A modern city in a country on the other side of the world!
Presenting: Shanghai
My first impression of China was Pu
Dong Airport. This huge and ultra modern terminal was
clean and beautiful. The roof is suspended by poles
that are resting on cables. It was quite huge and
impressive. There is also a magnetic levitation train
that can take you from the airport to the Metro in
Shanghai. It travels at 268 M. P. H. !!!
Shanghai has many modern department stores and they were all
decorated for Chinese New Year. The prices are often 1/10th
of what they are in the U.S. They also have more than 10
times as many salespersons as their American store
counterparts.
How do you get to the airport, you ask? Take the MagLev, of
course. With a connection to Shanghai's Metro, it's a breeze
to get to the airport.
How fast does it really go? This is a picture of the train's
speedometer. It shows the train moving at 410 Km/hour but it
was still accelerating at the time. Our train got up to 431
Km/hour or about 268 miles/hour !!! It took 3 minutes to get
up to speed, it cruised right at 431 Km/hour for 3 minutes
and then it took 3 minutes to stop.
The ticket cost $5 and was worth every penny!!
There are many temples all over China. Most of them were
built hundreds of years ago. Here was a display in one of
them named Three Wise Men
Here are a couple of confrontational roosters. Although these
guys do look a little beat up, they do not engage in a fight
to the death. This is a contest of intimidation. The first
one to step off of the red circle loses.
This is a performance at a peoples cultural center. This lady
has a large wooden board and (count them) eleven people
standing on her. Even at a very conservative 90 pounds each,
it still adds up to about a half ton!
This is Yu Yuan Temple. It has many buildings, courtyards,
waterways and bridges that zig zag across the water. There
are also many tea houses, shops and restaurants. The aroma of
the restaurants and food carts filled the air. There was even
a Starbucks that was packed with people!
Here is part of Yu Yuan decked out for New Years.
How can you describe a picture like this . . .
Did you ever wonder how they made flour in the old days?
First you put some whole grain in a hole in the top stone.
The hole goes all the way through the top stone. Then you
push the handle back and forth and the top stone turns. As
the top stone turns, the grain gets pushed in between the 2
stones and the flour comes out of the sides of the stones!
Do you want to buy a dress? A silk dress? These Chinese
dresses are known as Qi Pao, pronounced Chee Pow. Here are a
few on display. They can be yours for $25 to $30.
If you are not so good at haggling, they might cost you $40
or $50 !
Next is a parade at an ancient city called Zhou Zhouang. I
could only fit part of the parade in the picture as they made
their way through the narrow streets of a city that is over
900 years old, and looks the same now as it did then.
Here is another picture of Zhou Zhouang. There are many
canals that weave their way through this ancient city.
Rules of the road are seemingly non existent in China. Taxis,
cars, motorbikes, bicycles and pedestrians all merge together
somehow without getting in accidents or getting killed.
Pedestrians do not wait for the green light and being in a
crosswalk does not matter to motorists. This taxi could only
inch forward and wait for the pedestrians to pass.
Turning left? No problem!! Just watch out for the pedestrians
and the traffic coming from three other directions!
Here are links to my other China pages.
To see pictures of Beijing, click Beijing
To see pictures of Guangzhou, click Guangzhou
Home
You are unique visitor number
907 to this
page
This counter was started on June 10, 2006
This page was last updated on May 26, 2020