Shanghai, what an awesome place
Trip Start
Jul 05, 2011
1
23
121
Trip End
Jul 03, 2012
Where I stayed
What I did
Drink and walk
Shanghai, Shanghai, China
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Shanghai
This might be an obvious statement but Shanghai is not Beijing and thank f**k for that. Shanghai immediately stands out different from Beijing, the air is less humid and it feels much more like Hong Kong. I was not the only one in the group to feel this or to have there spirits lifted by this thought.
The internet in China is quite frankly that of a small Scottish Island in the 1950s but with restrictions, the hotel has wire but not wireless so I needed to go to the Apple store to get a USB NW dongle – pricing is almost identical to Europe.
We spent the day in the state museum which is compressive but I doubt all the exhibits are genuine, maybe they are but some items from the 8 Century BC are in pristine condition and probably have a "made in china" badge on them…which of course they were, just 2700 years or so later. It is well worth visiting either way.
On one of the evenings we went to The Bund which is on the river embankment and took some cool pictures, it was at this point when I was thoroughly enjoying Shanghai (I really do recommend a visit here) that in a weakened state of judgement bought 2 return tickets on the tourist tunnel under the river. (£12 in total, however to put that into perspective our daily budget is £50 inclusive that makes almost 25% spent on this). The metro, which is cheap, fast, clean and air conditioned would have cost £1.20 return for the pair of us.
This tunnel is a tunnel of fore flush, low lying poo. Basically a tunnel with 2 golf carts on rails with some nasty lighting. The pictures I took of it, which look ok, do not even begin to express the true crapness of this tunnel! Ema was upset that I managed to blow 25% of our budget on such crap and, don't tell her, but to be honest I agree!
Day 2 we decided that another day under Bin’s guidance would be to much for us in Shanghai and since it is such a great city decided to do our own thing. We visited The Jade Buddha Temple a working temple with a Buddha carving made from a single piece of Jade bigger than a person. The temple and Buddha has been the highlight of all the temples, churches and other such venues I have visited so far. There are some pics but none of the Buddha as that is not allowed, so get down there if you are in Shanghai.
Other notes on Day 2:
It was HOT! DAMN HOT!
Spent the evening drinking on a roof bar with some of the people from the tour. Had a great evening, morning finds me sore and broke! No matter how careful we have been we have managed to blow half our China budget on drinks!!!
