. Except for the fact that (no big surprise here) I still can’t get money. We’ll see how long Y100 ($15) can last me…
All that was on the agenda for today was our final group dinner in the French Concession and then just walking around that area until we were done with it; the rest of the day was ours. We ate lunch at a French (duh) restaurant called La Saleya, and it was incredible. They didn’t get our reservation right, but we got to eat at the sister restaurant right next door, with the same menu. Being French and all, this is probably the first full group meal we’ve had that we didn’t have to eat family style, which was refreshing. The 3-course meal was beyond delicious, and a welcome reprieve from the spiciness and similar smells of the Chinese meals we had been eating. The coolest thing about the restaurant I’d have to say was the bathroom—next to a poster of 40 hand drawn penises, there was a little button. If you had James Bond-style instincts (like I do), you’d know that the button opened a secret door that led us to the bathroom. Other than that the bathrooms were fine, but come on—a secret door? Sweet.
Turns out I didn’t want to spend too much time walking around the French Concession, and neither did about half of the group, so we went back to the hotel to nap/pack. I had already been to the French Concession (we went to Zapata’s there one night and walked around a bit), and others wanted to go find some fashion markets to spend the last remnants of their cash. I did the whole nap/pack thing for a little bit, and put in my request to get emergency cash from Visa—they said they’d have to wait until tomorrow because the emergency cash department has normal business hours. Thanks, Regions.
On the schedule for tonight, it said (and I paraphrase, with bolded words quoted), “YOU CAN GO OUT TONIGHT, BUT DON’T LOSE YOUR SANITY OR SAFETY.” Which we took to mean, “go party tonight, but be safe!” Apparently, we make Liu Laoshi very nervous, because all evening she’s been patrolling the halls to make sure we’re not drinking… oh well. I’m headed to Yeong’s hotel at the SWFC tonight, and it’ll be time to party like pros.
