China update (part 2)
OK, for the secnd part of my update: Shanghai...
We were in Shanghai for a bit over two days - an incredible city, very Western, and nothing like the rest of China (which makes sense, given its history as a community formed by the British, French, American, Italian and Japanese, before China gained control of the city). In fact, one indication of how western itactually is is by the fact that it is the only city in China to have its own 'Chinatown'!
It is a massive and crazy city, with such a vast contrast in architecture, from traditional Chinese style, colonial style, to crazy futuristic style (I swear at night, it was like being in the movie Bladerunner!).
Lots of bicycles too - there were so many times we'd be crossing the road and turn around to see an army of bicycles bearing down on us!
We also got a taste of the Shanghai nightlife - we checked out the 'Cotton Club' (the oldest and most famous jazz bar in the city - with a great band made up of jazz musicians from all over the world) and a Mexican bar called Zapatas (full of expats - top night out).
One other highlight of Shanghai was taking a trip on the 'Mag Lev'- a magnetic-levitation train that gets to a top speed of 431km/h (the fastest in the world) -it gets to the airport (30km away) in 8 minutes!
Here are a few pics from Shanghai:
Nanjing Road (a massive shopping strip - the biggest shopping centres we've come across so far):
Chinatown (which actually featured at least 3 or 4 each of Starbucks, Maccas and KFC - very Chinese, hey?):
The MagLev leaving the station (approaching warp speed):
We were in Shanghai for a bit over two days - an incredible city, very Western, and nothing like the rest of China (which makes sense, given its history as a community formed by the British, French, American, Italian and Japanese, before China gained control of the city). In fact, one indication of how western itactually is is by the fact that it is the only city in China to have its own 'Chinatown'!
It is a massive and crazy city, with such a vast contrast in architecture, from traditional Chinese style, colonial style, to crazy futuristic style (I swear at night, it was like being in the movie Bladerunner!).
Lots of bicycles too - there were so many times we'd be crossing the road and turn around to see an army of bicycles bearing down on us!
We also got a taste of the Shanghai nightlife - we checked out the 'Cotton Club' (the oldest and most famous jazz bar in the city - with a great band made up of jazz musicians from all over the world) and a Mexican bar called Zapatas (full of expats - top night out).
One other highlight of Shanghai was taking a trip on the 'Mag Lev'- a magnetic-levitation train that gets to a top speed of 431km/h (the fastest in the world) -it gets to the airport (30km away) in 8 minutes!
Here are a few pics from Shanghai:
Nanjing Road (a massive shopping strip - the biggest shopping centres we've come across so far):
Chinatown (which actually featured at least 3 or 4 each of Starbucks, Maccas and KFC - very Chinese, hey?):
The MagLev leaving the station (approaching warp speed):
Shanghai by night - across the river in Pudong district (the big tower is the Pearl TV tower):
And this one is of a guy we met on the 28 hour train trip from Shanghai to Yangshuo (which was an experience in itself) - he was travelling with a pet crab, which he felt the need to show us!:
posted by Steph and Dan Rasmussen @ 2:54 pm
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