Shanghai, Shaolin & Xi'an

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We flew into Shanghai from Chengdu, only a few hours flight, but what made this journey unique was that after our flight we boarded the MagLev Train; a magnetic levitation train that is the fastest in the world. It’s top speed is 430 kmph, but since we were traveling in the middle of the day it only could go 300. The trip only took eight minutes! Our hotel was located right on Nanjing Road in Shanghai, which is the city’s most famous and crowded, shopping street, so we used our first day to explore and become familiar with the area since we would be staying here for five days. We fought through the massive crowds on Nanjing Road and finally made it to the Bund, Shanghai’s historical waterfront district which is supposed to be the best place for a leisurely stroll, but because of crazy construction and the Labor Day holiday, it was also super crowded and was more of a headache than anything else. We escaped to Pudong across the river via the Tourist Tunnel, a ridiculously crazy train with lights and sound effects that was so weird we could not even believe it was serious. Once on the other side, we made it to the Jinmao Tower, the elegant, free and crowdless alternative to the horrible looking Oriental Pearl Tower, to view the city from the top. Later that evening we sat down to the impressive Shanghai Acrobats Show and headed back to the Jinmao Tower for some cocktails at the world’s highest bar, Cloud 9. Over the next four days while in Shanghai we went shopping at the Yuyaan Bazaar, visited the tranquil Yu Gardens, caught a movie where we got VIP seats with huge Lay-Z-Boy chairs, went to the Propaganda Poster Museum and meandered around the artsy area of the French Concession. After five days in this city we were ecstatic to move on, so we hopped an overnight train to Shaolin.

Shaolin was a beautiful area with gorgeous scenery that we unfortunately only had one full day in. This place is said to be the birthplace of all martial arts and from dawn until dusk there are teams of young kung fu apprentices marching to their next lesson, in the square practicing their weapons skills, or just tumbling on thin mat pads. First we visited the Shaolin Temple, where many years ago a soon-to-be Shaolin Monk cut off his left arm to show his worthiness of becoming a disciple. Now when these Shaolin Monks bow, instead of putting both hands together, they only raise their right hand to show respect to this man. Afterwards, we hiked past the Pagoda Forest and climbed to the top of Shaoshi Mountain to take in some more of the breathtaking views. We were able to go to a Shaolin Kung Fu Show put on by a nearby school and Brandon was called on stage to learn some of the basic skills of one of their many different fighting styles. Unfortunately it was not the Tiger, Dragon or Leopard style that they taught him though, it was the fearsome Toad! This place had clean air, great views and nice people and is one of our favorite places we have visited in China up until now, but we had to leave so we hit the road towards Xi’an. On the way to Xi’an we stopped in a city called Louyang, where the famous Longmen Grottos are carved into the mountainside along the riverbank. These are hundreds of Buddha shrines, some massive and some small, that were sculpted into the rocks about 1500 years ago.

Once we arrived in Xi’an the weather had turned and it became cold and rainy. It remained that way for all four days. Xi’an is China’s first great metropolis, and is home to several historical sights, most popular being the Terracotta Warriors. China’s first Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, had this army of thousands of clay soldiers, charioteers and archers built and buried nearby his own tomb, which is still unexcavated, to protect him in the afterlife. The largest pit where they were buried is contained in a massive airplane hangar style building, with only a quarter of the eight thousand soldiers unearthed. It was too rainy to really enjoy any of the other sights in Xi’an, but we were obligated to visit the more popular ones such as the Bell & Drum Towers, the City Wall, the Muslim Quarter and the evening fountain and music show. The next few days should be really interesting though, as we head to Zhongwei where we will mount some camels and head into the desert!

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Photos

MagLev Train
You could not really tell you were going 300 kmph, but it was coll anyhow.

East Nanjing Road
In Shanghai

Shanghai
From Jinmao Tower

Pudong
The "Special Economic Zone" across the river from the Bund.

Yu Gardens and Grotto
Their roofs have cool details.

Renmin Park
In Shanghai

Shaolin
From Shaoshi Mountain with the group

Pagoda Forest
From Shaoshi Mountain

Shaolin
"Hiking" down the mountain.

Shaolin
Everybody is Kung Fu fighting!

Paparazzi
Chinese people think Westerners are fascinating, and we always catch them sneaking up to pose next to us and take our picture.

Toad Style
At the Shaolin Kung Fu Show