Made it to the Paris of the Orient

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Trip Start Jun 11, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End May 14, 2009 Next
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  Shanghai, Shanghai, China
Thursday, July 3, 2008

This morning we were up early to get the Bullet Train from Suzhou to Shanghai. This train can get up to 340km per hour, although we only saw it reach 251km/hour. Still pretty nifty though. Can't see the Robin Hood Line doing 251km in 6 weeks never mind in one hour!!
After checking in we went for a walk to Yuyuan Gardens in the centre of the city. Funny thing is, you actually go into another small village area in the middle of Shanghai before you get to the gardens. It's a like a medieval old Chinese village, for want of a better description. I think the fact that it is in the middle of a mass city like Shanghai makes it all the more surreal. Once we were in the gardens you feel like you are a million miles from civilisation, it is so relaxing. You just wander by the rocks, ponds, waterfalls and bridges without a care in the world. It's well worth the 30 Yuan entrance fee.

Shanghai Skyline

We decided to rock up to a streetside vendor for lunch and he knocked up a dish for which I have no name. Maybe he doesn't even know what it's called. It contained rice, chicken, prawns and onion, and was wrapped in a pancake covering. Gotta say though, it tasted great, and only cost about 70 pence! We also had 8 dumplings betwween us - these are a Chinese addiction, you don't go anywhere without some sort of dumpling fest going on!
After lunch, Kev, Lorna and I decided on a visit to Jimao Tower. We got the ferry across the bay and walked to the tower itself. This tower is 88 floors high and you can go to the top for 70 Yuan. The lift goes up at 9 metres per second and makes your ears pop. There are some great views of Shanghai from the top. There is a new building being built next door to the Jimao Tower called the IFC Building. This is going to be about 120 floors high! We could see guys working right at the top of this building from the Jimao Tower. They didn't look too secure to me! One of the good things about the Jimao is that they have left a big hole right down the centre of the building that you can look down. If you lean forward and rest your forhead on the glass, it looks magnificent. Lorna wasn't to confident of the glass though.
When we got our tickets, we were told we could have a free gem when we got to the top. Lorna got a sapphire, but it was no bigger than an ant

Dragon Boat

! However, she found 4 discarded ones on a window ledge and claimed those as well! Me & Kev got a pearl and they actually opened an oyster in front of us and flipped out the pearl! Obviously, the value of these "gems" left a lot to be desired! Oh well, there's always a sucker on Ebay!!
After the fun and games at the top, we headed back to the ferry via the TV Tower. This building used to be the tallest in Shanghai before the Jimao I think. It actually looks like a futuristic rocket, that was built in th Seventies and then was used on Thunderbirds! There is a space city, restaurant and museum in there, but we didn't have time to go on this visit, so we will probably go next week when we get back to Shanghai.
This evening Lorna and I took a walk down The Bund, which is a walk down the riverbank - bit like Victoria Embankment. After the usual fake watches and dodgy photo sellers we got a clear view of all the skyscrapers lit up across the bay. I still think Hong Kong's is better though. We then cut inland and found ourselves a back street restaurant which was a real find. We ordered a beef & pepper dish and it came out with potatoes, carrots and peas!! It made us long for that Sunday Roast that we miss so much. Mum, you need to get my Dad to post us one out here!
The end of another day, and we're off to the zoo tomorrow.....

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Han Ting Hotel Bedroom	Shanghai Skyline	Han Ting Hotel Bathroom	Han Ting Hotel Bathroom
Walking to Yuyuan Gardens	Lorna blending in	This is in the middle of Shanghai	Wonky bridge walk
Fishies	Fountains & lakes on way to Yuyuan Gardens	Romantic moment	Yuyuan Gardens
Really tranquil	Ponds and rocks	Bet you can't see me!	Bridge over troubled water
Little waterfall	And again	Shanghai skyline	Jimao versus IFC
Jimao Tower	TV Tower from Jimao 88th Floor	View from 88th floor	This is 100 floors up on the IFC building
88th Floor views	Colourful housing!	A couple of big lumps on that	We really were there
Looking down 88 floors in the middle	TV Tower

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