Shanghai

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October 21st 2006

Published: November 20th 2006

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bigtrip06

View From The Bund

We arrived in Shanghai by bus, it was only afterwards we read in our guide book that this may be a bad idea, as you can never be sure where you will be dropped off. But it was actually great coming in on huge motorways and elevaed roads, we got a nice first view of the city skyscrapers. Unfortunately, after a short subway journey it took us nearly two hours to find our hostel which was only a few minutes from the subway station! Thankfully the hostel was worth it. After a much needed shower we decided to have a quick wander around the city centre. City centre is very impressive and incredibly busy. We endured a little bit of harrassment from Chinese people posing as students trying to trick us into visting their bars and paying exuberant prices.

The next day, after a slow start, we headed down to the bund but unfortunately it was very overcast and the view was severly limited. That evening we were having a few beers in the hostel bar when we met a couple of guys including one Irish guy who were working in Shanghai. We decided to head out with them and

Downtown Shanghai

ended up in a bar full of Westerners called "Windows". Had a great night.

Dragged ourselves out of bed the next day to do some sightseeing. The weather was much better so we headed back down to the Bund. We then headed up to visit a free museum about the city that we had read about. Unfortunately the museum was closed and we ended up in another Chinese "Art Students" gallery. After humoring him for a few minutes and taking his photo (see below) we made our excuses and left. We then headed to Renmin Park and relaxed in the sun. We discovered a great little Chinese restaurant right beside the hostel, which had an English menu and was cheap. We became their most regular customers!

The next day we got the ferry across the river to Pudong. We went for coffee and our first sandwich since leaving Europe! We then got the subway out to the train station and rode the Maglev train out to the airport. Although we had no reason to go to the airport we didn't feel we could miss an opportunity to travel at 431km per hour. The 30km journey takes just over

Renmin Park Shanghai

7 minutes. We visited the Maglev Museum in the station which explains the physics behind it and gives a brief history of the train and its future potential. On our return we visited the Jinmao Tower from the 88th storey (421m high) we got a great view of the city. We got there about an hour before sunset so got to see the city light up as dark fell.

That night having visited the same Chinese restaurant for dinner, we had a few beers and played some cards. We got talking to Paddy, an Irish man from Carlow. He is in the middle of a world trip but unlike us he is planning on doing the whole thing without a single flight! We eventually got kicked out of the hostel bar and sat in reception drinking and talking. We were soon joined by Alexei, a crazy Russian Hitchhiker who we had previously met in Xi'an and a couple of Swedish backpackers including the two guys sharing our room.

The next morning after breakfast and saying goodbye to Paddy we headed to the airport. We had tried to book a train to Xiamen, but unfortunately they were all fully