Shanghai was one of those trips that had to be done as it was fairly simple to get too and of course, the British had great influence in the area is it was going to be interesting to see the differences between it and Beijing. In total, I spent 3 days in Shanghai and in all fairness, there is not much to see. The Bund is the main destination for tourists where you can see all the old colonial buildings etc. From here you can also stand on the promenade to view over onto the western side of the Huangpo River into the Pudong district. Think of the city Star Fleet HQ is based in in Star Trek......it looks just like that. At 7pm there is also a light show where they switch on the lights of all the tall buildings and the famous Shanghai tower - it all looks very pretty. The rest of the time was spent just casually enjoying the atmosphere of the mid-Autumn festival, visiting the busy Nanjing Road shopping area. I do have photos but as I am working from my iPad, I have found it hard to add them properly so I will just upload them when I get home.
The final day before getting a sleeper train back to Beijing was in a smaller city not far from Shanghai called Suzhou. It is was of the many Chinese cities that refer to themselves as 'the Venice of China' due to the fact that it has some canals. Suzhou is famous for being one of the early focal points for the silk trade. It has a more traditional look than Beijing in my opinion and definitely compared to Shanghai. Everywhere you go is a local shop or restaurant and chains were almost non-existent. Suzhou is also famous for its gardens and I visited the Lion Grove Garden. Again, more photos will come up soon and really I need them to explain how beautiful this garden really was. It once belonged to a Chinese academic (Suzhou was a place where academics retired too apparently) and is now open to the public to enjoy. Chinese gardens are famous (apparently) for their rock formations and how they are made in mazes that you can wonder around and play in. This garden was no different and it took about 1hr to wonder through all the twists and turns. Photos soon I promise!
It has to be said that the people I encountered here were on the whole, much more friendly and much less suspicious looking (more in the next post). You still had the security checks at tube stations but they usually smiled at you and although I do not view it as super important, more people spoke English so it was generally easier to get about. A note on that, I disagree that everyone in the world should be learning English as actually we Brits are terrible at assuming everyone should speak our language and that we should make no effort (except for the Americans of course - they are much worse). Before I get lynched, I am not at all saying that is always the case but you have to admit, it is the majority. On one of the evenings, I went to a bar and ended up chatting with a lady from Wales and a guy from Coventry (how weird!) who now lived and worked in Shanghai. Their experiences were all positive in all ways apart from certain beaurocratic obstacles placed on foreign people by the communist government in China. It was a unique experience for me as I did not realise Welsh people ventured that far abroad.
Suzhou and Shanghai done, it was time to board a comfy sleeper train where we shared a cabin with two Germans (who were sort of interesting but one studied marketing and the other said some stuff but also had his top off so I was distracted) and off we went back to Beijing for part 2 of my visit there.
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