Layover in Shanghai

Vietnam Trip ~ Day 15
(Layover on return flight from Vietnam)

July 27, 2012

We arrived in Shanghai around 8 a.m. on Friday (about an hour late from our expected arrival). After a long walk through the terminal, we finally arrived at the initial passport control area. From that line-up, people were sent in three directions, either into the international terminal, to domestic flights, or to immigration/customs. We would have been sent to the international terminal, but we told the officials that we planned to spend our 8-hour layover exploring Shanghai, so were sent to immigration and customs. The night before, while researching about our time in Shanghai, we had discovered that if visiting China for less than 48 hours no visa is needed to leave the airport, so we knew we'd have no problems with immigration. Soon our passports were stamped with Chinese stamps, and we were outside security. I (Ali) was especially excited to be able to get a new country added to my list because of this layover!

We made a quick stop at a currency exchange kiosk to get some Chinese Yuan, and also bought a few snacks at an airport convenience store to tide us over until we could find some real food. Then we headed off to find the fast train into downtown Shanghai that we had found out about while researching the night before. The train was a maglev train, which was pretty interesting to experience. The train got up to 430km/h during the 8-minute ride, which was pretty astonishing, although we decided the ride was definitely not as smooth as the KTX trains in South Korea.

Approaching Shanghai, a.k.a. high rise city

Maglev tickets!

Requisite photo op

It's a train!

The maglev train ended at a subway station where we bought day passes for the subway and navigated our way underground to the subway heading downtown. We noticed right away that the Shanghai subways were definitely not up to the standards of the Seoul and other South Korean subways. It was fine, just not as clean and not as smooth of a ride as the Korean subways. And we definitely missed the a/c aspect on such a hot day. Before too long we were exiting the downtown subway station and right where we wanted to be: in front of the Oriental Pearl Tower. We spent a bit of time walking around the walkways in front of the tower and over the highways, taking pictures of the tower, then got in line to get tickets. The line took quite a long time, but once up the tower, we enjoyed the views of Shanghai from the various lookout decks. While in line for the elevator to take us to the top deck, I started to get worried about getting back to the airport in time for our flight to BC. I really didn't want to miss it! Jonathan calmed me down, though, and I enjoyed the view from the tallest lookout. After coming back down the tower, we stopped at a Subway shop right nearby to grab some food, and then took the subway and maglev train back to the airport.

(Note: We learned about the Shanghai maglev train from an article from Time's Travel section, "Shanghai: 10 Things to Do." If you're planning to visit the city, check out the article for interesting ideas and more info on the maglev train.)

Subway tickets

Downtown Shanghai

Year of the Dragon

Mobile ice cream stand

Dragonali

Roundabout

What we came to do

#Selfie!

Towering over us

Line for the main elevator up the tower

Random carved wooden lion

Tiny little cruise ships

Bottle opener building

Huangpu River

U.F.O. - unidentified funny-looking object

You Are Here

In the traffic circle

Hi

The ceiling of the elevator was a mirror...

During our trip back, we both got a little bit worried about making it back to the airport in time for our 4 p.m. flight since it seemed like we had to wait a long time for each train to arrive. In the end, we did make it back in enough time, but we sure rushed and speed-walked through the airport back to security. Once in the line for security we knew we'd have enough time, though, so we could relax a little. The line didn't take too long and soon we were back in the international terminal.

As it turned out, we needn't have rushed at all -- our plane was delayed, and the departure time kept being pushed back further and further. Finally we heard an announcement that we would be given the supper that we were supposed to get on the plane, since it was already quite a bit past suppertime by that time. We were quite ready for the meal and ate it gladly. Once we were done, we still had to wait. Finally, after two hours of waiting, our plane had arrived and we could board. Before boarding, we quickly wrote my parents an e-mail letting them know that we would be at least two hours late into Vancouver. Once boarded we sat at the gate for another hour before moving. And then, when we thought we'd finally be taking off soon, we ended up sitting on the runway for yet another hour! The craziest occurrence was still to come, though. Just as we were gearing up for our take-off, all of a sudden it seemed like all the passengers on the plane burst into activity. They stood up, opened overhead compartments, rearranged contents, and just in general seemed to have something very important to accomplish. The flight attendants tried in vain to get everyone seated again. The passengers, who by this time were quite riled up, yelled at them and mayhem continued. Finally it seemed like the pilots had had enough of this and they just started down the runway anyway. People quickly sat back into their seats, and buckled up, but it wasn't until we were moving that they all started cooperating. It was quite something to witness! We'd never seen anything like it before.

The overnight flight was long, but uneventful. We had been scheduled to get in at 11:40 a.m. Pacific Time on Friday, but because of all the delays, we actually arrived around 4 p.m. Going through immigration and customs was a breeze and we got to the baggage claim soon after and quickly saw my parents. After hugs (and catching a few glimpses of the opening ceremony of the London Summer Olympics on the TVs in the baggage claim), we told them all about our crazy delays and they told us about getting to the airport two hours before our flight and how they kept themselves occupied until we arrived. We grabbed our backpacking backpack off the luggage carousel when it came around and then headed to the parking lot for our two-hour drive east to Hope, BC to spend the weekend at the BC Campmeeting campground with family members and friends.

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And that ends our travel series on our Vietnam trip! It was a wonderful trip, but after nine months of living, working, and traveling in Asia, we were pretty happy to be back in North America again, and excited to move into the next chapter of our lives.

Suwon's Hwaseong Fortress

Third-to-Last Day in South Korea

Tuesday, July 10, cont. (Read about how we got to Suwon here.)

After a couple hours of relaxation in our hostel room, we decided to go on a pre-dusk walk around the neighbourhood. We'd spied an interesting-looking trail to the top of a small mountain as we'd walked to our hostel after exiting the bus, and decided that would be a nice way to see the city before dark. Little did we know we would see much more of the city than we'd planned to by the time we returned to our hostel a few hours later...

We easily relocated the narrow paved road leading up the side of the mountain, and soon found that a stone staircase wandered between the road and a high stone wall. We climbed the stairs, stopping often to turn around and take in the view from higher and higher up the mountain, as well as snap pictures. A good 10 or 15 minutes of climbing brought us to the top where we found an entrance into the fortress. It was only then that I realized that we had been hiking along the Suwon Fortress, which I had heard about long before we arrived in Suwon.

Suwon's Hwaseong Fortress was built from 1794 to 1796 in preparation for the Korean capital city to be moved from Seoul to Suwon (which obviously didn't end up happening). "Located 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Seoul and enclosing much of central Suwon, the Fortress includes King Jeongjo's palace Haenggung. The site was designated as a World Heritage site by the UNESCO in 1997. The Suwoncheon, the main stream in Suwon, flows through the centre of the fortress." - Wikipedia (Check there if you're interested in more history, including some sordid details.)

I was thrilled that we were able to see the fortress and encouraged Jonathan that we should continue walking along the wall. "I've heard there is a trail all the way along it," I said. "Maybe we can explore the whole way around." And so we did, not realizing that the perimeter of the fortress is 5.74 km (3.56 mi). Pre-dusk turned into dusk, which turned into evening, and then night, but we did eventually make it the entire way around the fortress walls. And I am so glad we did because the whole walk was pretty fascinating. After seeing the fortress, I was kicking myself that we hadn't come to Suwon earlier during our time in Korea to see the fortress and explore other interesting sights in the daylight. But I guess that just mean that we'll just have to go back someday... :)

Our starting point

Paldalmun - South Gate, under some construction

Plaque on the cobblestone street near the South Gate

Starting the hike up

Fancy lightpost

View of the southeastern part of the city from near the top of the first mountain we climbed

At the first guardhouse opening in the wall that we came to

We found a gigantic bell - Bell of Hyowon (You could pay to strike the Bell of Filial Piety)

Jonathan wanted to ring the bell, but it was after hours and the bell ringer (behind him) was locked.
We decided to come back in the morning when the bell was open for business again,
our last chance to ring one of these large bells before we left South Korea.

Seonodae watch tower

Seojangdae - A pavilion lookout into the heart of the old city

Suwon at dusk...

...and at night

City park and garden just outside the fortress walls

Hwaseomun - West Gate

In many other countries I might have been a bit nervous to walk along these trails at night, but not so in South Korea.
It's such a safe country, and there were many other people walking the trails and enjoying the warm summer evening.

Grand-looking watch tower - Seobuk Gongsimdon

Jonathan in the watch tower working to capture the picture below

Outside view of the grand North Gate - Janganmun

The other side of the North Gate after we walked through

Oh yep, and there's still more fortress to walk around...

The seven-arch style Hwahongmun Gate straddles the Suwoncheon (Suwon Stream)

Heron (we think) in the stream

Hwahongmun Pavilion just after the bridge

We stopped for a break in the pavilion and enjoyed listening to the Korean chatter of fellow walkers also resting there

Changnyongmun - East Gate

Bongdon chimneys

A large cathedral just outside the fortress walls

The path up the mountain where we'd started our hike a few hours earlier

The Sumun Gate over the Suwoncheon (Suwon Stream) on the other side of the fortress

Map of the Hwaseong Fortress and Suwon's old city - Click to view details (Courtesy of Wikimedia)

Just a few minutes after we crossed that last bridge we were back at our hostel and very ready to rest for the night. It had been a long walk, hiking up and down several small mountains and hills, but I was still glad we had been able to see and walk along the Suwon Hwaseong Fortress wall before we left Korea. Of all the places we visited during our eight months in Korea, I actually think the old city of Suwon inside the fortress was the most fascinating. I would love to visit again someday to see the area in the daylight and do more exploring!

Next up: ringing the Bell of Hyowon & our last day in South Korea