Let me start this off with a fact:
上海(shànghǎi) IS CRAZY!!!!

上海(shànghǎi) is one of the craziest cities I have ever seen. I couldn’t believe all the tall buildings, lights, and attractions the city has to offer.

We almost missed our flight due to me forgetting my passport at home. We were half way to the 石家庄 (shíjiāzhuāng) airport bus when I realized I had left it at home. We turned around, and quickly headed home. I grabbed the passport, and we raced to the bus station, only to pull up as the bus left 4 minutes in advance. DOH! We tried our best to catch up to the bus, nearly running over 3 people as the cab raced behind it, following it for over 10 minutes, but the bus driver simply wouldn’t stop and let us on…..grrrr

Our flight left an hour late, so we had no problems time wise. I was, however, disappointed as I was struggling to make the start of the F1 race. It also didn’t help that when we got to the上海(shànghǎi) airport, there was an hour long taxi line. It reminded me a lot of the taxi line at the Beijing train station in that it was a great attempt at organization and efficiency—certainly better than having no system at all—but was vastly inadequate. There were probably 400 people waiting for cabs, but they only loaded 5 cabs at a time. There were cabs for miles waiting to load people, and enough people to fill the cabs, but the system only allowed for loading 5 cabs at one time. Ummm…….OK…….like it wasn’t unforeseeable that 5 cabs at a time for such a major airport is insufficient. 申琦 (shēn qí) did better this time, but was still nervous about flying. After a few more flights, she will have no problems at all.

As we got onto the highway, and started to head towards downtown, I really began to understand why people say that 上海(shànghǎi) is the most modern city in the world. I come from Los Angeles, which has its fair share of tall modern buildings, and I have traveled all over the world, but I have never seen anything that rivals 上海(shànghǎi) in terms of the number of or concentration of such tall buildings. Pretty much every square inch of 上海(shànghǎi) has been developed, or is under development. The buildings are all tall, well designed from an architectural perspective, and extensively lit during the night. It reminds me most of Las Vegas, but multiplied by 100, with office buildings and homes takeing the place of casinos.

By the time we got to the shore, I was just awestruck with my neck constantly cocked looking up at the skyline. If you have never seen 上海(shànghǎi), add it to your short list of places to visit. It is truly unique and interesting. I would have to say that I FAR prefer it to 北京 (běijīng).

We checked into or hotel, the 上海大厦 (shànghǎi dàshà) (Broadway Mansions Hotel), at 7:55, and I quickly raced to my room to watch the 8:00pm F1 race. Well, there was no F1 on CCTV 5 because there was a volleyball game with a Chinese team. DOH! I am convinced that if there was a Chinese F1 driver, F1 would quadruple in popularity overnight, in much the same way that Yao Ming has gotten tons of new Chinese fans to follow NBA basketball.

Our hotel was quite nice.  It was only a 4 star hotel, but we were on the executive floor, which meant that we had a bigger room, our own concierge, breakfast, and nicer facilites.  Our rooms both had a river view that was to die for.  You could see the whole riverfront, the giant T.V. station tower, and most of the skyline.  Score!  Aaron from my school, Konall, booked the hotel for us, which ran about 700 RMB ($87 US) a night.  Not too bad for such a nice room in a primo location.

We ate dinner at one of the restaurants near the hotel, and I caught the F1 race when CCTV 5 finally aired it around 10:30pm.  The race was a big disappointment as my favorite driver Räikkönen was doing quite well until he had a fire near the end of the race and couldn’t finish.  Schumacher, my next favorite driver, also did not fare well as he had to start from last place due to a violation during qualifying.  Grrrr.