Little pieces of evidence proving that social awkwardness transcends culture...

I had just arrived in Shanghai from an 18-hour soft-seater train from Beijing that I had convinced my hardcore backpacker self would be ‘travel experience’. Slightly scarred from the memories of kittens in cages and an old Cantonese businessman asleep and drooling on my shoulder I decided I had had enough of ‘the authentic China’ and needed some 21st Century modernity. After 3 subway transfers, several wrong turns and a whole bunch of lost-in-translation problems at the hostel, I headed down Nanjing road in search of what is probably the most famous skyline in the country. It was just past twilight and the city was about to wake up. The streets were heaving with domestic tourists, meaning this 6 foot 3 paler-than-most white guy was particularly susceptible to the touts lying in wait at the sides selling a medley of watches/perfumes/hash/pills/lapdances, often all of the above at the same time. Pushing your way through the crowd was pointless: we were all heading the same way, to the Bund. As you meandered your way closer to the river front the chatter of Mandarin around you became more furious, and the night sky in front took on a soft glow. Then one quick turn round an unassuming building and I was completely unprepared for what I saw: the Pudong skyline, a sweeping, rising mess of colour and shape and light. It was like a gathering of architectural superlatives; the biggest, the flashiest, the weirdest buildings on this side of the river only please. The Oriental Pearl Tower, looking like a spaceship in drag, stood as the centrepiece, and beyond that a range of neon-clad skyscrapers, TV screens and searchlights decorated the banks of the river. Images of Mardi Gras and Eurovision came to mind, or perhaps the fluorescence was microwaving my brain. It was an image I had held in my head for so long that I expected the real deal not to hold up: in reality it was more intense: fantastic, futuristic and yet oh so tacky. I remember turning away from the skyline to check my surroundings and noticed the faces in the Chinese tourists around me. They weren't faces of awe or wonder, but pride. Young couples, old friends, and families of all sizes had gathered on the river front to marvel at this new symbol of an emerging superpower. And as China’s stunning modern masterpiece, the Shanghai skyline is about as ‘authentic’ as you can get.