Shanghai, China

Shanghai is a massive city. I can only compare it to New York in terms of the forest of towering high-rises that make up the city's skyline. Officially it holds 15.8 million people, but since the Chinese have restrictions on relocation, a few million migrant workers are illegal aliens in their own country, and are not counted in the census. Estimates put the actual population at between 18 and 20 million. It is the largest city, in the most populous country on Earth.

From the new Pudong International Airport, I reached the city center via super-high-speed Maglev (magnetic levitation) train. For a $7 ticket it covers the 19 mile journey in just 8 minutes, reaching a top speed of 266MPH!

I met up with Josh at the futuristic JW Marriot hotel housed in the 934ft tall Tomorrow Square building. I've never stayed at a hotel so tall and unmistakable. I could pick it out from nearly anywhere in the city. Many thanks to Josh's company for (unknowingly) letting me crash at the JW for a week. First impression from my 44th floor room is that smog envelops the city, and one cannot even see all the skyscrapers. Yet, Shanghai is considered to have the cleanest air of any Chinese city. On the ground the air seems quite breathable. Click the following link for some recent news on Chinese air pollution: http://www.theonion.com/content/video/china_celebrates_its_status_as?utm_source=videoembed
View from our 44th floor room


Tomorrow Square building from the People's Park

Josh and I went for a run through the People's Park, and a couple of Chinese students yelled "Go America!". I didn't know we were so obviously American. We saw old folks doing Tai-Chi beneath the shade of thick trees.

There is a lot of money flowing through Shanghai. The Pudong side of the river is one giant construction zone. 80 story buildings stand next to empty pits soon to sprout 90 story buildings.

Bamboo scaffolding fronts a 30 story building

At night we walked the length of Nanjing Road, the shopping center of all China. The neon almost rivals Times Square. We were repeatedly approached by young men whispering "Hello watches? Rolex? DVD? Good price for you." "Bu yao." ( I don't want any) became my most useful of my three Chinese phrases. "Nihao" and "Shie Shie" (Hello and Thank you) being the other two.


One cannot communicate with the average Chinese on the street whatsoever, though the employees of any store or hotel that deals with foreigners will speak some basic English. You have zero chance of explaining to a taxi driver where you want to go, so it is critical to have all destinations written out in Chinese beforehand. Even then you might not get there as many of the taxi drivers are as new in town as you are! If you can get them to understand and find your destination, the ride is cheap; I got all over town for $3.

The next morning I walked Nanjing road again all the way to the Bund, which unfortunately has construction along the riverfront so the river is not visible at all. Still the view of the Pudong side skyline is impressive from here. The iconic Oriental Pearl Tower, the Jin Mao Tower, and the Shanghai World Financial Center stand out among the rest. I took the ridiculously hokey tourist tram tunnel under the river to Pudong and hiked over to the Jin Mao Tower. For $10 I caught the elevator to the 88th floor of this 1,380ft tower. It gave a great view of the city, and an especially close view of the Shanghai World Financial Center, which at 1,614ft is the second tallest building in the world, behind Taipei 101. They call it "the bottle opener" because of the rectangular gap in the top few floors. The Bund


Jin Mao Tower and Shanghai World Financial Center (angle makes JM appear taller)


Frightening 1300foot drop INSIDE the Jin Mao Tower; Plexiglas separated me from the abyss.

View looking West from the top of the Jin Mao Tower. Note the Oriental Pearl Tower

After my tour of Pudong, I hopped in a taxi, gave the driver my "get out of jail free card" listing the JW's address in Mandarin, and $3 and twenty minutes later I was back at the hotel, packed and off to Pudong Intl airport for a China Air flight to Beijing.