We (The Sarcastic Four & Dawn) are now in Shanghai for the weekend! I’m sure Colin, Lizzy or Ryan has talked about Dawn in one of their blog posts. She’s a senior at Hangzhou High School and she has come with us to Shanghai. She is one of the best people you will ever meet! We are so excited that she is here with us.
We met at 7:30 this morning (Friday) at school and we hopped on a bus to go to the Hangzhou train station. We left Hangzhou at 9:00 a.m. and arrived in Shanghai at 9:45 a.m. The high-speed train they have between the cities is pretty impressive.
There was a screen at the front of the train car that updated us on the time, weather and speed. Our top speed was 350 km/hour (over 210 miles/hour)!! We first saw the high-speed train last weekend during our trip to Wu Zhen (a small town between Hangzhou and Shanghai that was overwhelmingly ‘touristy’) and I couldn’t help but wonder how much time and money it must have cost to build the tracks for this train. Most of the tracks are elevated. That’s over 100 miles of elevated tracks! Needless to say, it was one huge project!
The train station in Shanghai is humongous! After buying our return tickets for Sunday, we found our way to the subway and took a ride to the China Pavilion that is left over from the World Expo 2010. When we went to buy tickets to enter, there was a sign that said it was a 2 hour wait to buy tickets and then a 1 1/2 hour wait to enter the pavilion. Within 5 seconds, we all decided to venture elsewhere. We hopped back on the subway and headed to People’s Square. After spending all morning on trains, we were getting a little cranky. We needed to eat. We went into a mall that had about 10 restaurants. We were all being a little indecisive, but we finally decided to try the steak house that was listed on the directory. We were all pretty happy with our choice - it was a great meal.
After lunch, we ventured down Nanjing Rd. It’s one of the major tourist attractions in the city. The road is closed to traffic and there are shops and restaurants galore. We got some ice cream, took a lot of pictures and just meandered through the streets that branched off of this main street. Once again, Colin, Ryan and Lizzy impressed me with their bartering skills. They got most of the things they purchased for at least 60% less than the original price. At the end of this road is the Huangpu River. The area along the west side of the river is called “The Bund”. Here you can see the magnificent skyscrapers across the river. It’s very interesting how the architecture on the two sides of the river is very different. On the west side (The Bund), there’s a lot of European architecture - you would swear you were in London or Paris, but on the other side you have a modern 21st century skyline.
We walked north along The Bund and then arrived at our hotel - The Seagull on The Bund. It is right on the river and is in a great location. In one of the pictures I’ve posted, you can see our hotel with the skyscrapers in the background. We couldn’t ask for a better location.
We relaxed for about 30 minutes and then met up in the lobby to continue exploring. Dawn took us to this really beautiful area called Yuyuan Garden. It's a few blocks away from The Bund and has a lot of buildings with traditional Chinese architecture. There are ponds and canals that snake through this area - it was gorgeous! There were a lot of people in this area taking pictures and waiting in long lines to try some food at some well-known restaurants. Dawn wanted us to try some steamed buns at one place, but the line was very long. We found a little restaurant that specialized in dumplings, so we ventured upstairs and had a great dinner.
We walked around some more and then returned to the The Bund to take some pictures of the skyscrapers at night. They all had some impressive light displays and we got some great shots. We found a cafe that had a roof-top deck, so we went to the top and and just relaxed and admired the view. This city is absolutely gorgeous at night. Sitting between the old European influenced architecture and the dazzling, flashy, modern skyscrapers was pretty spectacular. Afterwards, we returned to Nanjing Road to see all the neon signs that lit up the streets.
We sure did jam a lot into one day! We got back to the hotel around 9:30 and we all just retired to our rooms. We’re meeting at 8:30 tomorrow in the lobby to go visit some museums and to go to the top of one of the skyscrapers to take in the views. We’re all very glad we decided to come here for the weekend. This is a fascinating city.
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