The Future is Here

Day one and, well, wow me!

Yes, Shanghai gets the blue "I-wowed-Kati" ribbon! The first day was enough to determine that.

Arriving in a new country at what is 9 a.m. local time, but feels like (and is in Finland) 3 a.m. is trying at the best of times, since there's a long, loooong day still ahead before bedtime. Even a short nap still leaves one feeling like a character from a movie rather than oneself - a sort of out of body experience.

The "I'm not in Kansas anymore aunty Em" feeling didn't fade as I checked in to Jeff's penthouse appartment, which he bravely lent me for my stay. The flat is just lovely with misty views to the distance and a big fluffy bed. I certainly haven't missed plan B: the windowless four bunk-bed dorm I had considered booking at a local hostel.

I then took to my heels and started walking towards the river. I'm an ardent walker. Such a good way of feeling the vibe and seeing the sights. So I gently drifted through the French Concession, with its tree-lined bulevards, along Huaihai road shopping area and finally as the night grew dark, up on the banks of the river on the Bund. Now seeing the Bund for the first time is a very special experience - maybe a little like eating those pink slices of sushi ginger or having sex for the first time - whatever you think of it, you aren't likely to ever forget it!

The Bund is that famous stretch of riverside, from where you can gaze in awe at the New Shanghai skyline on the Pudong side of the river. And what a bizarre skyline it is! Not to be outdone, each new skyscraper is taller than the one before - the most recent of which was just finished in 2008 and is the tallest building in China at close to 500 meters. And, boy, are there many of them!

And as if that wasn't enough, then some of the skyscrapers have one whole side, which is actually a huge screen, where advertisements and happy New Year's videos are displayed and reflect merrily into the river. And as if that wasn't enough then huge boats cruise the river some just decked with so many lights, they resemble casinos, and some also carrying house-sized screens displaying yet more advertisements and happy New Year's videos! The scene is truly from Ridley Scott's Bladerunner. And if that isn't enough then the whole thing is tastefully (ehrm, well, quite) set off by the Oriental Pearl (seen below next to a giraffe), a famous landmark built by a Chinese architect who had obviously spent the weeks prior to drawing it up eating the wrong kind of mushroom and watching 20's science fiction movies, specifically Aelita, Queen of Mars.

One of Jeff's guidebooks to Shanghai started with a quote from science fiction writer William Gibson, that seems to sum it up.; "The future is already here. It just isn't evenly distributed". Shanghai certainly seems to have hogged more than its share!

So I wandered up the Bund in the gathering dusk, watching the street hawkers selling an incredibly entertaining variety of plastic thingummies, people taking photos with their mobile phones, babies riding on their parents shoulders, life. When a group of people dressed as mice and cows started sending up hot air balloons made of paper... I decided it was time to call it a day. And a good one at that.