How strange it feels to say, "I've just spent the weekend in Shanghai". It was really, really great and it's certainly a city I'd like to go back to - maybe next month, who knows. I think you guys would all really like it too - it's part London, part Paris, a little bit New York and largely it's own (bizarre) mix of Chinese historical gems and rampant modernization. Temples, towers and retail, retail, retail. Save your pennies, my Darling Sister, you would do well in Shanghai.
So the fifteen hour journey overnight was actually very comfortable. Here's a quick pic of our bunks - they really pack you in, but the trains were clean, on time, fairly priced and, like I say, comfortable. The UK really could learn from Chinese trains. The Chinese passengers, however, would do well to learn about queueing from the UK though. They don't do it, won't do it, and seem oblivious to the fact that they are crushing each other - often the friends and relatives with whom they're travelling. By the end of the weekend, Anna and I have become rather adept at holding our ground, using elbows, umbrellas and luggage. Sounds melodramatic, perhaps, but it's a war out there (man!). It's so bad that passengers aren't allowed on the platforms until the train is ready to leave (you're kept in holding pen transit halls, having to pass through barriers and turnstiles in single file, which of course nobody does, and then the children get crushed).
Anyway, only grip from the weekend dealt with. Our hostel, Biktime, was great and in a fantastic location just a street away from the main drag along the river front, known as the Bund. It was originally built by the Evil Foreign Imperial Capitalist Overlords & Oppressors (that'd be Britain then) and as such looks amazing and is by far the best view in the city. Across the river is the rampant modernity I mentioned earlier, the business district in Pudong. Photos...
We crossed the river by ferry and walked along the front looking back at the Bund. We stopped for a coffee in a Lavazza, but could've gone to Starbuck's or Hagen Dazs had we wanted to. Afterwards, we turned into the heart of the busines district to climb to the 87th floor of the Jinmao Tower - it took three lifts! While we were travelling up, the sun went down, and the views of Shanghai illuminated were fantastic. We got a much-coveted table by the window overlooking the Pearl TV Tower (with the red spheres) and had a £23 half-bottle of Wolf Blass Pinot Grigio with a cheese board. Perfection, especially as we've not had cheese since arriving in China.
Next morning, early start at a Buddhist temple in the heart of the city. Although it's surrounded by towers, roads and the incredible hustle of Shanghai, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in an isolated monastery out in the hinterland. Until the tour groups turned up that is, but we'd arrived early enough (Anna dragging a half-asleep me) and had had our fill by the time the Portuguese woman with a microphone ruined any kind of ambience. More photos of the Gallery page, including lots of fish - you can feed the monks' Koi Carp.
We jumped in a cab and went to the Chinese Communists Propaganda Poster gallery - a limited collection that the guidebook had plugged without mentioning that it's in a residential building, in some bloke's converted partment. He sleeps in a cot in a closet, not displaying the best posters and instead offering them for sale in the 'shop room', presumably to try to pay his rent. It was worth a visit though, before we went to Xintiandi, which is a great little district in the Former French concession. Starbuck's to refuel before some hardcore browsing in the upmarket shops. We bought some striking posters of Mao, Shanghai and the Great Wall for the flat. Speaking of the Chairman, the site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China is in Xintiandi, not 100 yards from Starbuck's. It was surprisingly well put together and much less 'full-on nationalist' than I had expected - although we British are Imperialist swine.
Next morning, another early start and off to haggle with the antiques traders (it's nearly all fake) in the Old City - picked up some right treasures - before visiting the Yu Yuan gardens nearby. Unfortunately the tour groups had made it here first, but the gardens are large enough, with enough hidden areas, bridges, pagodas and tea houses that you can very easily get lost, or lose the Portuguese lot who I'm sure must've been following us. Time for some more photos...
Back to the Shanghai Museum, which turned out to be surprisingly small and, although informative, a little dry. Far more interesting was the Environmental campaigner (70 years old, not more than 5ft tall) outside who was arrested and thrown into a police van, only to reappear 15 minutes later and carry on where he had left off. The Museum in on People's Square - where we were the day before - which is in turn next to People's park (as it was National Day, entrance was free). We chilled out here, having coffee and some delicious dips in a Moroccan restaurant in the centre of the park, on the lake, opposite Starbuck's. Coming out of here, we stumbled upon the Marriage Market.