A short Dutch introduction

Dinsdag, 20 augustus 2013

Vandaag werd een superdag. Momenteel zitten we op de bus terug naar Shanghai.
Deze morgen vertrokken we om 9u op pad want we wilden de Maglev, de hogesnelheidstrein, nemen. En geen gewone hoge snelheid….tot 430km/u. De trein rijdt op magneten die afgekoeld worden met stikstof om die snelheid te kunnen bereiken. Het is maar tussen 9-11u en 14-16u dat hij die hoge snelheid haalt. Je voelt de trein langzaam optrekken en op 380km/u wordt je inderdaad iets gewaar. Nadien ben je een klein beetje duizelig maar voor die snelheid reageert het lichaam best gewoon.

Daarna gingen we naar de resterende paviloenen van de wereldtentoonstelling uit 2010. Het Art Museum heeft een mooie architectuur. De Moonboat is wel indrukwekkender. Je krijgt er een publiciteitsfilm over Arabië te zien in 4D. Indrukwekkend.
In China moet je altijd kilometers wandelen vooraleer je de ingang van een gebouw vindt. De Chinezen zijn specialisten in het bouwen en ommuren van immense gebouwen!

En daarna begon de uitdaging…een bus naar de waterstad Zhujiajiao zoeken. Tot we uiteindelijk de bushalte en de straat in het Chinees opgeschreven kregen en de klus geklaard was. Taxi…en op de bus naar Zhujiajiao.
Amai, het Venetië van China. Wat een romantiek. Met de riksja laten we ons tot de ingang van de stad brengen. En daar zien we de eerste brug over het water. Lekker kuieren in de straatjes…en natuurlijk…vanalles proeven. Ik denk dat de helft van onze foto’s al over eten gaan. De Chinezen eten de hele dag door!

En nu gaan ook wij terug naar ons lekkere restaurantje van gisterenavond. Tot etens!

…

We arrive around noon in Shanghai, but after 24 hours without a bed, we both feel exhausted! The only thing we do, is heading to our couch for a short afternoon nap.
From the beginning Pablo is very friendly and we enjoy our stay with him during the next days.

The first thing we want to visit in Shanghai is the famous skyline, visible from the Bund. The Pearl Tv Tower steals the show, together with the Shanghai World Finance Centre. But soon a new high rise building – the highest to-be in town – will take it all over.
(Or just add another vibe including light show).
Even the boats between both shores are covered in lights.
The Bund itself is decorated with bank buildings all the way. One after another compete at the threshold of China’s business metropole…

Other areas with stunning modern architecture can be found at the World Exhibition district from 2010… Now a more remote area, nonetheless still beautiful! And huge, you have to cross miles and miles and miles between the buildings and inside the buildings. The Art Museum, the Moon Boat with panoramic views and a 4D cinema and the Mercedes Benz Area. All of them architectural pearls…
Or the Peoples Square, another hub of modern architecture.

From the beginning we feel more in Europe than Asia. Skyscrapers everywhere, LED and Neon lights in every single shop and people… Lots and lots of people! Estimations give us a staggering 23 million people living here, in that one city. 3600 per square km.
(And you guys thought Belgium was busy?!?)

Shanghai is a fast growing modern city, where modern architecture and business deals go hand in hand… Its real development started no sooner than 1990, but people now say that the skyline changes almost daily.
We can agree with the fact that the city is one big building terrain…

Now we are in the city of speed… So we gotta enjoy the speed.
The Maglev, the worlds fastest train goes between the airport and the city in just 8′ for a 30 km’s trip. At top speed he gets 430 km’s an hour. However we don’t feel much about it.
And the train between Shanghai and Beijing goes as fast as 300 km/h… (Or 6h to cover 1400 km’s) Nonetheless, the ordering of the ticket goes painstakingly slow… Another 2 hours… But we’ll travel in a couple of days like all business men in the world. With style and speed.

High rise and LED are one thing, we prefer the antiquities of the city…
The YuYuan Gardens in the centre is an oasis – of rest (as far as 23 million can give you that) – in the heart of the city. We like the old style buildings, the pools and dragons inside.
A typical Chinese setting…

Another site worth a visit is the Water Town of Zhujiajiao, the Venice of Shanghai.
Finding the right bus is another adventure, but soon forgotten once we arrive on site. Small canals, bridges between both shores, quietness and all kinds of food greet us immediately. And the fortunetellers in a temple lure us in to pay them ‘our’ luck… It is always the same story with certain priests, brahmans or monks. And every once in a while they lure you in with some sweet words.
Nonetheless we enjoy the village and head happily back to town…

A visit to Shanghai is not complete without a visit to the Jade Temple. We arrive with our backpacks and are allowed to store them in the library of the temple. The friendly woman there even gives us an English written temple description!
Finally we are able to understand something about the scenery of this kind of temples. During our stay we enjoy the preparation of many offerings and the vibe from al the worshippers on site.
From there we take a ride to the railway station and speed-up to Beijing…