Showers In Shanghai
As we got off the train in Shanghai we realised we were in for another hot and humid day. The mixture of humidity and hot exhaust fumes from the taxi depot under the station welcomed me to Shanghai. We grabbed three or four taxi's to our hotel, as our taxi dodged the Shanghai traffic it stuck me that Shanghai very different to Beijing. The traffic was more organised, everything was more organised, it was cleaner and it looked like a lot of effort had gone into making it look pleasant. As we neared the hotel the taxi did a u-turn near the Bund and we could see Shanghai's financial district with all the elegant sky scrapers in the distance.
I was pleasantly surprised when I entered our hotel room, it was far bigger than the previous ones.
After the overnight train journey I was longing for a shower. Although when ever you venture out you tend to get sweaty within ten minutes of walking around. I took a quick shower and made the most of the hotel freebies including the shower cap, as a new found filthy traveller type I wouldn't be using my own.
I spent the afternoon with my room mate, Kenton, two English girls and the Danish couple looking around the financial district of Pudong. In the Pudong area is the Oriental Pearl TV Tower which is the tallest TV tower in Asia as well as the 4th largest building in the world. As we reached the district a large storm cloud appeared behind us in the distance and appeared to be heading our way. Suddenly the weather turned and the wind picked up into a fierce gale, dust from nearby work on sky scrapers blew everywhere. It was a surreal scene as the sky turned to a browny grey colour, we took cover under one of the many towering buildings.
As the wind dyed down we decided to continue on to the TV tower but just as we crossed the park the heavens opened and the rain lashed down on us. I dashed across the park for the nearest sky scrapers reception but it was too late as I was absolutely drenched and fearing for my soggy passport. Thankfully it was still in one piece and everyone found the event amusing, especially laughing at me looking like a drowned rat.
Later on myself and Kenton managed to lose the others in a shopping mall as the girls looked at clothes and handbags, a complete accident.....honest! Myself and Kenton plotted the quickest route back across the river to the Bund, this turned out to be the more expensive "Bund Sight Seeing Turnel". We took the tunnel just for a quick way back to the hotel and to wander down the Bund. The tunnel itself was hilarious as we sat in a small carriage with strange lights and bizarre sound effects going off all around. It all seemed so pointless and an afterthought put in after the tunnel was finished to make it worth charging 30 yuan (2 pound) to cross, but it was funny and made my day. I decided to opt out of the optional "sex exhibition" being held near the sight seeing tunnel, much to Kenton's dismay.
Once back on the other side of the river, still chuckling about the randomness of the sight seeing tunnel we wandered down the Bund. The view on the river was amazing but the famous buildings on the Bund just looked like London to me due to their European and British influence no doubt.
In the evening a group of us including Kenton from San Fancisco and Lesley from Melbourne, Australia went out to watch the England game. After taking two taxi's and sending one to the wrong place we eventually sat down to watch England limp out of the world cup. Once again watching England play was less than entertaining. We went back to the hotel on a slight downer and the only way I could feel better was by knowing that England didn't deserve to go any further in the competition with the football they played.
