First day in Shanghai

This time it's difficult with the blog, the internet is really slow. So I'm not sure if there will be many photos.

We had to get up early today. Our train to Shanghai left at 9 o'clock. Since we are already experienced train travelers in China, everything went well. Train travel is really well organized here and the trains are absolutely punctual.

In Shanghai we were immediately found by our guide Eileen. We had to walk for some time through the once again very large train station to get to the car.

We then started our tour of the old town. It's not actually old, but a replica. It's a bustling place with millions of people, so I would actually advise against visiting. However, hidden in the middle is the entrance to a garden. Although we have already seen many gardens by now, this one was very beautiful. The owner had come up with a lot of ideas to create a pleasant residence.

We then drove to the hotel. What we didn't expect was that we would practically be staying in a museum. The Ruijin Hotel was originally the private house of an English greyhound race owner. It was built in 1917 and is located in a beautiful park that belongs to the hotel. After the revolution, the house was initially used by the mayor of Shanghai as headquarters before it became the government guesthouse.

Our room is located in the original mansion. We have already hosted Mao, Gerhard Schröder or Prince William. The entrance hall of the building is worth seeing. The rooms are amazing, all in the style of the 1920s and 1930s. In the lounge, where breakfast is also served, you feel like the 1920s could come back to life at any moment. The appropriate music playing in the background contributes to this. A great experience that goes far beyond a simple hotel stay.

In the afternoon, we strolled through the surrounding French Concession area. This neighborhood was established by the French after the Second Opium War and strongly resembles Paris. However, you can still feel China everywhere.

After dinner, we were brave and took a taxi. Stopping the taxi is already a challenge, you have to wave vigorously for the driver to stop. We then showed him the address on a piece of paper from the hotel and off we went at full speed through Shanghai to the Bund. After a quarter of an hour, we actually arrived there and paid about 3.80 euros for the ride. Not much more expensive than the metro.

The view of the illuminated Pudong is truly breathtaking. It's indescribable and impossible to capture in a photo. We had a hard time tearing ourselves away to take a taxi back to the hotel. This time in a modern taxi, which cost 4.50 euros.