yesterday was "our" day so off to the maglev train, lou's choice. a fantastic ride, so smooth, so fast, 431 kilometers an hour at its top speed! the information in the little museum was beyond me (magnetism) but we reckoned dad and ian would have loved it. :)
then the shanghai urban planning exhibition (mabel again). an odd choice it might seem but the mezzanine floor had a display of old shanghai in black and white photographs. on the upper floors there was a huge model and elaborate plans for...you've guessed it...the remodelling of shanghai, not for the olympics this time but the world expo in 2010.
[china must have made a lot of successful bids recently. as we were leaving people were arriving for the special olympics, 'intellectually impaired' athletes the morning paper said. this morning as we took our leave of the bund (loved that place) - iced coffee, pineapple juice (and an ice cream for lou) at a waterfront cafe, groups of teenagers, black and asian, were posing for photos and some uniformed tots were chanting and cheering for a television crew. ]
we did eventually find the french concession which is a delightful place to walk in. two storey houses set in gardens behind railings, clearly subdivided into many homes but the gardens were well maintained. shady pavements lined with spreading plane trees and posh western named shops mixed with tiny local ones. back courtyards glimpsed through stone arches. we ate 'japanese curry and rice' when we were disappointed by a restaurant whose menu had neither english translation or pictures we could stab!
a taxi back to the pedestrian bit (distances in shanghai are long) of the nanjing road and the internet 'bar' (yeah, right, sprite or coke from the tiny grubby counter) where we whiled away a happy hour all for 4 yuan (25p).
back to our depressing hotel to change and then to the bund to try out lou's new tripod. :)
at night the bund is full of sellers and hawkers -'wanna buy skates?' -the teenagers speed up to you, heels flashing as they whizz along; 'wanna bag? a watch? a photo? a model of the pearl tower that lights up? (yes, i know you would, steve! :) ) the telescopes play the tune of 'we wish you a merry christmas' when you put the money in the slot (is it on the carol list, sian?). there are guys hurling lumps of squidgy coloured plastic at the ground whereupon it wobbles back up into something that looks as if it ought to be on the capital one card ad! others squat on their haunches and spin tops as you approach that sing and throw out circles of flourescent light. then the word goes up 'police'. they all melt away into the crowd as the police buggy cruises through.....
we ate on the floating restaurant near where the tour boats leave, a huge moon, the lights on the water, hot food, cold beer.......
thank you, shanghai, xie, xie
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