Today, we went with the subway to the World Financial Center's Observatory on the 100th floor. It was quite interesting to learn some facts about the growth of Shanghai in the last 10 years and comparing it with other cities like NY or Tokio. Over 19 Mio people live in this city! We had lunch at the Westin's restaurant and later got a pedicure and massage (Green Massage) before heading to the French Concession for a nice outdoor Thai dinner. Taxis are quite accom...

That was an exciting train ride with the new high-speed train from Beijing to Shanghai in under 5 hours and with great comfort. The seats recline to horizontal position and are very comfortable. There were some snacks, drinks and dinner served as well. The train stations in both cities are incredibly huge, very modern and futuristic. After arriving in Shanghai train station, we lined up to get a taxi, long, long lines but it was moving quite fast. When we finally...

Today was the official "we-hate-Beijing- cab-driver-day"! And we walked for hours... Here is how it goes: 1. You stand at the side of the road and flag down one of the many cabs. 2. You'll get one of the following reactions: - drive by without paying attention to us - stop but don't understand where you want to go - simply don't want to drive there - offer to drive you for a ridiculously high amount (without turning on the meter which they should) and if you don'...

Beijing Sideways - one of the most amazing trips to the Great Wall by motorcycle with side cars and then hiking away from tourists! We were picked up right at the Hilton hotel by our tour guide Ricardo, an Italian chef, with motorcycles with side cars. It was a crazy and fun ride through Beijing out to the highway, weaving through traffic, overtaking on the emergy lane and seeing the real Chinese life. I think the pictures tell it all. First stop was at a castle,...

We arrived in Beijing with Dragonair after a 3 hour flight. First impression of mainland China: everything is huge, the airport is super-modern and big, roads wide with dense traffic and sky scrapers touch the sky. We were trying to find transportation to the hotel. There were hundreds of people lined up for taxis. Finally, we had a taxi driver, but he didn't speak any English. When I showed him the address for the Hilton hotel, he shrugged his shoulders. We had...