The last big destination on our trip together was Shanghai. From Qingdao we took the train and planned to arrive on the night of Thursday the 28th. According to our information the Train should take about 9 or 10 hours to reach its Destination. But as we finally reached our seats and settled down, just as the train started to move, we discovered, that that time estimate was for the high speed train, not the normal express train. This carriage would take 22 hours. Wonderful! So we set out again to another of those endless trainrides of which I had quite a few last time in China, just this time the difference that I was not alone and also had a proper seat. It was not so bad, from time to time it got quite crowded and at night they turned up the aircontition so high so I got a sore throat and Thomas really cached a serious cold. Anyways, the following day we arrived in Shanghai, having to rescedule our plans. Because we couldnt set out for the famous Yellow Mountain (Huang Shan), we just planned to go to Hangzhou instead. Hangzhou is the City of the West Lake, a classic chinese style recreational area for high ranking officials of the emperor. But before we got there we had dinner together with all of us plus two friends of a friend and an old schoolmate of Chen with his wife. We went to this Xinjiang-Place and had lamb, very good! Anyways, in the morning of the 29th we took the High Speed Rail to Hangzhou. There we stayed at this small hostel, wich was very cheap, 60 RMB a night, about 6 EUR, simple but clean and tidy. After a long day of sightseeing (see the pictures mentioned in the other post) we finally came to an rest and went back to Shanghai the day after. In Shanghai we had the usual sightseeing to the Bund and also did some shopping. Its a big contrast to many other places in China, maybe only comparable to Beijing but even a bit more commercial and well of. In the city center everything is very international, with a colourful mix of nationalities, cloth and shops. What I was really looking forward to in Shanghai was seeing Cesar. Together with the whole group we went for Beijing Roast Duck and afterwards to see the night scenery of the skyline. Cesar is one of my great friends I made in my time in Taiwan, if you sroll back to those posts, you might read quite a lot about him too. So we had to cach up a lot and also had quite some fun together. Something to recommend is a foot massage, a really decadent experience, you lying back on a comfortable chair and having someone pampering and kneading your foot. After weeks of contant walking, this is really helpful, while also sometimes a bit painful if the masseuse hits the right/wrong spots. Unfortunately today on the 3rd my time in China comes to an End, I am sitting in Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, waiting for my plane, ready for Shenzhen, which is my gate to Hong Kong, where it ultimately will lead me to Taiwan. Really looking forward to that!
