Shanghai

Shanghai is the overcrowded, polluted, glamorous, westernised, expensive face of China and this is our entry to the biggest and most interesting country of the world.

The first thing that welcomes you in Shanghai is the rude noise of all people trying to spit their guts out every 10 seconds everywhere on the streets. Men and women of all ages are spiting anywhere they can. The most polite ones try the garbage bins but most of them use the road (or your shoes).

The next thing we noticed about Shanghai is that the government wasted their money installing traffic lights. Probably they got them from Europe and they did not come with instructions in Chinese.

Pedestrians or cars have no idea what are those green and red light bulbs at the corner of every street and they use the old fashion way of beeping their horn in order to alert others about their passing. Every time you cross the road you have a near death experience.

Also, all the vehicle’s horns have been reverse-wired so they are always set to ON and the pressing just pauses the sound for an instance. This is the only explanation for the way they are used here.

The other crazy thing is the pavement motorbikes. People on motorbikes think that the narrow elevated paths at both ends of the road are designed for 2-wheel vehicles and the pedestrians are just in the way. And to make things worse, most of them are very silent (electric) so they usually warn you with a beep just as the front wheel is scratching your arse.

Depending on which neighbourhood you are, you might think that Shanghai is very poor and dirty or very clean and modern. As you walk around town this diversity keeps alternating from one extreme to another from one street to another and you never know what to expect on every corner.

To describe Shanghai, just think of Hong Kong, add the spitting/driving habits, take away the English signs and add a lot more skyscrapers and double or triple the size. The fast development of the last 20 years has made both cities equally diverse with very similar characteristics.

Shanghai is relatively new so there is not much historical sightseeing to visit. Having said that, the main museum displays items from all over China and is one of the best we have ever seen. It is very big, modern and very easy to get around, with information translated in English (something really rare here).

It is interesting to point out that a few weeks ago we visited an Inca museum displaying some basic agricultural tools and artefacts made 300 years ago and here you get similar items (that came with a case and a manual) made 4000 years ago…

Due to the Chinese New Year, and the shortage of tickets travelling to Beijing, we had to stay in Shanghai a total of 6 days (2 more than we planned).

6 days were enough to explore most things the city had to offer including major temples, street walking tours in the old and new districts, museums and squares, most shopping centres, panoramic views from the 87th floor of the highest building, and we got the photos for you to enjoy…

Right now we are on the sleeper train to Beijing, a 12-hour overnight journey on a surprisingly modern train. I think Beijing will over-compensate for Shanghai’s missing history. So many things to see, I have already made space on this web site for extra pictures. I might need to get some extra memory for my camera or another camera for the other hand (and maybe a third mounted on my head) in case we miss something…