Yup this long update is for the Chinese New Year week where I spent it in Shanghai! This city has just suprised me again by changing a lot within one year since I last came and the highlight of the trip this time round was the Maglev Train Ride. The whole ride was comfortable and...FAST (what else were you expecting of the World's 1st Magnetic Levitation Train?). The journey from the magnificent new Pudong Airport to the Longyang Rd Station took roughly under 8 minutes and it was a journey that took 35 minutes by car on an empty expressway! This was amazing and everyone who has the chance to go to Shanghai should try this at least once!
The weather in Shanghai is cold and it's even more so due to the heavy wind so the temperature has been averaging around 2-3 degrees Celcius. My uncle brought me and my parents around Shanghai and took us to view the exhibits at the Urban Planning Centre of Shanghai, truly amazing place where they outlined the development of Shanghai into a Global Financial Centre to match the likes of New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, London and Paris. It is truly a cosmopolitan city with all those great architectures sprouting out above the bund. This has got to be a city with one of the most modern and best looking buildings on Earth.
Since it was the festive season in China, how could one forget the Fireworks and until you ever experience a Lunar New Year's eve in Shanghai, you haven't yet seen a truly magnificent piece of firework yet! From 8pm till late 2am on Lunar New Year's eve, fireworks are started all over the place in Shanghai, such that the gunpowder smell fills the air and the shooting sounds rumbles the ground! It is absolutely stunning (just like a war have erupted in Shanghai) and truly memorable. Of course being CNY, how could we ever forget the red packets. Spending it in China wasn't such a bad idea after all since I get quite a lot of 'Hongbaos' and even though they were in RMB, it was fine since they come in large denominations =D