Advertisement
Published: October 24th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Difficult state of awakeness
Tunxi to Shanghai hard sleeper Boarded the overnight sleeper at Tunxi having no idea what sort of accommodation we had on board, we soon found out it was to be the turn of the hard sleeper, it had to be done once before we left China! Our carriage had three bunks followed by the same again and again...........along the carriage, no separating door, no en-suite bathroom, we were sharing with the whole carriage. Luckily a young lady that spoke very good English took pity on us and showed us where our bunks were; China has been full of genuinely generous people who want to help us out. Our new friend was on board with her family we wiled away the evening discussing the intricacies of the Chinese language, it was lights out at 10.30pm sharp and on again at 5am!! Apart from the lack of sleep we enjoyed our hard sleeper experience, it's surprising what you learn about yourself when you step out of your comfort zone.
We think hard in hard sleeper refers to it's hard to sleep; it's not, it's nigh on impossible and sleeper referring to sleep, well you don't, so it should read “difficult state of awakeness”.
Arrived at Shanghai
Still Smiling
We left before we got a headache! station to be met by the usual rip off cab drivers offering their services all of which we refused, we are getting wise to these guys, we no longer have “mug” written on our heads it now says “streetwise”, eventually located the official taxi rank, time to hotel 10mins, 5mins of which was stuck in traffic; would have been a little perturbed had we fallen for the rip off taxi option; we set off to explore the glittering lights of Shanghai.
Shanghai was everyone's good time dream girl, she could be whatever you wanted her to be, but it came with a price, they all left their mark and took a little more than they should, leaving her with a Opium, gambling and of course a prostitution problem. Shanghai with her exotic name had a dark past only to be saved by Communism which put her through rehab.
Now, this once lady of the night after her face lift and boob job, brings investors in another way, showing them the neon lights and tall skylines, swapping her high heels and short skirt for a business suit but she still can't help splashing on a little cheap perfume at night.
Shopping Shanghai style
The only thing busier than the people are the lights Shanghai is changing quicker than the guidebooks updates, not only on occasion has the restaurant gone, so has the building it was in! The old part of town is disappearing fast with the historic Yuyuan Gardens being one of the few to survive; the old colonial buildings have also survived, it is strange to be walking in a modern Chinese city passing Art Deco apartment blocks. On one side of the river is The Bund with its 1930's buildings on the other is the Pudong skyline with its eclectic mix of towers, each one trying to out do the next.
If you are feeling brave enough you can take the tourist tunnel from The Bund to Pudong, you enter a space age pod and are then bombarded with a display of lights and voice over, the like of which have never been seen or heard before, enough said we were left speechless!
With our bags gathered we were ready to move on to our next destination, sad to be leaving China behind having only touched the surface, in fact it was more of a light dusting.
Our departure was from the glamorous Shanghai ferry terminal; an
Neon, neon everywhere
WARNING : some of the images may contain flashing lights!! underground car park, we can only assume that the swanky new version will be arriving soon either that or ferry travel is being phased out. Departure by ferry provided incredible views of the Shanghai skyline and further down river an insight into the huge level of industry; the banks lined with cranes, shipyards and barges that went on for miles before reaching the sea. The first night/following morning were pretty rough, the sea started to settle and the queasiness passed leaving us a little peckish, we headed to the restaurant where we were greeted with sick bags hanging in the walkways (we are pleased to say not ours); not a member of staff was to be found and the eateries all closed; it was back to cabin 901 for a noodle pot not to be mistaken with a pot noodle, the inferior tasteless version.
Kiro has left an ickle footprint (carbon free) in the newly set cement of China, a step over the East China Sea and we're ready to tip toe our way into Japan, so it's Zaijian to China and Konniciwa to Japan!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.22s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 26; qc: 123; dbt: 0.1265s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb
Ren
non-member comment
Hello!
Hi Kiro! Love the travel blog and reading about your experience in China, which brings back memories. Have a great time in Japan. love Ren and Pete x