Shanghai (China)

On April 21 we flew from Saigon to Beijing via Hong Kong. After a few fairly uneventful days getting acquainted with Beijing we boarded a train for Shanghai, the Paris of the East. Shanghai is a massive and modern “western” city of over 13 million people, 18 million in “greater Shanghai”

This is a picture of one of the many skyscrapers in Shanghai. As we learned from a trip to the Urban Planning Museum, the building in the foreground, the majority of these skyscrapers were constructed in the last 15 years. I guess this explains why so much of the city looks brand new. Apparently they just decided this was to be a major, modern city and simply made it happen. The motto, Build and They Will Come, seems to have worked as Shanghai is now rivaling Hong Kong and Singapore for Companies' Asia Pacific headquarters.

Yes these people have an entire museum devoted to planning their city…and it is impressive. You can fly through the city on a 360 degree simulator with buildings and highways planned to be built by 2010 (just in time for World Expo which is being hosted in Shanghai). It is like déjà vu when you walk through the streets thinking you’ve been there before and then remember that it was the simulator in the museum! I’m pretty sure the Jettsons was modeled after this city. Here is a look at The Bund area at night.

Here’s a look down Jiujang Lu, a shopping street near the river. Best guess is that there are 785 McDonalds and KFCs along this road. Although strangely enough, unlike Hong Kong, there are no 7 Elevens.




There are a large number of urban parks throughout the city. Here’s a picture of two people we don’t know playing some game we don’t understand in Renmin Park.






We spent half a day wandering around the Yuyuan Gardens and Bazaar in the “Old Town”. There were trees and buildings and water. This picture has all three.

(Rena says: If you haven’t guessed by this overly poetic description, Wade wrote most of this blog posting.)


And probably the coolest thing we have ever seen in our lives was the acrobatic show at the Yun Feng theater. Absolutely crazy. I don’t know how they even think of these things to do never mind actually doing them. Here’s some ladies twirling plates on the end of sticks. To make it a bit more challenging, one lady is standing on another’s shoulders while balancing a third lady on her head, who happens to be upside down.


I don’t know how you realize you can do this. They call it Air Ballet and told us not to try it at home. We won’t.






For a grand finale they put 5 people on motorcycles in this sphere of insanity. Rena had to cover her face a few times as she was convinced they were all going to die. As for me, I’m getting a motorcycle.




And finally, as expected, Rena continues to get herself into trouble.