Shanghai & Wuzhen (3rd Trip)

In the 3^rd weekend of my stay in China (24-26 June), I went to my 3^rd trip. The trip was to Shanghai and Wuzhen. Shanghai is one of the biggest 3 Chinese cities which include Hong Kong and Beijing. Wuzhen is a water village (like Venice) 1.5 hours away from Shanghai by bus.

Shanghai is known to be the most metropolitan city in China, while Beijing is considered the capital of culture and history. We left Yantai at 9:30pm on Friday on a sleeper bus – a bus with all beds! It was the first time I know these buses actually existed. Although the beds were tight, the journey (around 10 hours) was convenient because we slept on the bus overnight and reached Shanghai at 7:30am Saturday (it saves you from staying at a hotel). We went and checked-in early at the hostel (40 Yuan per night) which was almost like a hotel. Hostels are really convenient and they make travel and trips much easier and extremely affordable.

As soon as we put our stuff in the room, we stated wandering around Shanghai. It was cloudy and drizzling, which lowered the known heat of Shanghai. We actually visited almost all touristic attractions on Saturday which included:

1. People’s Park
2. The French Concession (Looks and feels like Al Hamra street in Beirut – it is a shopping district)
3. Ju Gardens and The Old City (Had Temple architecture and a market place)
4. The Bund (the famous walkway along Huangpu river where all skyscrapers can be seen)
5. The tunnel at The Bund passing under Huangpu river (the lighting inside it was amazing)
6. IKEA – So typical, exactly like the one in festival city. The icecream is for 1 Yuan!
7. The Maglev train – reached to more than 500km/hr – operates at maximum of 432km/hr

Chinese Market

In Old City

In Old City Market

Ju Garden

What I liked about Shanghai is that it merges between the modern metropolitan life of Dubai with all the skyscrapers and nice roads, and the social lively life of Beirut, with people filling the streets everywhere and with a bit of greenery and nature. Yet although it is so
old, Shanghai lacks history and cultural aspects. It would be best for a career life because it is a big business hub. It is so lighted up at night which may be considered "light pollution" but its fascinating. Shanghai got an underground metro system that can reach almost any corner. You do not need to use taxis or cars – so convenient.

The Bund

Sparkling Trees

Mysterious Tunnel. So many different colors and patterns

International fast food in Shanghai is so common to an extent that we found 6 McDonald outlets within a 100 meters, and all of them were FULL! We went into many McDonalds to buy the cold shakes, and one of the outlets was sooo huge, 2 floors which almost make the size of AUS student center.

After the 1^st day Saturday in Shanghai, the next morning we went to Wuzhen. The bus station that we went through was located in a sports stadium that was dedicated to the Olympics that took place in China. It was not fascinating at all from outside, but there were still some posters related to the Olympics games which give a flashback.

At Wuzhen. No automobiles only boats. Look at the people on the stairs!

At Wuzhen

They get to the doors of their houses by boats

Many bridges connecting the village

Wuzhen was a special visit. The village is on water and rather that having streets to communite, there is water and boats to go around. Some homes only have their doors on the water side so you should go by boat beside the door to get into the house. It is completely another dimension of life. It made me think about how life would be in space where you will need jets to commute!

Chinese Umbrellas

Special Chinese Dessert at Wuzhen

Purple Dessert at Wuzhen

After finishing from Wuzhen we went back to Shanghai and visited the IKEA store, had food there and plenty of icecream!

Next early morning, Monday, we took the earliest metro towards PuDong Airport (we were going back by plane). The metro was late and guess what…we missed the flight. We had reached at 7:00am to the airport and ran across the whole airport in 5 minutes. Although the plane departures at 7:30am, they did not let us in because the gate closes 30 minutes before the departure. It was so irritating that the plane had 25 more minutes and we were not allowed in. They refunded us 50% of the ticket (210Yuan). We then bought bus tickets for 270Yuan which made us not lose much money. We tried the Maglev Train to go to the bus station. The Maglev Train in Shanghai is the 1^st and fastest of its kind. It can go above 500km/hr but its commercial operational speed is 432km/hr maximum.

On the way back we slept again on the bus and reached Yantai at 4:30am on Tuesday. We missed a working day, Monday. The company is not strict at all about not coming to work as long as we are safe and there is a reason.

Again, more pictures are on the web album when you click the Slideshow on the right side.