Shanghai Trip '11

Long time no entry I know but, I have much to tell as last Saturday until thursday I was in Shanghai for the National Day holiday. Again, with Beijing, if you ever get the invitation/opportunity to visit - VISIT! It's an amazing city, beautiful in some areas and full of history and culture - definately a city to be ticked off if you're spending a long-ish amount of time in China.

The train journey there was fairly quick and very easy - I was quite nervous as I was travelling by myself but, boarding the train was very organised and stress-free, almost like boarding a plane & it wasn't as busy as I was expecting it to be. Usually, the majority of people travel during the first week of October so I was expecting worse. As I say, fairly quick - 8 hours direct to Shanghai so it was pretty much the whole day on the train but, I managed to get good trains that arrived at sensible hours - I'm comparing this to Brian (one of the other foreign teachers) who visited Chongqing which is a 26 hour train journey from Pingxiang!! So I arrived in Shanghai at about 8pm, taxi to the hostel which was very nice - friendly staff and a good room for myself (the people I met with arrived on sunday.) I also watched Johnny English with chinese subtitles & it was also dubbed in chinese as well on TV which was nice - & still as entertaining! Rowan Atkinson's 'chinese' voice so to speak..

On sunday, Kasia (my roommate from my time in Beijing) arrived with one of her students & another German teacher from her college with one of her students. We stayed fairly local on sunday, visiting the surrounding area - went for a pizza! The difference between Shanghai & Pingxiang, along with the buildings & everything else, is vast. Shanghai is obviously much more catered towards tourists so there were more english speakers etc. In the evening, we met up with 2 other teachers from Beijing & went for a drink, so it was a nice, relaxing first day. Getting to grips with the subway proved interesting (it is, in fact, very easy) but by that evening after chasing each other round Shanghai metro stations we managed it!

Monday saw us visiting Qibao, a southern district of the city which we got to by subway, and famous for its old chinese market. As Shanghai is situated next to a river (the Huangpu I think) there are lots of 'water towns' which are mostly in the old quarter of the city. These towns are built on the river too, think Venice but smaller - with bridges that cross from one street to another etc. The chinese market we visited was extremely busy - lots of crowds so it was a bit manic trying to move down the narrow streets (see pictures!) But it was very interesting to see the old city & soak up the bustling atmosphere - really cool architecture too. Monday afternoon we visited Qi Pu Lu a market known for being v.cheap (!) which was more central, near the Bund. That again was another v.busy market street, with an indoor market selling shoes, clothes, accessories - I bought a bag and afterwards we had a very good, tasty meal in a very small but typically chinese restaurant. Monday night I met up with Matt & Dan (2 guys from Beijing) and ventured out to find a club of some description - we found one, along with some other english teachers so had an ace night boogie-ing away at G+ !! Sadly though, as in Pingxiang, drinks in bars and clubs are more expensive buut they do proper cocktails in Shanghai & it was a holiday so..Margarita time!! aha

Tuesday we took the subway to pretty much the city centre and visited Yuyuan gardens. These were built for an important army general during the Ming dynasty. Again, these were huge! But they were very tranquil & welcome relief from the madness outside - lots of cool architecture again & lots of fish! Outside the gardens is another old shopping area, like a bazaar which drew in LOTS of crowds but the shops were great to look at - saw lots I wanted to buy had I had more time,money & stamina! We also walked along the zig-zag bridge by the Huxingting tea-house - another popular spot. The bridge is zig-zag in design as this is to help protect the building from evil spirits, as they can't turn corners! Tuesday afternoon we went to the Bund/Pudong area on the riverside & went to the Oriental Pearl tower. It took a while to get up to the second floor but once we did the views of the river, skyscrapers in the surrounding financial area were spectacular - I hope my photos do them justice! We also visited the Shanghai history museum in the tower which had a lot of mini-models of Shanghai from the early 20th century, vintage cars that the rich used to drive down the Bund so there was plenty to see there.

On Wednesday I visited the Jing'an Temple, which is a working Buddha temple in the city centre, the museum and site of the first National Congress of the Communist Party of China & Nanjing Road, which is a bit like the Oxford/Bond street of China so another busy day! Travelling back thursday morning was tiring but I managed to get the subway from the hostel to (one of) the railway stations in Shanghai to get my train so was proud of myself for that! I arrived back in Pingxiang at just after 5 so pretty much the whole day on the train but nothing painful 7 was home in time for tea!

It was a wonderful experience - including all the travelling and walking I did (!) really glad I went to Shanghai & saw it as it really is an amazing place, lots of things to see & do - if I got the chance/invitation I would go back and take a night- cruise along the Bund at night, see something at the Shanghai Grand Theater & visit the French Concession - Mum, if you're reading there is also the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition & Hall which is a bit like the museum of all the urban developments that have happened in Shanghai over the years: I read about it & thought of you as I thought you'd like that

Brilliant trip & place to spend a few days off! *Hen hao

xxx

*(very good) - also went to McDonalds (shame on me I know but there's no such thing as cheese in Pingxiang) & had a cheeseburger - another highlight of the trip