planes, trains, and automobiles

Just arrived at the hotel. It was a little trickier getting here than I expected: first we boarded the Maglev train (very cool) and zipped along at just over 300 km/h suspended by an array of very powerful magnets.

The fun times ended at the other end of the station. We were greeted with a thoroughly incomprehensible subway map, and opted to head of the station. There, we met a new friend. Hardly the most ostentatiously dressed man I'd seen that day - Chinese urban fashion appears to draw inspiration largely from a confused marriage of Victorian wallpaper samples and Army Surplus styles - our friend guided us to his taxi. I've been fleeced on taxi rides from the airport before (see my arrival in Cairo) but our friend was prepared to fleece us on a whole new level. After securing our bags in the trunk, and driving a few feet, he turned to my father and I saying: "something something, 'fowr-hunded' something." "Four-hundred!" I exclaimed, assuming that he meant ¥400 (¥ to $ is about 6:1). There was no way that I was paying ¥400 for a cab ride. 

We began a process of bargaining that largely involved me opening the door to step out, followed by a ¥50 drop in the price. This went on until we talked him down to ¥200. Now, ¥200 is still way more than we should have paid, but it had been over 24 hours since we left our beds back in NH, and we were anxious to get to the hotel.

Blindly hoping that our friend knew where he was going, we set off in the general direction of Downtown Shanghai. 40 mins. later and about 15 left-turns later, he dropped us off at what he claimed to be our hotel. It wasn't. But at least, it was on the right street. A 10 minute walk that acquainted us with a marvelous array of scents and we were at our hotel. 

Now it's time to make a few calls, grab some food, and finally get some rest.