Shanghai
Trip Start
Jan 04, 2008
1
111
130
Trip End
Dec 17, 2008
Shanghai,
Shanghai,
China
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Oriental Pearl TV Tower
.So we had finally arrived in China tired and weary so decided to get a cab into the city rather than the 400kph Maglev train that runs on magnets and gets to the city in 8 minutes. Never mind though we are booked to do the bullet train in Japan, it just wasn't worth the hassle of getting on the metro with bags at the other end. Getting outside the airport and driving to Shanghai the first thing you notice is the smog in the air. The sky is a dreary grey colour with not a glimpse of the sun and you can almost taste the coal in the air, not the best environment to boost our spirits. So after finding a Pizza Hut and having something to eat we slept through the rest of the day and night waking late the next day, sometimes this traveling lark isn't as much fun as you think.
After dragging ourselves up the next morning we set of on the Metro to a lunch spot recommended in the Lonely Planet. After eating some more Western food we then took the Metro back and stopped off in the Pudong district which is were all the new skyscrapers are being built. The infamous Oriental Pearl TV Tower (bauble tower) is here as well so we took a few photos and decided to take the bund sightseeing tunnel back across the river. This was a really weird experience. Basically you get in a gondola type pod that goes under the river through a tunnel light show. It takes about 5 minutes and to be honest the light show isn't the most awe inspiring sight we have seen, we should have saved the $8 and just taken the Metro back. On the other side we walked out at the Bund (the riverside across from Pudong) which has nice views across to the skyscrapers on the other side, just a shame there wasn't any blue sky in the background. After walking along the bund for a while and looking at the older colonial buildings on this side we walked back to the hotel along Nanjing road trying to ignore the hawkers and also the hackers (everyone in China seems to hack up their spit and then deposit it on the pavement, even women) before we got back
The Bund sightseeing tunnel
. That evening it was time to meet the Intrepid group and go for the welcome meal. The group was nice and consisted of Melissa and Carden, two 26 year old American girls from Atlanta, Larissa and Rennit a Canadian Mother and Daughter combo, Ruth and Linda two older British ladies who were cousins, Maedi a 35 year old German girl currently living in Dublin and Keith a 32 year old from Sydney who was Chinese and spoke a bit of Mandarin which could come in useful. The guide was Frank a 35 year old Chinese guy from Xi'An, who gave us a good intro talk before taking us across the road for our first Chinese meal. For the meal we were booked into a private room (to avoid the noise and smoke according to Frank) and basically Frank ordered the food for us which was a bit strange, but I guess useful when none of us can read the Chinese menus The food turned out to be pretty good so I guess the system works in some ways, it's just a bit weird not being given a choice, but I guess that's the Chinese way in some aspects. After the meal we all retired for the evening to get some rest for an early start in the morning to go to the Shanghai museum, some of us went to the bund beforehand though to get some night shots of the Pudong area as it would be our last chance. Maud still wasn't feeling great so I met her back at the hotel later. It wasn't to be then best nights sleep for us though, because at 3am Helen was up muttering about something or someone being in the room and it was then she found the rat trap underneath the TV cabinet complete with liquefying but still alive rat attached to it....totally disgusting
View to Pudong from the Bund
. After having the night watchman remove the horrible package we obviously didn't sleep the best for the rest of the night.So up early next morning with bleary eyes, we obviously weren't in the best of moods to go to the Shanghai museum. The museum houses collections of art such as bronze, calligraphy, jade and ceramics but wasn't all that interesting to be honest probably due to the lack of English translation. After wandering around the museum for a couple of hours we had both had enough of pots and plates and Maud still not feeling well went back to the hotel to try and catch up on her lost sleep while I wandered around the shops for a bit before going back as well. We ate late that afternoon and so skipped the evening meal but met back up with everyone to go to the acrobat show that night. The show was really good with some very impressive acts such as the strongmen show and the balancing chair act. It was definitely worth going to, a bit like a Cirque du Soleil show but a lot cheaper. After the show we headed back to the hotel to pack and also pray for a good nights sleep with no visitors in the night as we had a 6am start to get the train to Nanjing the next morning.
