Shanghai
It had been a while since we had been to a major city and Shanghai hit us like a tidal wave. There seemed to be millions of people and any thought of the holiday season coming to an end showed no signs of happening in this city.
Our hostel was two minutes from the Bund and an excellent location for exploring the city. In all the guides that we have read and all the people we spoke to said that the place to visit in Shanghai was the Bund and so that is exactly what we did. Unfortunately, every other tourist in China had the same idea. The Bund is the river side street that was the centre of Shanghaio commerce in the 30s and 40s. On one side of the river there is a street of magnificent 30s buildings such as the Peace Hotel - where anybody who was anybody stayed in when they visited Shangai, and on the other side of the river is the modern commrecial buildings of Shanghai. Both buildings face each other and it is a neat metaphor for what Shangahi is like as city - old and new facing off each other (you could extend it to the whole of Shanghai).
I loved the 30s’ architecture of the bund and it was easy to imagine what the city would have been like in it’s 30’s peak. However, the Bund at night was spectacular simply for the views across the river to the modern skyscrapers and neon lit buildings. It looked all the world like something out of ‘Blade Runner’ and we were mesmerised by it. The neon light show continued as we headed into the shopping district of Shanghai. The Nanjing Road is where everybody goes to shop and by the time we had got to the end of the shopper’s paradise we had been offered fake anything you could name - as long as it was Rolex, North Face, Dolce & Gabanna… We did go to a market in Shanghai for a bit of retail therapy but it proved to be much harder work than Beijing. The difference in Shanghai was that the sellers were much more aggressive and actually followed you around the amrket. They literally would not let you out of their sight. It was all a bit too much for us and we left (although I bought a pair of Puma trainers for 7 quid - they have since fallen apart).
The highlight of Shanghai was the noodle bar at the end of our road. It only had about 8 tables, the restaurant was tiny, there was nothing to shout about in terms of decor and the stafff found it hilarious that we were eating Chinese food - with chopsticks, but it cost about 3 pound for both of us to eat like kings and the crab steamed dumplings were the nicest thing I have ever tasted. We kept going back as often as we could - just writing about it now makes me feel hungry!
The other nice thing about Shanghai - as with almost all of teh Chinese cities that we have visited was that thre were so many gardens to wander around. We went wild and paid to get in to a garden (it was recomended) and we were really glad that we did. It was in the centre of the city and it was one of the smallest gardens that we have visited but it was designed to block out the noise aroudn it and also to appear to be much larger than it did. It was stunning and well worth the entry fee.
And so our trip around China came to an end. Of course the ionly way to get to the airport was by train. Not any train though - the quickest train on the planet (imagine how excited Karen aka the train spotter was about that).
China was great and the real surprise so far on the trip. We had no idea what to expect and we really enjoyed it. There was so much to see and do and we would both love to return one day. The staring by the Chinese at us got a little waring, but as I explained to Karen life in the public eye is not easy and sometimes you just have to roll with it - just like Brad and Angelina.