Advertisement
Travelling from Xiamen to Shanghai felt longer than any of our previous trips. This was probably because we slept soon after boarding and then were awake for the length of the next day until we arrived at 11.30pm. You could really get used to travelling in soft sleeper class in this country. The key difference for me is the ability to shut the door for some peace and quiet, and block out the stream of men passing the door hacking up phlegm en route to the sinks. For the first 12hours or so we were joined in our cabin by a Chinese couple, whose only faux pas was to eat smelly fish snacks until well into the night. The next morning we were jolted awake at 7am by the loud radio that was streamed into every cabin. We cursed the stupidity of it and hid under our pillows. It wasn't until later that day that I found the volume control and felt more than a little a bit stupid for not seeing it before...
Arriving in Shanghai at night was a great experience. We joined the taxi queue in front of the South Railway Station and then sat into a
taxi cab for an experience that turned out to be a scene straight out of
Grand Theft Auto. The driver was an absolute mad man who didn't know of the existence of a brake pedal. We screeched off at junction and flew down the motorway, swerving left and right of other vehicles, watching the night lights of Shanghai zoom by. Many of the building in Shanghai are lit up, and it gives the impression of a very wealthy city. We pulled up in front of the hostel in record time, and were glad to see that they had kept our beds for us.
The next morning we tackled Shanghai with gusto. First though, we had to buy our train tickets to Beijing. We found the metro station to make our way to the Main Railway Station and then queued in a big hall. As with every time we have tried to buy tickets in China, the salespersons first reaction, no matter what you ask for, is to look skeptical and say a provisional 'No'. Then they look it up in the system. We had written down the train number and date that we wanted. After the initial no, she
typed frantically and then an amount of money flashed up on the screen in front of us. It had the correct train number and date, so we asked for two tickets. Cue more frantic typing, then the total doubled, which we duly handed over, and then we got two tickets back. The difference this time was that we didn't know whether the tickets were hard or soft seats, because this is the first time we have encountered these symbols. We didn't let it bother us though, and instead we went off to find our way to
the Bund.
The Bund is essentially a large walkway that is situated across the river from the central financial district of Shanghai. The financial district has lots of funky looking buildings. Behind us were the historical buildings of Shanghai, and a large statue of Chairman Mao. The more of Shanghai we saw, the more we realised that the whole city had Expo fever. You couldn't walk by a park or a roundabout without seeing Expo signs or flowers that spell EXPO, and every 200m or so, there were official Expo souvenir shops. Shanghai was also the first place in China where we started
to hear a lot of English around us again. Obviously many tourists were in town for the Expo. We had decided to skip it, because accommodation prices rocketed from about two days before it began. By the day it began we would be in Beijing with Will, our friend from the good old days in Yorkshire.
From the Bund we walked south by the river and then inland until we reached the Yuyuan Gardens. Despite being thronged with tourists, this garden, which used be the Imperial Gardens, was an oasis of calm in the middle of Expo crazy Shanghai. Each section of the gardens was designed to maximise peace and tranquility. It was full of ponds and sculptures, gazebos and meandering paths and were designed to represented excellent Feng Shui. Outside the gardens is old Shanghai, or the Yuyuan quarter. In my opinion anywhere that houses a Starbucks, a McDonalds and a few KFC's cannot called itself
historical, but the style of the architecture gave an impression of how it must have been in years gone by.
Once we tore ourselves away from the gardens, we ventured back into the hustle and bustle of the city. We walked
towards the French Concession Area, through a very modern area of Shanghai. Near Time Square we saw Prada buildings, Louis Vuitton shops and stores for any other ultra expensive brand you can think of. It was interesting to walk through, but we had to get to the far end of it before we saw a restaurant that we might actually be able to afford. We had a delicious meal in Grandma's Kitchen before finding a metro station to take us back to the hostel.
On our final day in Shanghai we stayed close to the hostel, and were delighted to find another old Chinese area, that seemed a lot more genuine than the Yuyuan Quarter. We walked to a large park next to the Hong Kou stadium and watched the locals practicing
tai chi, receiving music lessons, singing or participating in impromptu music sessions beside the lake. It was a great way to witness non-touristic daily life in China, because the musicians weren't busking, they were playing for pure enjoyment.
It was in the park in Shanghai that the reality of our trip drawing to an end finally hit us. Everything from here on in has been planned.
We have just over three weeks left until we land in Dublin and despite having well over 10,000 kilometres to go, we know where we will sleep each night. There is very little mystery left and that saddened me for a moment, however looking at the local people enjoying their local life, inspired me. After eleven months of new sensations everyday, it turns out that I won't mind getting back to some normality.
We left Shanghai behind when we boarded the fast train to Beijing. It was a brief stay, but long enough to get a feel for the city and to nearly catch its Expo fever.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.093s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 13; qc: 22; dbt: 0.0557s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
