Sunday 28th October 2012 - Day 25 - Shanghai

Although it was only 6.40am when we were woken, it was quite nice to know we would be getting off in an hour. We had a nice takeaway Nescafe coffee that brightened us a little. We got off and decided to try and make our own way to the hostel using the metro. This proved to be a bit trickier than it needed to be as we did a few extra miles walking and a few too many stops than necessary but with the lack of sleep and trying to get your bearings underground before 8am we did not too bad. As we came up from the underground the hostel was just opposite and a site for sore eyes! We crossed the road and were faced with very steep stairs leading up into the hostel. It made me chuckle as it reminded me of our John O’Groats to Lands End ride where the B&B was always up a steep slope at the end of a gruelling day cycling just to finish you off!

Thankfully the reception had our booking and we went straight into our twin room, third time lucky! We had even considered forgetting the hostel and treating ourselves to a nice posh hotel but a decent one was £120 per night whereas this is £15 and its really quite nice. We dumped our gear and walked along the street to find breakfast. We came across a bread shop that sold coffee so we grabbed a take away and sat in our hostel bar to eat, find a map and make our plan of attack for the next two days. Suddenly with a packed itinerary we showered and made our way back on the metro to the Peoples Square.

This was another large park with everybody out and about. We walked the pedestrian street that was 5km long and was lined with massive expensive stores. We treated ourselves to an ice cream as it was hot not that you would realise from the photos as the sky was as grey as ever, just thick, polluted smog. At the end of the pedestrian street we arrived at the Bund. This is the waterfront area of the river that leads to the Yangtze River and is where all the post card shots are taken of the Shanghai Skyline. The view of all the high rise buildings was awesome.

We took the tourist sightseeing tunnel under the river to the district where all the high rises stood tall. We were intrigued as we had no idea what to expect as when you take the escalator underground you are promised aquamarine fish and dolphins? We entered a small pod and were whisked off on a track into a pitch black tunnel that was suddenly illuminated with bright lights, no wildlife whatsoever, very tacky but different. The other side we walked to the Oriental Pearl Tower looking up the whole time! We queued with the millions to get in the various elevators up to the space module at 350m high. This is no longer the tallest building here but its more impressive than the ‘bottle opener’ building. We tried to look out but it was just ridiculous being so high up in the smog you could hardly see the ground below let alone the view! We got to walk around on the glass floor which is always fun if not a bit disconcerting.

Back on solid ground we grabbed some dinner and took it to the river to eat and watch the river cruise boats go up and down practically empty. We then took the fantastic tunnel back to the Bund just in time for sunset where we sat for an hour or so while the sky turned black and the buildings came to life. They were all illuminated at different times with different colours and patterns. We took too many photos and it started to get cold on the river front. We waited until 6pm when the Pearl tower finally lit up then we made our way back up the pedestrian street to take the metro back to the hostel. As we made it to our room we crashed on our beds and realised that the mattress is actually paper thin and you can feel the wooden slats but hey ho and least its not moving! We stayed in the room all evening recharging the batteries. I think we achieved a lot today with no sleep last night.