Today was a fun day because we got
to go on our first of many field trips. We went and did a plant tour of Lilly
which was in the Suzhou Industrial Park about an hour and a half away. The company
was extremely welcoming and happy to have us see their facility. They took us
around and showed us all of the different parts of the building although there
didn’t seem to be much going other than a banquet to celebrate their new
license to manufacture another product. They then took us into a room and did a
brief presentation about the company and showed us how much they have been
prospering in China.
 |
| Eli Lilly plant |
After the tour we had to get back
in time for our next class and even got out early so Bryan, Adam, Nathan, John
and I decided we had to take advantage of it and go back downtown to explore
the area around Nanjing road. We found a really good strip of street food where
I think I saw my first skinned cat, which was kind of disturbing and quite
unappetizing. However, I quickly got over it when we found some amazing
dumplings and noodles.
 |
| Cats on the right |
 |
| Dumplings |
After dinner, we decided to go walk
down the strip and look for some things to barter for. Bryan ended up going
back and buying another chess set even after the he realized the first one he
bought was broken. We then ended up in a Chinese sports store called La-Ning
and John got a Shanghai Sharks sweatshirt. He was so excited that he decided to
take the tag off and put it right on as we continued to browse the store. Naturally,
they thought he was trying to steal the sweatshirt and two ladies and a man
started following us around the store. John tried to explain he had just bought
it and showed them the receipt but they were still not convinced considering
they spoke zero English. We eventually just decided to sneak away and walk out
the door since we didn’t do anything wrong and they followed us to the door and
then just let us go which we found pretty funny considering he probably could
have actually stolen the sweatshirt if he wanted. We continued down the street
and found a saxophonist playing on a balcony over the strip, which was pretty
amazing. Everyone was loving it and dancing in the middle of the walkway.
 |
| Saxophonist |
Nathan then went off to find a
bathroom and in the 2 minutes he was gone he a got approached by a lady who
wanted to sell him some stuff. When he said no, she then said, “Do you want to
have sex?” and showed him a card with a topless lady on it. He walked away very
confused and could barely stop laughing long enough to get out the whole story.
Bryan then found his second thing to barter on for the night. Every 10 feet
someone tries to come up and sell you these skates that strap onto your shoes
and Bryan finally gave in when he got the price down to about $3. He tried them
out and looked ridiculous to say the least. It wasn’t so bad until he broke
them out in the middle of the subway, which was pretty embarrassing but well
worth the laugh. The subway scene at rush hour is one of the craziest things I
have ever experienced. As far as you could see in any direction was just the
tops of Chinese heads. I’m surprised we even all made it on the same car
without losing anyone.
 |
| Subway station |
We walked home from the subway and
at the entrance of campus there was a guy selling candied fruit skewers and I
had to give in. It was delicious minus the tomato, which apparently they
consider a real fruit here. With that we were all ready to call it a night and
rest up for another field trip.
 |
| Half-eaten fruit skewer |
No comments:
Post a Comment