This morning we packed up, had breakfast and said good bye to Hangzhou. The train station in Hangzhou was huge, but we found our waiting room with little difficulty. Our train was on time and we hopped on. Well, can one really hop with an overweight suitcase in tow?
The bullet train was amazing. It was much like an air plane, except with more room. There were even flight (?) attendants offering refreshments for sale. We were going just short of 200 km per hour and it was so smooth that it didn't really feel like we were moving. In less than an hour, having made four stops at different stations, we were in Shanghai.
We arrived at our hotel and took an hour or so to get unpacked and figure out our next move. I found a fantastic dim sum restaurant on Trip Advisor that specialised in little dumplings that were filled with a tasty soup. They were magical! After we finished our meal, we actually ordered another round of the dumplings, they were that good.
As we left the restaurant, we found we were in the French Quarter with amazing shops and other restaurants all around, so we took a walk to familiarize ourselves with the area. It seems to be much cooler here, about 35 degrees, and walking around seems so easy.
The area seemed to consist of old housing that was turned into quaint shops. Very neat.
We made it to the Bund, which is Shanghai's version of a boardwalk (every city on the water seems to have one), just as the sun was setting. The skyline of Pudong on the other side of the river was amazing. It seemed quite surreal to be here, especially when it is contrasted with other places we've been on this trip like the Great Wall or the Terra Cotta Warriors.
Shanghai has a very different feel than any other city I've been in in China. It is huge and very cosmopolitan. There are young professionals everywhere and they are all dressed very well and usually in style that would be acceptable in any Western city. There is every kind of store imaginable and the streets are humming with activity. This is one exciting city!
As it continued to get dark, the buildings all began to light up with advertisements or, well, lights.
This is going to be a fun couple of days.
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