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October 30
Shanghai to Guilin
Must say I was pleasantly surprised at how vibrant and fascinating Shanghai is. I think I will be looking into secondment opportunities here when I get back home...
Our first day in Shanghai on Wednesday was spent orientating ourselves our East Nanjing Road's pedestrian mall, the Bund, Fang Bang Street with lots of time spent gazing wistfully at that amazing skyline.
We ate dinner early and headed to the rooftop Captain's Bar at the International hostel for 2 for 1 beers (which still work out at an exhorbitant 25 yuan) to watch the flickering night skyline and guess which ads will display next on the Aurora and Citi buildings. Great way to while away an entire evening - trying to guess whether it would be a Coca Cola, Coach, I "heart" SH, or Chinese Opera or Rainbow ad that would come on next.
Our second day in Shanghai was spent trying to find remnants of the elusive but nevertheless extensive "French Concession". We spent nearly two hours walking from one area of Shanghai to Fang Bang street keeping our eyes peeled for the sight of "old' French style buildings along the tree-lined avenues. We found some, but also questioned why we were suddenly so fascinated by buildings less than a century old - we realsied because they are such a rarity in communist China.
We explored Fang Bang st again and the "Antique" market, stocked up on a couple of souvenirs and headed over to Pudong to see if the weather would be clear enough to try the World Financial Centre Observatory. Having decided it was a bit too grey for the perfect photo we opted of the "Observation Tunnel" to transport us back to the Bund. Where it really transported us to was somewhere approximate to Back to the Future. When Lonely Planet says it must be seen to be believed - there is no better description. The meteor showers, lava flows, fossils and other supposed themes for all the flashing neon seen from inside what resembles a time capsule, are kitsch beyond belief. You walk out asking yourself - what the hell was that all about? Once in a lifetime. And only once.
Day three in Shanghai was a late start with a very civilised coffee and pastry at a mall cafe. We explored the other end of Nanjing East Road which brought us out at the People's Square. A few hours vanished at the Shanghai Museum which I was very pleasantly surprised with. Along with the exhibitions of Chinese Calligraphy, sculpture, bronze, jade, ceramics, painting and traditional costumes there was a fabulous exhibition on loan from the Hermitage of Catherine the Great's treasures. Never seen anything like it, yet, so I was enthralled. There was also another exhibit on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum of relics from ancient India.
Mid-afternoon was now or never for our 150 yuan trip up the Shanghai Financial Tower. The ear-popping elevator ride whizzed us up 97 floors to just below the hole in the "bottle opener" where we took afternoon snaps of the skyline before we ventured up to level 100 for the sunset photos. the glass floor was very underwhelming, with tiny panels that only gave you a view down to where we'd been at 97 unless you stood back and looked at an angle to the streets below. Sunset was a long time coming and the Pearl took even longer to light up but eventually become the centrepiece of those panoramic views. Definitely worth the wait.
By that time though we were starving and since our tour leader wasn't with us we snuck off to Pizza Hut for a last meal with all the group before three of us left to continue our journey and the others waited to flights home. Sad to say goodbye but I know have more great friends to add to the list of people to visit when next overseas.
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