High and fast in Shanghai

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Morning bloggers. Actually it is about 10:30 and we have just returned from the Chinese pub down the road from the hotel. Dire Straits on the juke box and Tiger beer on draft.I could live here.
The day started with the sounds of what from my bed sounded like a good old fashioned demonstration.My CUPW blood started to stir and I was ready to hit the streets to battle injustice and the supression of farmers and the mal treatment of pandas.Actually I just rolled over and slept a while longer. It is amazing what foreign travel does for one's realities. We did get up, though not at the sound of the people. Breakfast was the now expected buffet. Dumplings were steaming and yogourt was cool and refreshing. After breakfast I blogged for a bit while Ann went to check out the Shanghai art gallery.It was in the neighbourhood and she has been thinking about modern Chinese art so off she went. I was not able to do much on the blog suffering from some connectivity problems I think. Perhaps the Great Chinese firewall!
When Ann returned the review was mediocre for the gallery but there were some bright spots. We got into a cab and with hand gestures the lonely planet book and a helpful doorman went under the river to Pudong to ascend the world's 4th tallest building. The observation deck is on the 88th floor and the elevator travels at 7 meters a second. From up there you can almost see Vancouver.Well perhaps not but it was a spectacular view with all of the city at our feet. And what a city it is too. 17 million people call it home and I think there must be a million more passing through at any given moment. There is a post office counter up there as well!!!
We walked around the compass points and looked down on 17 million people all packed into this space. At one point we found a series of windows looking down inside the building to the atrium of the hotel below. The hotel starts on the 54th floor and runs for 30 some floors up and there is this amazing space inside the building with the 30 floors balconies and hallways open below us beneath a solid pane of glass.
After we had our fill of heights we sought speed and took a taxi to the Maglev train. This is a magnetic levitation train running from Pudong out to the airport. It travels at 430 kilometers an hour and covered the 30 some kms to the airport in 7 minutes!!!!!!!! Quiet and Fasssssst.Cost us 80 yuan for a round trip ticket (just over 10 dollars) .At the airport we walked around some boutiques and scouted out the All Nippon Airlines counter in preparation for our trip home via Tokyo on Thursday.
The return trip on the train was equally amazing. Man, China is really showing off here.
We jumped on the Subway at the Madlev Station and figured out the fares by showing our book throgh the ticket window, and were on our way to the Aquarium. Now I have not been to that many aquariums but this one has to be up there.The discriptions were cear and thoughtful and in excellent English as well as some other languages. The displays were both under water and above so you could look down on the fish or into the tanks through the sides.Escalators took you down levels travelling through tunnels of glass with the fish swimming over and around us.The culmination was a long moving walkway travelling through 4 different ocean zones with appropriate fish.We were surrounded by sharks or rays and they swam over and around us all the time....wow!
When we left the aquarium we got in a cab and were immediately driven a couple of blocks to the subway.While all in Mandarin it was clear he knew it was better for us to take the subway rather than the taxi at rush hour. A couple of stops later and we were in People's Square (our hood). We were famished and had a snack at Taco Bell!! After the snack walked by the Shanghai Grand Theatre to see what was playing and were disapointed to see nothing. We are a bit early for Barber of Seville with Mandarin and English subtitles and from the look of the exterior the theatre must be spectacular. Plan B was perhaps a movie but we had seen most of them. It looked to us like Johnny Depp and the Chocolate factory movie was in Imax here!!
The sun was setting and we came back to the hotel for supper.We are a both fried at this point it seems and ordering Chinese food was a struggle. Some Haagen Dazs ice cream at a nearby store picked us up a bit, then a couple of Tiger Beers and a scotch at the Chinese pub have rounded off the day.
Night all frrom the Pacific Hotel

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