1 November 2011
Shanghai arrival
OK I made it.
Flight time was 10 hours and 10 minutes, add that onto the 2 hours for Adelaide to Sydney and at least an hours taxiing time particularly on arrival at Shanghai and that adds up to quite a bit.
Which means I am happy cause I love to sit on planes.
I stayed awake the entire flight, next to me was the only spare seat on the entire plane (I checked), so I could spread out and enjoy the service and in flight entertainment. It of course had to be rebooted twice, as it has to be on every single flight, because no one has ever yet designed an in flight entertainment system that works.
Qantas fed me non stop, in addition to the meals below there was a noodle service, hot chocolate, non stop drinks (but annoyingly the tray only ever had booze on it, ice cream if you wanted it, fresh fruit etc.
Arriving in Shanghai was very efficient. I am actually a bit disappointed as this is my only visit to Pudong airport as I will be leaving via Beijing, and I didnt really get to see much of it.
Next up was the maglev train, which at night is speed limited to 300kmph, and it was night when I was on it. I am tempted to ride it again during the day to see it hit 450.
Finding my hotel was also achieved fairly easily, as well as buying an RFID card that you can use for anything.
It being quite early china time, I wandered around the immediate vicinity of my hotel, more about that below I guess.
I am very relieved to be here and had a great day travelling.
I had my usual bulkhead seat, first row in economy, the leg room is fine and theres no one in front of you to recline back into your face. Having an empty seat next to you is luxury.
Meal number 1 is a roast chicken thing, with peas. I decided to take the western options before dumpling apocalypse commences.
Meal number 2 was really good, braised beef with mushrooms, and more peas.
Sunset on descent into Shanghai. A lot of planes flew past in the other direction at super speed.
I am risking arrest by the red army by taking this photo in the baggage collection area despite there being many signs suggesting you cant take photos.
This is the maglev train. It looks a bit shabby. When you get on it and they shut the doors you can actually feel it levitate, it doesnt feel quite stable until it starts moving, then it feels just like a regular bullet train only quieter.
Inside the maglev train, they have refitted it with the cheapest seat covers imaginable. In other news it costs $5 and is almost empty.
This is the street behind my hotel, which I think is the main pedestrian street that goes down to the bund. If you read about it on tripadvisor people will warn you about scammers and whatever, but no one seems to hassle me. I saw some middle aged men in shorts and knee socks with fanny packs getting hassled though.
Interesting mix of architecture, I am saving photos of mega modern buildings to bore you with for another day.
To my surprise, my hotel is a full apartment with kitchen, separate lounge area, bedroom and large bathroom. This is the lounge, you cant quite see the office area (where I am sitting now) as its around to the left.
Kitchen with proper cooktop, big fridge, microwave and enough plates and things to have a dinner party.
Bedroom with rock hard bed. Its really large, the view out the window is also great, will save that for another day too.