I really enjoyed Shanghai and the local Chinese people treated me quite well, although I did have a few instances where people tried to scam me. Probably the worst was my hotel (this was no 5 star hotel). Check out time was 12 p.m. and I asked if I could stay a little longer. They said no problem, but when I tried to enter my room at 12:30 p.m., they had locked up my luggage and refused me access to it unless I paid for another night. I protested, began to yell and throw my arms around. Finally after probably (15) minutes, they allowed me to retrieve my luggage, expecting me to return to the desk. Once I had my luggage, I was out the door while the desk clerks loudly protested.
I caught a taxi and made it to the train station, arriving quite early. I was escorted by a porter to a VIP waiting room, which usually I would stay away from, but I had been having issues related to my surgery which unfortunately seemed to be getting worse as each day passed. The VIP waiting room is also where the Chinese police and soldiers wait. After hanging out for several hours, a group of policemen became quite interested in me, and came over and began to "interrogate" me. I became quite uncomfortable but eventually they seemed to lose interest and moved on, but I swear they were watching me the entire time.
Eventually I took a nap (the 12 hour time change kicked my butt). Not sure how long I was out but I woke up after being kicked in the leg. I looked up and there was a policeman standing there laughing at me. After a few seconds he wandered off to his group. As you might imagine, I was becoming quite concerned with the way things were going.
Finally it was time to board the train and I made my way to my sleeping compartment. After stowing my gear, I walked back outside and decided to take a few pictures, several of which were photos of the policeman. I guess that this didn't go over too well, and once again I was confronted by a group of policeman.
