Reaching Shangai

Tuesday 3 July 10am

Everything on the flight to Shanghai via Auckland went well. We were in cattle class sitting around a family who had spent a holiday traveling around New Zealand.  I opted for a noodle breakfast which turned out to be a wise thing- the scrambled eggs were nothing like home.

Shanghai airport is huge. We found the fast train ok but it was expensive. 100 yen for two of us to travel one station. Later we found we could have taken the metro all the way for a much cheaper price. Coming out of East Nanjang Road Station and “ Heading towards the Bund” turned out to be a real nightmare. We didn’t have clear enough instructions on the booking sheet and our maps didn’t seem to include any of the streets we were desperately trying to find. We were really hot as well even though it was still before 10am. After about an hour of walking, we gave up and hopped on a tuktuk (50 yen). The entire journey for two of us cost us around  170 yen.  But it was fun and I won’t complain. They are right about the traffic not taking any notice of pedestrians. Best sight of the morning? A woman on the highest, reddest shoes sitting side-saddle on a motor bike. No one wears helmets.

I got really worried at one point-my bag started vibrating. At first I thought it was the ground but it was definitely my bag. After some investigation it turned out I’d somehow tripped my lady shaver on!

Tuesday 4 July 9pm

I’m sore. We have been walking for miles but we have continued to have a very interesting day. We were heading out about 11am bound for Shanghai Station to look for cheap glasses when we were accosted by a young man waving pamphlets and wanting us to get on his tour bus. After some confusion about which bus company he was working for, we were given a tour for about 300 Yen each. It included a ride to the top of one of the tallest towers in the Shanghai business district, a river cruise and a tour of the Jade Buddist temple. There were three routes and we chose the one today which would take us up the Jin tower. What a great choice. The suspension bridge across the river, that spirals upwards like the Rarimu Spiral  is incredible. S says it features in National Geographic so that’s something. The bridge is high enough to allow the huge river  barges to pass underneath. Shanghai is huge. The view from the top of the Jin tower is also quite wonderful.

When we came out it was twilight, and we waited about half an hour for our bus…but it didn’t come. I’d heard on the tour that you could catch ferries back over the river quite cheaply  so suggested we walk in that direction and try and find one. First mistake. Finding the river is hard when you are surrounded by extremely tall  and fairly similar looking buildings. We eventually found it with a thunderstorm looming. I grabbed a cheap umbrella. Second mistake. The vendor wanted 1.50 but I could only find 10yen. I handed him this thinking he would kindly give me some change. He didn’t A quick recap on lessons learned years ago…” keep your wits about you with street vendors.” There’s a host of brightly lit building miniatures in plastic cases that light up when you switch them on. Maybe a reminder of being lost amongst them?  There’s also dozens of laser lights that you can buy and shine in people’s eyes or toss on the pavement or up in the air. You could end up with your pockets full of unwanted stuff if you weren’t careful.

We never found a ferry. After two hours walking, swollen ankles and S getting bad twinges in his back, we opted for the Tunnel under the Bund which cost us 50 yen each, a capsule full of noisy teenagers and a baby who pissed everywhere because she wasn’t wearing a nappy. The light show is something else but we got a lot closer to where we wanted to go. Besides S being asked to move because he was sitting across the road from the Astor Hotel (we noticed then that there were Police guarding it so there must’ve been someone of significance staying there) the rest of the evening went smoothly. We’re tired.