Field Trip!

This past weekend, I had an opportunity to rally with my fellow Chinese government scholarship recipients from around the world on a Saturday afternoon field trip. The Foreign Students Office at Fudan was footing the bill for the entire day, including transportation and 20元（yuan) for lunch, so I jumped on the deal.

Montreal Megan

I boarded the tour bus at 12:30 PM, just in time to meet an interesting gal named Megan from Montreal, Canada who has come to Fudan to work on her master’s degree. Our first destination was the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. When we got off the bus, I learned that my South American buddies, Leo from Mexico and Ricardo from Colombia had also come on the field trip.

Me and Ricky Ricardo

As soon as we entered the museum, we were escorted to one of the science theaters where we watched a strange Chinese animated film titled Adventure of Black Stars. I didn’t really know what was going on, but I do know that the alien girl featured in the film filled up her spaceship at a “GAS” station. Yeah… that’s pretty much all I took away from the film… and I’ll never get those 30 minutes back.

The museum is huge and unfortunately we only had about three hours to spend there. I’d like to go back because we spent the entire time on the outer space and body health level of the building. However, we did mange to take part in two interactive attractions. Take a look at me bouncing around as if I were in space.

Getting ready for launch

This is the part where the dude told me I was jumping too high.

Weeee!

And here’s me in the “Tetraxon Balancer.” Apparently astronauts use this device for balance training before going into space.

After the museum we headed to Shanghai skyline icon, the Oriental Pearl Tower located in the Pudong District. We had a few hours to walk around the area below before going to the top of the tower. The mall across the street had a bunch of restaurants on the 5th floor, so we dipped in to grab a bite. Mobs of people flock to malls on the weekend. Take a look.

After eating, we headed over to the tower where the 263rd floor of the building provided a breathtaking view of the city.

Oriental Pearl Tower

263rd floor! Yowza!

Top of the tower

Shanghai at night puts the light show in Vegas to shame.

The picture doesn't capture the same view as the naked eye.

To anyone visiting Shanghai, go to the top of the Pearl Tower at night. You won’t be disappointed.

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