Site icon Peter & Karen Pecksen

Shanghai

peterpecksen
China Flag over Shanghai
We are ready for our month of exploring China. After some trepidation over current politics and drama over our visa acquisition, we have arrived. And are very happy to be here.
Our first few nights were in Shanghai where we had a great night time view from the 14th floor of our hotel. 

The city of Shanghai with its 28 million residents is a huge city. We were surprised that it did not feel as crowded as we were anticipating. Certainly being met by a guide and having our own driver helped us avoid the worst problems of commuting about. We were impressed to hear that the 17 lines of the train system in Shanghai can handle upwards of 30 million passengers a day.

Outside of the Shanghai Museum we found the centre marker where all roads from Shanghai are measured. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that the first Tim Horton’s Coffee shop in Shanghai was only about 150 metres from this marker.
Though neither Karen or I are really big museum fans, it was eye opening to see some of the quality of bronze works that were produced in China some 200 to 800 years BC.
This fountain depicting a map of China was dwarfed by this child’s fascination with the water spraying upward.
Our guide, Sean, took us for a river cruise to enjoy some of the iconic sights of Shanghai after sunset. The famous TV tower in the foreground stands 468 metres tall and was the tallest building in China until 2007. The tallest building now is the Shanghai Tower (centre building in photo) which is 632 metres and the tallest building in China. Perspective is everything as the blue TV tower is the third tallest building in this photo. 

The photo at the top of the blog is of The Bund, which was the European centre of Shanghai along the Huangpu River starting in the 1920’s. It was returned to its former state in the last 30 years.

We toured a wonderful oasis within Shanghai, the Yu Gardens.
Enjoying lunch with our very helpful guide, Sean, in Zhujiajiao Town. It is aways nice to have a local introduce you to some of the dishes from the region.
While in Zhujiajiao Town we learned why they like to refer to themselves as the Venice of the East.
As one would expect, there is no lack of Taoist and Buddist temples to be explored. They are wonderful places to relax and catch your breath.

Stay tuned as we continue our adventure in China. Despite challenges with internet access we will endeavour to continue sharing on our post here and on Instagram @peterpecksen.

 

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