We had a brilliant trip and really enjoyed Shanghai – although we didn’t think we would when we arrived as it seemed more like New York than Asia. Not that we don’t love NY, but we wanted something less global brands and sky scrapers and more Chinese colloquial.
Anyway the important thing is, that we arrived on Tuesday night and got a taxi from the airport – the driver didn’t brake for anything and drove at 100mph (may have been less – but this sounds more dramatic) all the way to the hotel door from Pudong airport 30 minutes later – more worrying for me than Stef, as I was sat behind the driver and I couldn’t see why we were swerving so erratically as he had one of those plastic screens – additionally we couldn’t get the seat belts on as they were trapped behind the seats (probably on purpose ;o)) – anyway we made it ok (NB: Stef wants me to say that actually it was more worrying for her, because she COULD see what he was swerving for!!). GET YOUR OWN BLOG STEF!!
We got un-packed and went for a walk around at 10:30pm.
Avoided getting run over many times – we hadn't realised that the traffic lights were only guidelines for slowing down a bit – but not stopping regardless of what colour the lights were on. Additionally, many of the bikes and motorbikes have electric motors (cunning…no sound) – so they come at you at reasonably high speed with the perfect element of surprise. We didn’t see one blind person there the whole time and could only assume that they perished on the advent of electric vehicles.
At each road interchange there were traffic lights with a BIG wide zebra crossing – these aren't for people, but for all the bikes, motorbikes and tuk tuks to accumulate – if you want to cross there you have to weave in and out of them trying not to show fear and sometimes that’s not enough…! Anyway by the 2nd day we were confident about running, weaving and stopping dead in our tracks on the roads and it became a lot more fun ;o)) In fact we now miss it – but still do it in HK anyway..
Shanghai was 4c each day when it warmed up in the mid-day bright grey skies. Now, although in London, Paris and ski resorts at this time of year we could expect this, our warm clothes didn’t anticipate it and therefore didn’t fly to Asia with us. So each day we would wear 4 layers of thin summer clothes in top of each other….i don’t think this trend will make the catwalks and hence there will be fewer photos of us to follow for fear of being remembered as weird.
So we arrived at the hotel and then went for a local walk up to the Huangpu River, but couldn’t see it as there is so much building work going on there to ready it for the 2010 World Expo from May to October – whole areas were being re-built including the main river front aka The Bund.
All of the above is minor and we really enjoyed ourselves and we will happily go back there.
Our hotel was great – the **** Central Hotel really was located in the centre of town!
The Bund being rebuilt 24x7 in time for 2010 World Expo - pictures won't get any more boring than this!
On our first full day there – we walked up to the Bund (yes again!) the waterfront home of many 100 year old banks and institutions. We went underground at the Bund (seemed like the only thing we could do there) to take the ‘Bund Sightseeing Tunnel’ under the Huangpu River to the financial/business district called Pudong. In the tunnel there was a map which less predictably stated, ‘ Your Excellency’s Present Seat’ rather than ‘You are here’. We went up the 468M Oriental Pearl TV tower for great views over Shanghai!
The Bund Sightseeing Train Time Wharp Tunnel
The Oriental Pearl TV Tower bigger than the Eiffel Tower by a km
At least the boats know how to drive uniformly.. shame really..
Yes The Bund
1955-92 Vouchers to buy clothes, food, well everything..
Guess where I am? Yes The Bund! 4-Layers of clothes 4c
This is a link to a great website with a map of shanghai and if you select an area it will give you facts and video from people visiting it.. http://www.funtouristattractions.com/m/shanghai-china-attractions-map/2
The Nanjing Lu with Radisson Sky Dome Bar in yellow
The Sky Dome cocktail bar
On our 2nd day – we walked to the Yu Yuan gardens not because we couldn’t afford a taxi (they’re very cheap) but to keep warm. This is more what I wanted Shanghai to be like! It was a great place and we went back there on the 3rd night to see it all lit up in the dark! Lots of great markets around this area. We also had a ‘negative ion meridian stick massage’ (coming your way soon!). A very slightly built female hits you repeatedly on the head, neck, shoulders, back and bottom for 40 minutes it felt great once she stopped. Very nice people and they gave us a lot of help and advice on where to get the wounds treated.
Yu Yuan Gardens - that's more like it!
Now it's my turn!
We walked down through Fuxing Park, which was established in 1909 and was inhabited by retirees. Amazingly, they were jogging around, flying kites, juggling with devil sticks, walking backwards, tai chi and dancing!! The dancing is televised! What a great place and there is hope for old people yet! Such a happy park which had rose gardens, rock gardens, lakes, band stands, restaurants, tea rooms, shrubbery’s, trees and grass ;o)
Old people dancing...
On our 3rd day – we went to the Shanghai Museum in the rain (note to self: must stop being so English with this fixation on weather..), but didn’t make it in! A couple of girls asked me to take their picture, we got talking for 5-10 minutes (may have been 8 minutes, I don’t wear a watch any more) (second note to self: must stop this employee fixation on time) and they asked if we’d like to join them to watch a Chinese tea ceremony. So the 4 of us went and had a brilliant time! Xiao Bei works in Shanghai in marketing pharmaceuticals and Shiang Ya (or Fiona as she re-named herself) is an English teacher from Xian (home of the terracotta army)! They translated everything from the tea tasting ceremony to us and also taught us to count in sign language and Mandarin amongst other things..They were very knowledgeable in Chinese history. We swapped emails and have stayed in touch – we invited them to come and stay with us in HK and we’ll look up Shiang Ya when we go to see the Terracotta army in Feb 2010. Nice genuine people.
Xiao Bei, Stef and Xhiang Ya
Sensibly dressed Xiao Bei and Xhiang Ya
During our days in Shanghai there were loads of occasions when young women came up to speak to us and basically wanted to spend their time with us. I could only think that they wanted to improve their English further, maybe as World Expo will be in Shanghai next year, maybe just to improve their global knowledge. They were all very positive about what they wanted to do in life and thought it was perfectly logical for us to spend time out travelling and do different things in our life! Such nice open people with no hang-ups.
Shanghai Museum
View from People's Park
After the tea ceremony we went our separate ways. They showed us back to the museum where we spent 3 hours – fantastic museum – well presented – not overpowering – split into sections such as calligraphy, china, furniture, paintings, sculptures and so on over 5 floors.On our last day we only had the morning to walk down the main shopping area just outside our hotel called the Nanjing Lu, down to Peoples square and Renmin park. The park was so peaceful. It had areas with Nordic trees, which reminded us of skiing and also woodland walks and lakes. Typically the sun came out for the last day and the city looked great!
We walked back to the hotel and took a taxi to the airport train. Not just any airport train though. It was a magnetic monorail (coming your way soon..) with one of the fastest trains in the world! It hovered on the track and got up to a massive 430km/hr (yes, sadly we all took a picture of the digital read out on display) or 267 miles/hr – it takes just 7 minutes to cover 35 km to the airport! The fastest we’ll ever travel on land?
Maglev 430Km/hr train to Pudong Airport
So that’s it for Shanghai – great people and by next May will have a lot more to offer amongst other things, a walk down The Bund with a view on the river.
Back in Hong Kong, I’ve booked another concert – we’ll go and see The Killers at the Asia Arena in January.
Finally, we’ve booked our next trip – 4 days in Kuala Lumpur
In the meantime, we’re entertaining Evan for 6 days from tomorrow.
