Shanghai Nights

We got into Shanghai today. Shanghai feels like a European New York. It has New York's lights and energy, and has European architecture and sense of history. We spent 50 RMB on a gin and tonic which we enjoyed on the 6th floor balcony of a 100 year old building overlooking the Bund. This capped a presentation and walking tour of the development history of Shanghai.

The Shanghai internet cafes ask for passports, and would photocopy them, so I have not posted while in Shanghai. Other than that, Shanghai was a very nice city. The people looked relaxed, there are plenty of little districts to explore, and the town is busy without being crazy. I didn't make it to the district called the French Concession, but others did, and compared it to Beverly Hills. I did make it to old town, and it is now a tourist trap. The central square looked just like the central square of a chinese Strasbourg, with the central building being a tea house instead of a cathedral. The buildings were white with dark brown timbers. There were two Starbucks there.

A major site of interest for us was the Shanghai planning museum. This museum has two scale models, one of Shanghai in its entirety, another of the section of the river that lies at its heart. The river model is 10 feet wide and 50 feet long, the city model is 50 feet by 100 feet. It shows every building existing and proposed to be built in the next 20 or so years.

Another highlight was the visit to the EDAW Shanghai offices. We have someone in our group who works for EDAW SF, but it was interesting for him as well to hear about the Asia projects. Most of what they are doing is at the master planning and conceptual level, because the implementation and specifics of design must be done by the local planning and design schools. EDAW is getting more and more business here.

Each time we took the metro it was so crowded that someone in our party got either left behind on the platform or left behind on the train. That's right, it is sometimes so crowded that you can't even get off the train in time.

The second evening we went to a bar where a pint of cider cost $10 US. They had a DJ downstairs and live music upstairs. It was mostly European men and Asian women. The bar was showing Aussie rules football, which looks to be about the best sport ever invented. It is apparently similar to Gaelic football, which is the best sport ever invented.