28th - 31st July and 3rd August
For our one week summer vacation we flew to Shanghai. Typically when we travel to a place we go uninformed, with nothing booked, no guide book and just explore things ourselves, however we didn't count on it being peak season and mid-summer break - it was really busy and all the hostels were booked up! This meant we spent the majority of our first day wandering around with our backpacks looking for somewhere to stay with no map and no money (who knew you can only change money in China in banks and airports!)
We're not really tour bus kind of people but as we had such a short time in Shanghai and as it's such a huge place we decided it would be a good way to see everything, and for £3 you can't complain. We "hopped off" at
The Bund, the river front that overlooks the financial district - check this for an impressive skyline:
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| The Bund |
Next we went to Shanghai Old Street which is a traditional neighbourhood that's been turned into a shopping area with markets and souvenir shops. I like the contrast between the traditional Chinese buildings and the modern skyscrapers in the background.
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| Shanghai Old Street |
One evening we went across the river to the financial district where all the gigantic skyscrapers are. It's incredible. I've never seen buildings that big before, it was like I'd shrunk and everything in the world was bigger. We went up the Jin Mao tower to the 88th floor viewing platform. The tower is the 13th tallest in the world and is 421m high. The high speed lift from the basement took less than 15 seconds and made my ears pop. The view speaks for itself:
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| Jin Mao Tower from the bottom |
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| The Oriental TV Tower (centre) 468m |
On our last day in Shanghai we went to Jing'an temple, a traditional Buddhist temple in the middle of the city. Walking through the gate was like leaving Shanghai and going to a completely different place. Even though it's in the city centre the traffic, pollution and chaos of Shanghai seems miles away; instead all you can hear is the chime of bells and tranquil music. Gone is the smell of rotting food and exhaust fumes and in its place is the smoke from hundreds of incense sticks burning on an ornate metal carriage. Inside there are two Buddha sculptures made from jade. They were brought to China from Burma(/Myanmar) and weigh 11,000 kilograms. It's a beautiful temple and well worth the 30Yuan (30p) entrance fee.
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| Jing'an Temple |
I love Shanghai. The buildings are fascinating - so stylish and modern and yet at the bottom of them are old traditional Chinese buildings housing numerous large families. It's a weird mixture of old and new. You only have to walk five minutes off the main street to find street vendors selling exotic fruits out of wicker baskets, old men sat in deckchairs wearing stained white vests and women washing clothes in plastic bowls on the pavement.
