Final stop….Shanghai

Finally! Good weather greets us in Shanghai! As we pulled into the busiest shipping harbor in the world, the sun broke out and we finally broke 60 degrees….first time on our trip since Hong Kong. Our room had a beautiful balcony that we had rarely used….mostly because we have an aversion to sitting on snow and ice. The port location shows one of the most impressive skylines anywhere in the world. The picture below shows the west side of the river or “Pudong” side that, up until 20 years ago was farmland. Now, two of the tallest buildings in the world are on this side of the river. The space age building with the balls is the Oriental Pearl tower that is 1535 feet high. The building to the right and rear with the square cut out of it is the World Financial center that is almost as tall and, unlike some of the other tall buildings we have seen on this trip, it has floors all the way to the top. Many other tall towers achieve their height with masts…..this building is truly impressive.


I thought Beijing was something….Shanghai blows it away. Of all of the cities I have been to, I have never seen more tall buildings. The skyline goes on seemingly forever. I counted over 20 buildings that had 60 plus floors. No skyline compares anywhere that I know of.

Someone somewhere is pleading “no more history lessons!!” Sorry about that….I cannot resist the temptation! Shanghai was originally an fishing and textile town that later grew into a shipping port as the Europeans gained concessions in this area. The Treaty of Nanking in 1842 opened this area to trade and the city positively flourished. During the years from 1842 to 1949, Shanghai grew as a financial center as well. In 1949, all foreign investment was halted until the Economic reforms in 1990. Furious activity in the last 20 years has completely remade Shanghai. Population estimates differ mostly due to almost 7 million “floating”workers (our guide used that term for those that have moved to Shanghai to work). Current population numbers over 20 million people. I think I have seen most of them on this trip.

Robert Clarke (brother of sister in law Barbara) and I were talking and we figure that we have been in cities during the last week that total about 100 million in population. This is a big country with an incredibly amount of manpower……we have our competition clearly defined.

Our visits these two days were the Historic water town outside of the city center. The watertown shows how many in Shanghai used to live. It is a series of narrow streets and waterways that are still used in the traditional sense. Farms are all around the area. Shops show most of the traditional (read “non-tourist” )goods that have been bought and sold for hundreds of years. Pat and I took a short water taxi and enjoyed the warm weather.

Later, we walked along the river in the financial district…..you can get a crick in your neck looking up at the skyline. Hard to stop doing that around here.

Saturday morning we disembarked the ship, met up with Barbara and Ken and satisfied our need for speed. Did I forget to mention that Shanghai is also home to the fastest maglev train on the planet? It least it is for now…..just like cars, someone will build something faster soon. Anyway, the maglev runs from down town to the Shanghai airport. This distance is 28 miles and it takes just 7 minutes to make the trip! We reached speeds of 431 Km/hr (266 miles per hour)….wow is this fast. Eat your heart out Nascar!

No trip would be complete without shopping and Shanghai does not disappoint. Nanjing is truly an incredible shopping area that has every high end shop I have ever seen and plenty I have never seen. Income is at an all time high in China.

We have some marathon flying to do tomorrow and our trip will finally be over. Pat and I have been tremendously impressed with the entire trip. We have consistently seen an open and friendly people whether we have been in Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, Beijing or Shanghai. We have seen an incredible infrastructure and a vibrant economy everywhere we have looked. We have seen an industrious people that intend to have a prime seat on the world stage. It has both impressed and humbled both of us. We will certainly return to explore more of China.