8am – on the plane
I’m currently on the plane to Shanghai arriving at 9am. It
was a pretty hectic morning – the screens displaying what check in point to go
to were broken, and the helpdesks were all vacant…After a good hour trying to
find some kind of a clue I eventually managed it, getting on-board with just 5
minutes to spare!
10:00am - I'm in Shanghai!
Shanghai! It’s not the greatest of weather as you can
tell from the photos, but hopefully it will clear up throughout the day. I’m
currently having breakfast and coffee in a Costa at ‘people’s square’ by Nanjing
road, a rather famous modern shopping area. After my warming coffee I’ll brave
walking through the rain to get to Huangpu River to see the cityscape (or more
likely a rainy mist with a vague outline).
11am – The (Misty) Bund
I’m now at the most famous viewpoint of Shanghai, but
unfortunately not much can be seen. The rain got considerably heavier so I caved
in and bought an umbrella for £2 from some street lady. I usually don’t buy
from this sort of folk, but it seemed a fair price as I didn’t want a pricey
one for just a 4 day trip. 3 minutes down the road a slight breeze breaks the
damn thing. Now it’s in a bin. I’ll just make do with my hood.
The view here will be amazing at sunset and night time, and
surely it can’t rain for 4 days straight - so I’ll be back…
12:30pm
I’ve just arrived at my hotel to escape from the rain a bit,
it’s not bad! £70 for 4 nights, and just a 5 minute walk from the River City
View! My room overlooks a school – a bit of an odd location for both a school
and hotel. Since I arrived they’ve been blasting out music non-stop, I hope
this isn’t something which begins at an early hour.
Now the rain has stopped I think I’ll check out the city
centre later!
2pm – A Walk around Shanghai City Centre
Shanghai rivals Hong Kong as the coolest city in China, Fact.
This city centre is amazing! I just love how the roads run beneath the
suspended pedestrian pathways which weave between the skyscrapers – and this
area certainly feeds my obsession for tall buildings.
The oriental pearl tower (the cool spacey looking building) has
a lookout on top, maybe I’ll head on up there on a clearer day. I’m sure the
views are worth it.
Now I’m sitting in a Starbucks overlooking the entire
cityscape (I hope this won’t become too much of a habit, I’ve already done it
twice today and it’s rather expensive) I’ve walked for a good 2 hours now, and I
swear my head was pointed upwards the whole time – quite unusual for
someone who always looks at the ground. It’s such a lively area, the pinnacle
of modern city design – all cities should be like this! With the exception of
Hong Kong, I don’t think I’ve ever fallen in love with a city so fast – I can’t
wait to come back here tonight!
5pm – Ooer…
I was on my way to the Jade Buddha Temple, which
unfortunately closed earlier than I expected. So I just came back to the hotel
for a while and found these posted under my door….
…Massage eh? You don’t fool me; I can tell by the way you’re
under-dressed that you’re actually running an undercover laundry service!
8-10pm – Shanghai Skyline at Night
I went back to all the places I’d visited today to see them
in their sparkly night time form. There’s not much else to say, other than
repeating how awesome Shanghai is.
Tomorrow I’ll explore some of the more traditional sights of
Shanghai, but I’ll leave that planning for the morning – I’m (positively) exhausted!
Zai’jian!
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