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Sizzling Shanghai
Entry 73 of 111 | show all | print this entry |
So we made our way to the train station in Qingdao.We knew it would be a long and uncomfortable journey as it was 20 hours long and we had only been able to reserve hard seat class (just the name sounds bad) as it was the only class left available. We boarded the train at around 3.30 in the afternoon and were due to arrive the next day at around half eleven. We were sat with some friendly young Chinese guys and a girl, one of whom could speak English so we could communicate fairly well. They were really generous in offering some of their foods that they had brought with them such as fruit and sweets. It was not too bad until the night when you wanted to go to sleep, it was basically impossible to get comfy as they seat back was completely vertical and obviously did not lean back like an airline seat, To make matters worse as you would expect in such a populous country like China the whole train was severely overcrowded . There were people sitting in the areas at the end of each carriage just finding whatever space they could to bed down for the night Also the air conditioning was on so strong that it was very cold throughout the night and also the carriage light was on during the night. In the end we managed to get 2 or 3 hours of intermittent sleep to be honest when the train pulled into the station it was a huge relief to be out of there!
We had already booked a hostel, called Ucool on the internet however it was very difficult to find coupled that with the fact that Jonathan had incompetently written the directions down wrong. We walked around for what seemed like hours in the sweltering heat, trying to find the bloody place. As it was hot and we were tired from lack of sleep the night before things got quite tense between us! (meaning: Daniella was pissed off with Jonathan). When we eventually found it , it turned out not to be one of the best places that we have stayed at. It seemed absolutely deserted, there was no staff members in reception and the place was half finished. At least it was cheap.
We've done lots of exploring the city during our stay here, one famous road was located close to our hostel, the Bund. Basically it is buildings that were constructed during the times when the British (and others) were here at the start of the 19th century, the road itself is on the riverfront, and you directly face the Pudong district across the river. Your eyes immediately look upwards as this is the district with all Shanghai's symbols of modernity, its skyscrapers. Its most striking (although not its largest) is the Oriental Pearl TV tower , but we did not go up this one, choosing to go up one that was a lot higher, the Jinmao Tower. This is the 6th highest skyscraper in the world, however its number 1 position has been usurped by the one currently being built, Shanghai World Financial Centre, which looms over it. The views were hampered by the continual presence of a smoky haze that cloaked the city - China has a real pollution problem. Having said that Shanghai was a very livable city, nicer than Beijing (which has no skyscrapers or hardly any tall buildings really) , one of the favourite areas was the French concession which has lots of old architecture, some nice shops and cafes. We spent a pleasant couple of afternoons strolling and meandering around the lanes of the city, even though it has been absolutely boiling during our stay here - reaching 35 degrees plus every day.
So hot we decided to head over to Dino Beach, one of Shanghai's oases, where its residents come to relax , play and go down one of its may water slides. It was all going fine for Jon, until when on reaching the top of the slide, the attendant took one look at is swimming shorts, leaned in for a closer look and then gave them a resolute thumbs down, these shorts were apparently too dangerous to wear on a Chinese slide so we had to go and spend 6 pounds on buying some trunks (more like speedoes) that would not catch on the way down! In China all the men wear shorts like this. After the rides we headed over to the wave pool, which had some seriously strong waves - in our inflatable the waves would sometime carry us 4-5 metres! The perfect way to cool down from the humid heat of Shanghai in July.
As we have been trying to cut down our spending, we did not do much eating out in restaurants in Shanghai, instead we became regular customers of street sellers, who armed with a portable wok, gas canister to heat it, some noodles and veg, cooked up spicy treats right in front of eyes. For 5 yen, 10 yen if you were really hungry , you would be satisfied . Cheap and good. All in all , I would recommend Shanghai as a place to visit, it is one of my favourite cities in China (Hong Kong is still number 1!).
Latest Comments (1)
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Friday 11 July 2008 (reply)
Jul 11, 2008 10:27 EST by hughmoses
Read your messages and can assume that you blessed by the rain gods as deluges follow you everywhere! You can make a fortune if you go to the desert regions!
Your train journey sounds pretty uncomfortable but hopefully you will have recovered.
The last entry was cut off in mid sentence and has left us agog with anticipation!
All our love
Hugh & Diana
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