Today we embarked on a journey to the second largest port in the world: Yangshan Port. The port itself was about two hours away from our hotel, so during our long bus ride to the site we were lucky enough to have a guest speaker on board to give us an overview of what it’s like to work in the shipping logistics industry. Our speaker was an American working abroad in China who organizes shipments of various items to and from the country. In almost all of my business-based classes, the importance of this leg of the supply chain is heavily stressed, yet the specifics and the actual occupation of dealing with transportation of goods is rarely touched upon in my foundation-level courses. I really enjoyed getting a more rounded look at all of the consideration that goes into something that seems as simple as getting items from point A to point B (size, perishability,  cost vs. worth, etc.). On a less educational note, I was excited to get a glimpse of Shanghai Disney World on our journey.

I didn’t really know what to expect as we approached the port, but what we encountered was far more extensive than I had imagined. After crossing an extremely large bridge flanked by rows upon rows of windmills, we reached the island port crowded with a wide expanse of cranes and colorful crates as far as the eye could see. We disembarked the bus and were blinded by beautiful sunlight that fell upon the scene (making it not only a great spot for sightseeing, but also for pictures, such as the one attached). We spent about half an hour wandering a mountainous viewing point, then reboarded the bus for another hour and a half trip to a restaurant for lunch. The long trip was definitely worth it; the meal was one of my favorites so far (I feel like I’ve said that in many of my blogs, but the food just keeps getting better and better!).

After returning to the hotel and completing some group-work for our project, a group of us headed out to downtown Shanghai to meet a high school classmate of one of our Plus3-ers who was also studying abroad in the city. He took us to a great dumpling place that may have had the best dumplings I’ve ever had. We then wandered around the downtown area, stopping to take pictures of the lights and to grab some fancy ice cream.