Shanghai

What a great day we had in Shanghai! It helps to have been in a city before and have even a little idea of the basic layout. And it helps even more that the Tahitian Princess was docked right across from The Bund and the ship provided a shuttle through the construction and across the river to the Silk Factory.

We again traveled with another couple who had spent some time in Shanghai and had a pretty good plan in mind for the day. We rode the shuttle to the Silk Factory, where there was a tour guide who and flagged down a taxi to take us to the Mag Lev Station for a ride on the super fast train. The ride to the station took about 30 minutes, as we went past one huge apartment complex after another, each one housing thousands and thousands of people. The city has a population of nearly 20 million people and is still growing. There is construction everywhere of apartment complexes, bridges, highways, high-speed rail lines, and offices.

The train station is quite new and easy to negotiate. Many Chinese speak English and signs in tourist areas are in both Chinese and English, making it easy for us to find the ticket booth and purchase a round trip ticket. There was a train waiting on the platform as we approached so we didn’t even have to wait.

As you can see from the photo, the train reached a speed of 431 kilometers an hour or an amazing 260 miles per hour, faster than a Formula One racing car. The ride was smooth though, with the only sensation of speed being the whizzing past of the light poles.

There was an exciting moment for us though when a concussion shook the train. We hadn’t realized that there was an adjacent track for the train going in the opposite direction. The whoosh of air between the two trains makes a startling sound the first time it happens.

We got off the train at the end at the airport, went upstairs, across to the other side, and down again for the return ride. We had no wait for the return ride either. The ride each way takes about 7 minutes.

Back at the Mag Lev Station we had a couple of minutes of struggle until we just pointed on the map for the taxi driver that we wanted to be taken to Nanjing Road, a broad pedestrian street lined with wonderful stores and restaurants. 1.4 million people walk this street a day, but the scale is such that it doesn’t seem really crowded. We checked out a couple of Chinese restaurants and opted against food too unfamiliar to us. Food like sliced pig ears and some animal’s coddled blood. Definitely not vegan anyway. So, I have to confess that failing to find simple noodles, we ate a veggie pizza at Pizza Hut.

Next stop for us was the Shanghai Museum, notable for the architecture in addition to the collection of early pottery, bronze artifacts, and paintings. We were all starting to fade by that point and decided to find the Silk Factory and the shuttle back to the ship. We were back on board in time for the acrobatic performance that was a remarkable demonstration of talent and costumes.

As the sun set and the lights of the city came on, we sat near a window for dinner and watched the dinner cruises and billboards on barges pass by. What a beautiful sail away from a fabulous city.