Mishaps in Shanghai

A few days before my layover in Shanghai I decided to look at the Chinese embassy website again on a whim. Upon closer inspection I found that if you have a layover under a certain number of hours, you are allowed to leave the airport. I'd previously thought that I needed a visa and planned simply to stay at the airport. I wished that I had done a bit more research about Shanghai and made more concrete plans for it would have curtailed some of the misadventures that I'd face in China. 

But I didn't. Sometimes it's nice to get lost in a totally new place. With a go-with-the-flow mentality, I decided that I'd do the research when I got into the airport to see what I could do during my 18 hour layover. But when I got there I found that you can't access the internet without a cell phone. "Free Wifi" really means free wifi if you have a phone. Furthermore, I was unable to access my money because of some miscommunication with my bank and I was totally cashless except for 300 Polish Zloty, some Euros, 4 USD, and some change in Ukrainian Kopecks. So for meals I used my credit card. I considered renting a phone so that I could get online and also to call my contacts with in Shanghai but they only accepted cash. Luckily, I could pay for the Maglev train fare with my card.

The Maglev in Shanghai is the first high speed magnetic levitation train used commercially. It reaches a high speed of 268 mph (431 km/h) and takes passengers to the city from Pudong airport in a mere 7 minutes.

I decided to explore the city on foot. As I couldn't check my luggage because I had no Yuan, I walked around with a heavy backpack and my guitar in hand. Normally this isn't a problem, but little did I know how big Shanghai is. Looking at the map I thought that to get to the Bund would take something like half an hour or so. I wish the free map from the tourist office had a scale but it didn't. I would walk something like 10 kilometers over about a 3-4 hour period. I was dead tired by then. I considered busking with my guitar for my taxi fare but I saw that people were going home and the city was about go to sleep. Also I didn't want to deal with authorities in case it was illegal.

I found a taxi, for I was in no condition to make the return trip back on foot. I made sure to see if the driver accepted a credit card by pointing to it. He looked and nodded so I got in the taxi. He spoke no English and I speak no Mandarin. I made a hand gesture of an airplane flying and said "Pudong" to communicate my destination to him. He understood but called a colleague to interpret for us over the phone for safe measure. After a really long drive back to the airport the meter showed that I owed 180 Yuan (about $30) . I gave him my card to pay and he placed it on the card reader. I made the motion of swiping to indicate what he should do. He then threw up his arms in frustration as he realized that it was a credit card and not some sort of transportation card as he had expected. I had no cash and couldn't access the ATM, so I offered him 100 Zloty and 4 USD, which amounts to about 205 Yuan. I felt bad for him but I figured the extra amount would cover for the extra step of having to exchange it to Yuan. He reluctantly accepted and went off.

In retrospect, it was a good thing that the taxi driver made the mistake. Because had he known that it was a credit card, I may have had to make the walk all the way back the way I came. I went back to the airport terminal and read the book of Acts and some of The Odyssey until my flight the next morning.