Day 104 Shanghai, China

I had no idea what to expect when we flew into Shanghai. I had just recently finished reading ‘Lost on Planet China’ (author?) and frankly I was a little scared about what ‘real China’ would be like. I needn’t have worried because the first thing I saw when I walked out of the airport was a large ‘KFC’ sign in front of me and this ‘China’ was no better or worse than what we have experienced in Asia during the last 15 weeks.

We made it through airport processes again and found our way to the train station to catch the Maglev train into the city. This is a special magnetic levitation train, top speed 431 km/hour! Great fun. We bought return tickets so we could ride it again on the way back to the airport in a few days time.

We had to change from the Magleve train to a local metro train. We did this successfully and then the difficulty came when we attempted to follow the instructions from the YHA China website to the hostel. The ‘ten minute walk’ to the hostel was starting to seem very long in the middle of the day with tired children and heavy backpacks so Steve set off on his own to find the place and the boys and I rested in the shade. Steve took a good amount of time to return and I was starting to worry that he might have been mugged on the way! No, he had found the hostel and checked-in for us. It was still a good distance from our resting place but we had no option but to walk and hope for a passing taxi. Well,we made it all the way to the hostel on foot as no taxis came near us. It wasn’t so bad, but on the way out we were definitely going to get a taxi!

After we cooled off and rested after our early start, we headed out into Shanghai. The hostel was located just a few hundred metres from ‘The Bund’ and it’s famous promenade along the river. We walked and Patrick bounced along and enjoyed the river view before heading down the main street of shops.

There is no shortage of shopping in ‘The Bund’ and just as many options for food. We found a large mall with a food court area. We decided to try something different and ate at a chain restuarant that specialises in curry, Curry House Coco Ichibanya; so our first meal in ‘real China’ was curry! The kid meals for 22 Yuan ($3) came with a drink and shrimp crackers as well.

Along the main shopping strip there is a trolley tram service. For 2 Yuan per person you can rest your legs and catch the trolley a good 2/3 of the distance. Well worth the $1 Australian for all of us to rest for part of the way back towards the hostel after a busy day.

The promenade along ‘The Bund’ in Shanghai – what a great view during the day and at night.