Four Days In China

So depending on how you add up the land mass of the US, China is either the 3rd or 4th largest country in the world. When people ask me now if I've been to China, I suppose I can say yes, but 4 days in Shanghai hardly constitutes exploring the country.

Shanghai is exactly the opposite of what I had expected China to be, even after hearing from so many people how un-Chinese it is. In my mind I saw densely crowded streets, buildings and people jammed together so tight the city might explode, and every square inch of available space would be used for something - anything - given such a large city in such an over-populated country.


Instead, Shanghai came across as a strange mix of European architecture, western North American urban sprawl, and with lots of money to make everything look bright, lively and artistic. I obviously didn't even see all of Shanghai while I was there, but the parts I did see featured wide open boulevards, pre-planned green spaces tucked between gated communities and European-styled apartment complexes, and massive downtown skyscrapers reminding me of financial districts from Canada or New York city. I should have taken pictures of the city itself rather then the frisbee tournament.




But yes, it was the frisbee tournament I came for, and that's where most of my energy and time went into. I did spend Friday touring around the Shanghai Museum, it's downtown shopping districts and Yuyong plaza where all the tourists go to shop, but after that it was nothing but green grass and frisbees.


My team did pretty well the first day, going 2-2 despite a few setbacks and winning a really tough game at the end of the day. One of the major setbacks we had was that I got a minor bout of heatstroke. For a few hours all I could do was sit in the shade and drink water or gatorade. I took some tylenol and some unexplained Chinese herbal medicine, and while I was able to play later in the day, I wasn't quite "right" again until the next day around noon. I think I was the first person in bed that night out of all the 200+ people at the tourney.

I wasn't the only one who got ill though - on my team alone, 2 more people got heatstroke, another had food poisoning, and at least 2 or 3 put themselves into poor shape from partying too hard. By the time the second day rolled around, we were
certainly not at our best form, and the team we worked so hard to beat the other day walked all over us. Regardless though, it was an awesome weekend with tonnes of good food, frisbee and other activities, many involving alcohol. It was probably the only chance I'll have to see China, and though it may have only been about 10% of Shanghai I saw, I at least have the big ol' stamp in my passport proving that I made it.