The Showers of Shanghai

I bit the bullet and bought bullet train tickets to Shanghai for a weekend. I was there between 22/08 and 23/08, staying at the Shanghai Rock & Wood International Youth Hostel (which I thoroughly recommend to visitors of Shanghai!).

Preparation

Looking back, I do not think it was a wise decision to do with so little planning, lack of time, and money, but I do believe it was a great opportunity to be at the heart of the biggest city by population in the world, somewhere I may not be able to visit again in the future.

I hopped on the subway on Friday (21/08) to Beijing South Railway station just after I bought the tickets and spent about 30 minutes packing and leaving the lab on very short notice.

After getting past the ridiculous amount of security at the station and waiting in endless queues, I was told that the train for the ticket I bought did not exist and that I should go and wait in another queue to talk to someone at the ticket office to change my ticket.

After a long wait in the queue, I was told that it was not possible to exchange my ticket and that the (very expensive) one I bought was now useless, as after all this time waiting, it was now after the departure time of the train that was meant to leave.


I still had a return ticket, so I thought I may as well buy another ticket to Shanghai, since I was given the impression that there genuinely wasn't anyone in this station who cared the slightest about my circumstance and how much I pay for the ticket.

After wasting my entire evening not travelling to Shanghai, I bought another expensive ticket for 7am the next day (which of course was done within seconds without any problems).

I had a genuinely great conversation with the person I sat next to for the next 5 hours of the bullet train journey. We spoke about the many differences between the cultures of the West and the East, and my experience of the Far East for the past eight weeks. She was a devout Christian, and was the first local (apart from in church) to ask me about my faith and how I eventually became a Christian. She also shared her story. She went to a church which held many similarities to my own local church in London. Even though this was my last weekend in China, this unexpected conversation really opened my eyes, letting me know that whichever country in the world I'm in and whatever train ride I happen to be on, God's work can still be seen!

Arrival

I successfully entered Shanghai soil at around 1pm on Saturday and checked in at my hostel.

After buying a tourist map, I spoke to an incredibly cool Korean guy who let me know of all the things I could do within the short time I would spend in the city. Everything seemed to be on line 2 of the subway, which was helpful as the hostel was about a 5 minute walk from it.

I immediately unpacked, and left to go to the famous People's Square, located in a very central part of the city in a attempt to visit the Shanghai museum. It was closed.

Seeing the Oriental Pearl Tower in the distance, I walked towards it to get a look at the famous futuristic Shanghai skyline. It was a great view at the time (late afternoon), but looked a lot more magnificent at night when the city is completely lit up. It gave me a chance to practice night photography, and see how different shutter speeds affected the resulting image.

I walked around the area near Yuyuan Garden (which was also closed), and was able to get a feel of the older and more traditional Chinese-looking parts of the city. I was able to find a restaurant of Shanghai cuisine, only to be told by a local that it was "Shanghai cuisine for tourists and so isn't that delicious"! I didn't mind, I hadn't eaten properly for the whole day and needed dinner.

An odd sight, having the futuristic Shanghai tower in the background

The next day I left the hostel early to visit the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. After getting there, standing in a gigantic queue in the pouring rain for about 30 minutes only to make a few small steps, I decided it wasn't worth my time.

I got the subway to Lujiazui, to get a close up view of the huge buildings which make up the incredible skyline. With the cloudy weather it was interesting to see how the towers literally rose up above the moving clouds. There was a walkway which enabled visitors to walk around at an elevated level and have a look at each of the towers up close. Although the resulting images looked cool, the rainy weather made it difficult to point my camera up to take photos! My left hand was used here as a makeshift lens hood.

Departure

I hopped back on the subway to East Nanjing Road, the main shopping street of Shanghai, in another attempt to try and get some real Shanghai food. In broken Chinese I asked a local about my request and he pointed me to a small restaurant. It genuinely wasn't a place for tourists, as nobody in the restaurant could speak any English - a good sign! It was such a simple dish - freshly made fried dumplings with vinegar on the side, but it made for  a very delicious lunch. I was able to (again with my broken Chinese) have a small conversation with some locals around the table also having lunch, and at this point I felt a real sense of belonging.

After this, I returned back to the hostel, re-packed, and caught my return bullet train to Beijing.

The guy sitting next to me happened to have worked for high-speed railways for the past 13 years.