China Pictures -- Shanghai City Pictures
We took a tour around Shanghai and learned all about the fascinating history of China's biggest city. In comparison to the rest of China, Shanghai is relatively young having only been on the map for a mere 700 years. Our tour guide told us that in 1980 there were only 20 buildings in the city that were over six stories high, whereas today there are over 4,000 buildings over six stories. Many of Shanghai’s sky scrapers are in the top 20 tallest buildings in the world. This city has grown quickly and there were tons of construction projects going on right now in order to get the city ready for the 2010 World Expo. That’s one thing about the Chinese government, when they decide to do something they put the man power and money into it to make it happen quickly.
Our first visit was to the Jin Mao Tower, which is one of the tallest hotels in the world (it's in the picture to the right with the "bottle opener" building). The elevator takes you up 88 floors in just 45 seconds! The view from the top was amazing.
Next, we were off to the Bund, which is an area along the Huangpu River in Shanghai. This area was developed about 100 years ago by the international community and the buildings look very reminiscent of European buildings from that time period.
We had Mongolian Bar-B-Q for lunch one day. We were able to put whatever meats, vegetables, and sauces we wanted into a bowl and then watch the chefs fry them up on a large round griddle-like thing. It was very fun and tasty, too. Back to China Websites
Our first visit was to the Jin Mao Tower, which is one of the tallest hotels in the world (it's in the picture to the right with the "bottle opener" building). The elevator takes you up 88 floors in just 45 seconds! The view from the top was amazing.
Next, we were off to the Bund, which is an area along the Huangpu River in Shanghai. This area was developed about 100 years ago by the international community and the buildings look very reminiscent of European buildings from that time period.
We had Mongolian Bar-B-Q for lunch one day. We were able to put whatever meats, vegetables, and sauces we wanted into a bowl and then watch the chefs fry them up on a large round griddle-like thing. It was very fun and tasty, too. Back to China Websites
Shanghai Museum
The Shanghai Museum has over 120,000 artifacts from throughout China’s history. We spent our time in the bronze and pottery/porcelain sections learning all about the development of both through the various dynasties. We also visited the museum tea house and enjoyed a little afternoon Jause (Austrian tea time) Chinese-style.
Leaving China on the World's Fastest Train
The first stage of our journey home was a ride to the fastest train in the world, the Maglev Train, that goes from downtown Shanghai out to the airport. The train uses magnetic levitation technology to travel 430 kilometers/267 miles per hour. That is crazy fast! To learn more about maglev technology, you can go to http://www.smtdc.com/en/gycf3.asp. The interesting thing was that it didn’t really feel like it was going super fast, which might be because they installed special windows so that passengers would be able to view the scenery passing by so quickly.
Once we got to the airport we hopped on a plane to Beijing and then another to Los Angeles. It just so happened that it was my 39th birthday and due to crossing the international dateline, our day lasted 39 hours. How crazy is that?
We made it home safely with our bags and were so thankful for all we had seen, learned, and experienced on our fabulous adventure to China!
Once we got to the airport we hopped on a plane to Beijing and then another to Los Angeles. It just so happened that it was my 39th birthday and due to crossing the international dateline, our day lasted 39 hours. How crazy is that?
We made it home safely with our bags and were so thankful for all we had seen, learned, and experienced on our fabulous adventure to China!
