Are we there yet? Shanghai

I finally made it to China! I left my house at 7 am, EST on Saturday morning. I checked into the hotel at 10 pm (China time) on Sunday night. Where does the time go!?!?

My flight from Dulles to Tokyo was uneventful. The food was surprisingly decent (as I started finessing my chopstick skills) and I watched Fool's Gold, 27 Dresses, and Penelope (all quite entertaining). I slept for a little, but was only able to stretch my legs once during the 14-hour journey that's to the gentleman in the middle seat who insisted on taking up a little of all three seats (I also choose the window seat so I can lean against the window to sleep). (I really hope this is the last international flight I have to fly Coach, because presumably the next time I would fly international, a company would be paying for it). I flew ANA (All Nippon Air) to Tokyo. I arrived in Tokyo, switched terminals, and prepared to kill the 3-hour layover waiting for my flight to Shanghai. I pretty much just walked the terminal and sat there (I did read the rest of the US Weekly I bought in Dulles) as I didn't have any Yen to buy a snack or drink.

The trip to Shanghai was about 3-hours, and at this point I was wiped so I pretty much slept the entire time (which would for jet-lag's sake, probably prove a poor choice). I arrived in Shanghai, got through Immigration, exchanged some money, collected by checked bag, and stood in line to get through Customs. No problems. Went outside to catch a taxi to the hotel and wound up haggling (thanks to India) for a cheap cab fare to the hotel. I did get momentarily nervous when the gentleman's cab wasn't in the queue, but once we walked to the parking lot I saw it was an official taxi. The ride to the hotel was about an hour, and the trip was alarmingly similar looking to India until we got into the city proper. Shanghai is a beautiful modern city, lit up like Vegas.

I arrived to the hotel, checked in, and made it up to my room where I was greeted by Mitika (my roommate for the Shanghai-portion). After putting my bags down and brushing my teeth, and greeting a few other classmates, I fell soundly asleep until ... oh about 3 am. Then I napped, badly. Oh jet lag, how you torture me!