Booking A Flight to Shanghai

Another insight into Chinese culture: I was given the e-mail of a travel agent at about 9:30 in the morning yesterday and e-mailed her almost immediately with the information for the flights I wanted, the same ones everyone else is taking. She responded within an hour asking for my passport info, and then almost immediately sent me flight information. Once I selected my flights, she called my cell and asked to speak to someone who could explain how to find my hotel. I gave her to one of the cleaning people with a brief attempt to tell them that she needed directions. Within an hour after that, a man showed up at my door with my plane ticket, and I handed him 1200 kuai (about $170) in cash to pay for it. He thanked me, and then left. That would be a total of about 2 hours between first making contact with the travel agent and recieving a physical ticket for my flights and a demonstration of how China is still a cashed-based society.