Shanghai
Trip Start
Jul 07, 2008
1
10
29
Trip End
Oct 01, 2008
Shanghai,
Shanghai,
China
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Shanghai is a real mix of the old and the new, with the new fast taking over. Behind our hotel were a couple of old Shanghai streets but it seems that the pace of change in Shanghai is very rapid and it won't be long before the small stalls, restaurants and shops selling everything from clothes to tyres for scooters are replaced by yet more skyscrapers. The city is a massive construction site.
The view from the bund is spectacular seeing the tall buildings and the TV tower, the view of which is the famous trademark of Shanghai. At night when it is lit up it is really beautiful.
430 km/h!
One rather interesting and unique "tourist attraction" in Shanghai called the Shanghai Sightseeing Tunnel, which connects the bund with the financial district (where all the really tall buildings are). It is a small railway of sorts which goes under the Huang Pu river and mesmorises passengers with an array of neon lights which are supposed to simulate a journey to the centre of the earth!? It beats swimming across the river, which would be a very tall order given the amount of boat traffic.
We also went to the observation tower in the Jin Mao tower. It is on the 88th floor and this view gives some sense of the amazing scale of the city and the number of tall buildings and the amount of construction that is going on. Makes London look like a village.
Another indicator of Shanghai's modern future is the Maglev train. This connects a 30km section between the metro and the Pudong Airport. The journey takes 7 minutes, which is hardly surprising given that the train travels at 430km/h for about 2 minutes of it. COOL!
While we were in Shanghai it was the night of the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games. Unfortunately (we're assuming) the government's fear of public gatherings meant that the two giant screens, complete with numerous Olympic logos, in a square on the main shopping street which seemed to have been set up specifically for the occasion were left turned off and the large crowd that had gathered were repeatedly advised, from about 19.30 onwards, by the also prominent police that the ceremony would not be shown. It was not neccesarily a bad thing as we ducked down a lane way and watched in in a small family restaurant.
