The high speed train from Beijing to Shanghai – about 1’200 km – takes only 5 hours. It feels like you’re flying a few meters above ground level through the country, past giant unknown cities, many farm fields and hilly areas. We stayed with Markus’ friends Richard and Cinnamon in the suburbs of Shanghai and they made our stay exceptional. They even surprised us with a self-made “Züpfe” and a Swiss Cheese Fondue!
Old sports Richard and Markus.
Shanghai is the largest city in China with a population of more than 24 millions. The compound where Richard and Cinnamon live in is home to about as many people as live in the city of Thun in Switzerland (about 45’000). To get a view of the city from above, we went on top of the Shanghai World Financial Center. Another check on our get-on-top-of-the-top-10-tallest-buildings-of-the-world-list, by the way. Shanghai has a nice and scenic city center called the Bund, where old architecture meets new and shopping is redefined. People walk along the river and enjoy the view of Pudong, that is the famous skyline of Shanghai and a nice background for many wedding pictures.
Red is the colour for luck.
One day we visited a water town outside the city, a historic rural area, where time seems to stand still. Streets are narrow, houses are small and people are busy with hand crafted work or sit in the streets and drink tea.
What a contrast.
Shanghai is a city of constant change and quick development. It is definitely not a quiet place and action is always just around the corner. We loved the people and the food and we’ll be back again!
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