Hey Hey and a Big G'Day Toya
 
Sadly it was our last day in Shanghai.
A city I thought I would hate had actually captured me in a big way.
 
I still had so much more I wanted to see and do. The Shanghai List is too large for only one weeks visit. I think next time I would go alone, skip the football and the bar district and see as much as I can in my own way. But to go alone to Shanghai the first time would be a lonely time. I'm really glad I went with Daniel and Alexa. They are a really cool couple and awesome to travel with.
 
I would be meeting up with them later in the afternoon as they were off to visit the dentist. Ofcourse there are dentists in Shaowu and all cities and towns in China but the fact is, they are just not like 'our' dentists. They have the same chair and drills etc but everything around them including the room and everyone in it including the public audience is most of the time not so clean. Alexa and I went to visit one in Shaowu for a check up and it seemed no one understood what a check up actually was, including the actual dentist. He had no idea why we were there. It seems no one goes to the dentist unless you are in pain. I looked at the little bowl that you spit into and it was horridly unclean. The cup provided to rinse was a plastic cup used by everyone and not even that was not clean and very VERY well used.
 
Needless to say we never went back.
 
I rose and headed back towards the Chinese Quarter which surrounds the Yu Yuan Bazaar. I wanted to visit the Yu Yuan Gardens and the City Temple and then walk around the little back streets of the old quarter for a few hours. I had breakfast at a little noodle bar and made my way to the Bazaar where I walked around for a while. I found the walls to the gardens and temple and followed them until I found the ticket booth.
 
The temple was a lot smaller than I expected but the gardens were absolutely beautiful. Don't think of a big green park and flowers type garden. This was more a residence and the gardens were built over an eighteen year period. They were built from 1559 to 1577 during the Ming Dynasty. They have been half destroyed twice during the Opium War and then again by the French. Think of old Chinese type rooms, rock gardens, small ponds and beautiful flowers and trees. This garden really was so beautiful and so worth the visit.
 
I could only imagine what it would have been like to live there and have no other tourists and just sit or walk in silence.
 
I think the temple was 20 Yuan and the Gardens were 40 Yuan to visit.
The gardens were more than worth the money but the temple?
If you've been to several temples I wouldn't waste your money.
 
After spending more than an hour in the gardens I headed back out amongst the millions and made my way out of the Bazaar and spent the next few hours walking around the little streets of the old Chinese Quarter. I loved it. The hustle and bussle, the smells and the colours. I sat for noodles in a little street market and then after a few text mails from Daniel and Alexa I zig zagged my wy across to meet them at Jamica Blue Café. We then headed to the hostel and grabbed a cab to The Bund.
 
It was time for the Pudong Adventure.
It would only be short but it would be worth it.
 
First stop and one that made me feel like an excited child was the Bund Tourist Tunnel. How cool is this thing. After paying 35 Yuan for your ticket you go beneath the river level and board a little driverless space captule like pod. You are slowly taken through a tunnel that has a freaky colourful light show. The young kids in our pod were having the best time ever. I think it goes for about five minutes and the strange sounds and the stupid recoding only add to the quirkiness of it all.
 
All in all it was a fun five minutes.
 
When we arrived in Pudong there really was only one place to head. The Oriental Pearl Tower. This is the freaky futuristic triple bubble tower. I loved it mate. It cost us 85 Yuan each to go up 263 meters where we spent nearly an hour walking around the observation deck. It was awesome! As far as your eyes could see are skyscrapers, not in one or two directions but in every direction. I had never seen anything like it. When you are on the ground, Shanghai City is a huge super city as you have been told it is huge but until you get a birds eye view you really can't comprehend its size. If you have the money it is worth the visit.
 
If you don't have the money, don't do the Bund Tunnel and skimp on a few beers as it really is worth a visit.
 
It was now time to place bags on train and make our way to the airport. From Lujiazui Station which is on the other side of the huge roundabout we took Line No: 2 to Long Yang Station. From there we took the escalators up to the Meglev Line. This is the awesome train that can do speeds up to 450 kms an hour. If you are flying from Pudong Airport, show your ticket when you purchase your Meglev ticket and you get 10 Yuan off the price. So your ticket will be 40 Yuan.

Our journey took under eight minutes at 301 kms an hour. Sorry but I can't remember how many kms it was, but it really doesn't matter, doing 301 kms an hour on the ground is enough for me to purchase the ticket. We were hoping for the 450 kms and a little let down we only reached 301 kms but I'm sure at 450 kms there would be many more accidents.
 
Once at the airport we relaxed until boarding time.
 
We took an almost bumpless ride back to Wuyi Shan airport. During the day I rang a friend in Shaowu who helped organise 'the usual taxi driver' to meet us at the airport. Not the confused one from a week prior. Two hours later Daniel and I were sitting at our After Pub Muslim Noodles bar slurping noodles and having a beer.
 
The Shanghai adventure had come to an end.
 
Was it worth it. Go for it mate, if you've been in China for some time sure that is
If your new to China and have a month or two, do the Yangshuo, Guilin, Kunming, Xishuangbanna, Dali etc trail.
You'll get so much more out of China than simply going to 'just another big city'.
 
Beers and Great Northern Noodles to ya...shane  
 
This soundtrack to this entry was by two huge 80's super groups.
Bon Jovi and their awesome album 'New Jersey'
And White Snake and their album '1987'.
Now there's some rokkin tunes!