8 November 2011
Last night in Shanghai
Tomorrow I am off to Beijing.
Shanghai is a very modern, clean, western city.
I would say it is more modern than Hong Kong, certainly a lot cleaner.
There are a surprisingly high number of westerners here working (English, American and Australian) and as tourists (French, German and Russian).
Everyone seems pretty happy, theres perhaps not the same community spirit as you get in Hong Kong, where people seem to gather outside at all times, but theres things like the ballroom dancing craze and everyone seems to eat out every night.
Its hard to tell how polluted it is, it was genuinely cloudy most days, with always just a hint of rain apart from one day where it actually rained.
Beijing is much colder, getting below freezing at night, I struggled with this in the UK, I think I have a better coat this time, and if I need something even better its probably cheap.
Oh yeah, I got my laundry back after 4.5 hours, it remains to be seen if I get charged for the pleasure of not being allowed to use the guest self service laundry.
My dinner, beef something, had long shitake mushrooms in it, served on a hot plate. It is surprising just how much some skinny Chinese guys can eat, I certainly couldnt eat all of this where as some guys were eating all this, a serve of dumplings and then some sort of giant ice cream and fruit creation.
As I was approaching the waterfront, a fireworks display broke out, I think they have them every night. It was nothing special, similar to those 5 minute displays they seem to have on Darling Harbour once a week.
The most cliche photo of Pudong imaginable, with added ledge. Should have moved the camera closer to the edge. Despite dire warnings about crowds here, it really wasnt that crowded.
Every now and then a fake pirate ship hydroplanes past.
Finally, an example of China as a stereotype. If you had to dig up the road would you close it entirely? no. Put up some lights warning people? no. Close off the lane? no. This is an extremely large busy intersection, and this guy seems to be digging up the road on his own.
There are not many supermarkets, instead they have food stores like this. You can get pretty much everything you would get in a supermarket, but you have to make about 20 transactions as each section is its own mini store. I guess thats no different to going to the central market in Adelaide.