Latest update on my travels. I left Hangzhou for Shanghai on the D train, which only took about an hour's travelling. Shanghai hasn't really changed that much to me, just more and more new buildings.
The hotel I stayed at was an experience that surprised me. Most hotels here generate some noise of one kind or another, but this hotel wins hands down! The first room I was put in was at the back of the hotel and I had a view of a garden, but there was no room for my computer so I could continue on with my work - yes, even while I am on holidays, I am still working! Getting back to this hotel, I asked my friend if he could ask for a room with no computer and then waited for the response. Big mistake! I was put into a room at the front corner of this hotel and I thought ok, perhaps the locals do sleep at night. All night I had horns hooting and here, the trucks use these horrible "air horns!" and to make it even more interesting, when they use the horns, their hands magically get stuck on the button for the next 10-30 mins! Next came the sound of the Metro, which I worked out to be right underneath me, but thankfully they did stop operating around 11 pm.
I ventured out to find something to eat and to also locate some much needed items for my time there - Coke Zero! After walking around some and having a good old general peak at the place, I went back to my room to meet a friend on line. Once inside, I found the local traffic INSIDE was a whole lot worse than the trucks and cars outside and this went on until about 2 am - another sleepless night had.
The next day, my friend Jack met me and we trundled off in hunger and ended up at a Japanese style restaurant, where we decided to go to an old factory which has now been turned into art studios, but there was not much open when we finally arrived there, so we decided to head for another old part of town and search for a nice long cold drink. The temp. That day was 36 C and there was no breeze, so it felt a lot hotter.
We located this famous street, (pls forgive me, I can't remember the name of this street just now, but will find it out soon and enlighten you) and I was surprised to see there were lots of watering holes around and to choose one was not easy. We sat in this little bar, which was cool from the air conditioner, a nice change to see as most people in China won't use them, they just have them and look at them as pieces of art! We sat there for well over an hour before summing up the courage to move on and check out the rest of the place. We came across one guy who was painting original Chinese pictures, using his hands and I was absolutely amazed by the mountains, clouds, trees etc all taking shape with a quick flash of his hand. I tried to take some photo's, but alas they didn't turn out too well mainly as my finger on the button was no where near as quick as this guy's hands :-)
Onto the next famous street in Shanghai, same idea as the other one, only more modern and more bars/restaurants. After checking this one out, we were beginning to feel a tad bit hungry and couldn't decide where to go or what to eat, so we chose an Italian restaurant and enjoyed a well earned drink, while chewing over the fact of WHAT to eat :-)
We decided "Homeward Bound" was the best place and on our travels to find the closest Metro entrance, we stumbled upon a little Italian restaurant and filled ourselves stupid and enjoyed every little morsel.
The next day I met Jack and his mum for brunch, then we made our way out to the new train station at Hongqaio airport. Boy some things have changed here. This place is amazing and I learnt the Metro system goes from Hongqaio airport through to the Pu Dong airport, which makes it all a whole lot easier now getting from A to B.
I left Shanghai in a rush - on the new G train and I noticed as we pulled out of the station, the train was clocking up a speed of 71 k's before we even got to the end of the platform! I've never left Shanghai so quick before, so things are looking up :-)
Next stop........Nanjing (in 1 hour and 10 minutes)
