Shanghai

THIS IS THE FIRST OF LAURA VIPOND'S BLOG ABOUT HER INCREDIBLE TRIP ACROSS SOUTH EAST ASIA... READ IT AS ITS HAPPENING AND IF YOU'RE PLANNING A TRIP TO SHANGHAI, POST YOUR QUESTIONS IN THE COMMENTS SECTION....

Destination number one! Shanghai is a mental city - neon lights, bicycles, umbrellas and people everywhere! The very old and very new, plus the very poor and very rich makes the city feel very Blade Runner. It is divided into various districts from the sci-fi architectural playground of the Pudong (Canary Wharf x100) and the Bund's famous British imperial buildings, to the tree-lined avenues and stately homes of the French Concession and the two 'old cities' - one a replica which feels more like a Disneyland China Town, to the fast-disappearing ancient backstreets where I never seen so many different kinds of meat and fish (most of it still alive!).

The highlight for me has been Shanghai's amazing art scene. I stumbled upon a warren of tiny contemporary art galleries and boutique fashion shops and cafes in the south (Taikang Lu); a network of secret alleyways only accessible from a hidden entrance at the back of a car park. It was a world away from the hustle and bustle of the touristy Nanjing Lu in the city centre which is packed full of endless malls and shops (recession, what recession?!). To find the heart of the art scene, I headed out to the north of the city and into an industrial area, where tucked away was a complex of converted warehouses transformed into contemporary art galleries and studios, complete with the young artists on hand to explain their work. I loved this place and returned to it a few times. Between the baffled locals, rich dealers and paint-splattered artists, I sipped my espressos and absorbed the art and the atmosphere. If I had a bit more money to my name I would have certainly been taking home a few canvasses!

Things I have noticed about the Shanghainese (not sure if this is exactly the correct terminology, or whether these things are unique to Shanghai or are ubiquitous to China yet!)
- The women love to wear high-heels, everywhere. The girl in the bunk-bed above me wears hers to and from the bathroom
- The Shanghainese all have tupawear bottles of tea on hand - from green tea, to dry rose buds, unidentifiable leaves, to 'lotus hearts' as a friend explained (good for the organs, apparently. Tastes bitter as hell)
- On the whole, the difference between pavements and roads is ignored, as are traffics lights
- Recession, what recession?! It's all spend, spend, spend in this consumer-driven city
- Coffee is extortionate; often twice the price of food
- There is a deep respect for education and study. The first thing I was asked was whether I was a student, then where and what I studied. The many bookshops and libraries are always packed
- I have seen many couples hand-in-hand wearing matching t-shirts!

MONSOON RAINS IN SHANGHAI

The rain here is incredible. Through the thick heat, there are the odd days of constant rain. Sometimes it storms and when this happens the streets literally fill up with the immense volume of water that falls.
The first time this happened I was on Nanijing Lu in the city centre and within minutes everyone was ankle deep in rain water and endless umbrella-selling street vendors popped up from nowhere! The instant sea of multicoloured umbrellas was a sight to behold. With the crazy architecture and neon lights, the city already looks like a theme park, so as the rain continued it filled up until water was gushing down into the subways and metro stations - I felt like I was standing in water-park attraction! As the main streets are so clean, everyone either waded through the water barefoot, laughing, or headed straight for cover into the many malls and shops lining the street. However, it was not only the people that flooded into the shops, but the rising tide of rainwater too, so shop assistants quickly got to work assembling water barriers on the shop thresholds, then sealed this with clay which was on-hand, ready for such occasions!