Shanghai - China

Shanghai means - go to sea in Chinese. It is divided in 2 by the Huangpu Piver. The populations is 16 million; of which there was a growth rate of 2000% from 50,000 to a million by 1900. Popular place. Just for some extra info. in 1949 brothels and opium dens were shut down, child labour was banned and slums were apparently eliminated. We stayed in the oldest hotel for four nights (near the Garden Bridge) which was built in the 1860's, and is now the no. 1 back packers hotel. Apparently Charlie Chaplin and Einstein stayed there. Jacque, Jason, Ian and myself shared a room (cause of the price), so we got to know our NZ traveling companions even better. Interesting sights: The Bund - which is a strip along the river. At night the lights are good to look at. There is a bizaare Bund Sightseeing Tunnel which goes under the water. I thought we'd have to walk it like in Greenwich, London, but you get in a closed in cable car. It is quite psychedelic with flashing lights. Memorial Underground to the People's Heroes - Bund History Museum, has a collection of photos. I read the minutes of a meeting from 1863, which was the formation of the Municipal Council. It recorded giving Britain, France and America a free hand in administrating and governing Shanghai, and talked about the Chinese not being allowed into some of the parks. The more we travel and learn about different countries history, the more you learn about England for example taking over places and enforcing there own rules. Bloodly English. They also had a hand in bringing opium into China! Or France (in Vietnam) - Bloody French. Or the Americans. Well what can I say! Jin Mao Tower - 420.5m, 4th highest in the world was initially marsh land. It has a great 360 view from the top. There is another tower called the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, which we didn't go into. They are both apparently 2 of Asia's highest towers. It is on the other side of the river, of which are lit up at night. Shanghai Museum - pretty interesting, but we were rushing around abit before closing time. Nanjing Rd - claims to be the most famous pedestrian strip. Yu Garden and Old Town - A walled city built in 1553, and was used to fend off Japanese pirates. It has a nine bends bridge (9 which is an important thing in Chinese culture), it has a Tea House which the Queen visited. Beautiful willows and fish in the pond. A tip for the train station is to get air con!!!! There are millions of people cramped into the waiting hall for their train, and it is as hot as all hell - dripping we were, just lovely. Some other observations are that the Chinese, apart from loving their green tea, carry it around in plastic clear bottles, and when ever they come across hot water, get it filled up. And also in a dense city there are exercise / circuit areas of which you see older people going through their paces. It has to be said that the older generation are as fit as, whether its working in the fields all day, or riding tourists around on bikes. Here we extended our one month visa for an extra 30 days.