Blogs from Shanghai, China, Asia - page 256

OK, so I'm a bit late with the update but we did make it to Shanghai and thought it was a bloomin nice city. Seeing as this happened ages ago and I'm actually now in Vietnam I'll try to keep this quick by clearly copying from my diary (I never thought I'd end up keeping a diary!). There's not as many sights in the city proper but it does seem like a cool place to wander about and definately has a more European feel (and sound, quite a few people speak English here) to it which is probably quite easily explained by the fact that most of the buildings are colonial. Arrived in the afternoon on the 20th of July so didn't do a great deal that day. Had a nice cold chicken for dinner with ... read more

Ah.... China. If we hadn't read over and over again about the horrors that the colonial period and the early years of communist rule had wrought on China's historical artifacts, we might have thought that some of the amazing treasures we've been seeing over the past couple of weeks were actually somewhat "original". Unfortunately, though, centuries of wars, edicts from emperors and (most destructively) Mao's Cultural Revolution sent much of China's cultural history into the garbage bin. To make up for it, it seems that the entire country is now dead-set on reconstructing anything that remains with a shiny new facade, even if all that remains is an original location and existing housing for low-income families. Naturally, those reconstructed temples will look exactly as they did long ago -- complete with ticket office and turnstiles! To ... read more

Shanghai, just the name conjures up images of intrique, foreign concessions shipping ports and mystery. Today, it is a fast paced and modern economic engine, changing its face daily, with construction projects underway in every part of the city. Our hotel was in a location convenient to the Jing An subway station where we began our walk along the famous Nanjing Lu (road) towards the Bund. Following the points of interest listed in our Frommer's Guide, we were entertained by a shop of women making dumplings, by an herbalist in a Chinese apothecary which had been in business since the 17th century and by the may variations of bicycle vehicles that pick up, deliver and haul away everything you can think of. Further east, the Nanjing Lu hosts luxurious apartments and hotels accompanied by the same ... read more

Most of you are aware that the we are all safely back home. I apologize for not writing for so long, but the jet lag was awful once I returned. I was warned it would be, but I am pretty physically active person, seldom get sick, and consider myself a healthy person, but I have to admit it has taken a while to get back to my normal routine. I have been like a baby with their days and nights mixed up, but all is well now and I do want to make several more posts. First, I want to tell you about Shanghai. We caught a plane from Xi'an and then on to Shanghai. The flight was about two hours. Here are some facts I think are particularly interesting about Shanghai. A) My first impression ... read more

Today was a free day. After breakfast we walked the three blocks from the hotel to the Bund along the river . After spending the late morning, mid-day walking along the Bund and viewing the architecture of the early 1900. Some members of the group chose to shop along the bustling Nanjing Road, and the rest of us chose to ride the Shanghai Meglev train. We hit a top speed of 430 km/h (267 mph). The station was approximately 35 miles from the airport. We did the trip to and from the airport in a total time of 16 minutes. The ride was very smooth. The evening came dinner and cocktails at "M" On The Bund, a very trendy night spot with and awlsome view of the river and the TV tower on the on side. ... read more