Shanghai...a city on steroids

After Bangkok and Cambodia I had a week to kill.

As you do.

Mmmmm....I thought.

It's was my birthday and I decided that there were better things to do than the laundry back home.

Quickly got on the web and decided to go on to Shanghai.

We had been in Shanghai in 2007. Then it was a city on steroids.

Massive building and growth. 

All the older areas were being knocked done in preparation for the 2010 Expo.

We had stayed in the French Concession area which had a certain Sino-European charm to it.

This time I chose to stay near The Bund at The Peninsular.

I decided to arrive in style and arranged for the hotel to pick me up at the airport.

This took on a slightly farcical turn when three large gentlemen dressed in black took my bags 

  and whisked me through the astonished airport crowd to a very large black Mercedes.

Five minutes from the hotel the driver rang reception. When we arrived there was

a line up of staff to greet me. I was bustled through the foyer and passed reception.

No checking-in for me.

Everyone who stays at this hotel thinks they are important so this had them wondering who I was, 

obviously too important to even check-in.

I had booked a room that over looked the water and every morning I looked out at 

commerce, boat traffic and beautiful kites.

The city was still on steroids.

I spent the rest of the day re-acquainting myself with Shanghai and walking around The Bund.

The city seemed a lot cleaner than in 2007. Then, the pollution caused your eyes to sting, 

and on some days you couldn't see to the end of a block through the photo-chemical smog.

I spent the night at the hotel's roof top bar taking in the brilliant light show that is The Bund at night.

The next day I went to the Old Town area that is more Disneyfied than when we were here last.

I went in search of shop windows and I found them.

Every Western chain you could imagine is in Shanghai.

H&M, Zara, Coach, Burberry, Gucchi, Dior ad nauseum.

The only slightly ethnic shop is Shanghai Tang. 

And I know that they started in Hong Kong when it was still a British colony.

Another morning of kites and then a boat trip along The Bund to get a better look at the 

new developments on Pudong and along the river sides.

Pudong has expanded incredibly since 2007. 

Then it consisted of vast office blocks surrounded by wasteland. 

There were worries then that this piece of reclaimed marshland would sink 

under the weight of all the new building that was taking place. Well, obviously it hasn't sunk

 and it contains some of the most imaginative architecture I've seen anywhere.

I finished with another night on the roof.

 

 

I caught the tunnel shuttle to Pudong to see if it had become any more pedestrian-friendly.

It hadn't, and there was little to no shade in the searing heat.

That night I went to a tourist-oriented circus. I expected an Oriental experience but

the design was from some of the Cirque du Soleil creators. 

It was a bit more Vegas than Shanghai.

Back home to the bar and the sight I couldn't get enough off.

Finally got around to checking out the facilities of the hotel and was amazed at it's opulence.

Then I toured a water village. Compared to Seim Reap this was a pure money-making village.

Although you could see down the alleys, that we were not allowed to enter, people lived there.

I then dropped into the Shanghai Museum. It has a stunning collection of ethnic costumes and embroidery.

As dusk was settling I walked back to the hotel via Nanjing Road.

I'd been avoiding Nanjing Road as it is more of a giant shopping mall than anything else.

China could probably change the earth's climate by turning off all its neon lights.

Although it wouldn't be as spectacular.

On my final day in Shanghai I took the tourist bus, hopping off and on to catch anything I'd missed. 

And I'm sure I still missed heaps. 

While waiting for the bus I was aware of a lot of movement beside me.

I was reading a book and hadn't been paying attention. An entire family had been sneaking up 

beside me and having their photograph secretly taken with a fair Western woman. 

I laughed.

I then got them to pose for me, and with me, while their grandmother kept stroking my arm and my hair. 

This had happened to me in 1991 when we had travelled in the countryside.

Back then blonds were a rarity. Guess they still are.

I spent the rest of the day just sight-seeing, waiting to go to the airport.

One last drink. One last look at The Bund. 

Homeward bound I went.