Wai Tuck: 2009-04 Shanghai

Shanghai

By the time I arrived at Shanghai (about 13:20), I tried to call James (my ex-colleague in Singapore, who had returned to China for good in 2005), who was supposed to come to airport to pick me. To my surprise, my SIM card could not be used in Shanghai, it was a local SIM card to be used only in Wuhan, Hubei! Luckily, there is a public phone around, which I can use to contact James.

James has bought a car, Buick, and had volunteered to pick me up at the airport and sent me to the hostel! (Throughout this entire week, I had pre-booked my accommodation via Hostels.com. Hostels.com offers very good rates for hostels world-wide. See below for information on those hostels.)

After checking in to the hostel, we went to James' home (which he bought it in 2005 at 世纪公园), where we were going to meet Gu Bei (Lily) and Hong Tao (Aaron), for dinner. Gu Bei and Hong Tao had been working in Singapore as well. In the years of 1999-2004, we had been playing badminton and cards together! It was one of the many sweet memories of my life!

At James' Home: From L-R: James, James' Mother-in-law with James' Son (Zhang Zi Heng), Grace (James' wife), Lily, Aaron and me

Zhang Zi Heng (James' son): Very Intelligent, Chatty and hyper-active! I am amazed at how his lingual abilities, who is only 4 years old! He is Bi-lingual (English and Mandarin).

After dinner, James brought me to the river-side (黄浦江) at 陆家嘴. From there, you could see the opposite bank, the Bund (外滩), it appeared in most movies/serials filmed in Shanghai, for example the famous Hong Kong Serials, 上海滩.

At the bank of 黄浦江：L->R: me, Aaron, James (Shangrila Hotel and 东方明珠 TV Tower, in the background)

The building on the right (Shanghai World Financial Centre, SWFC, 上海环球金融中心) is the tallest building in China. It is the second tallest completed building in the world, standing at 492m, shorter than Taipei 101 (at 509m). By Sep-2009, the tallest building in the world will be replaced by Burj Dubai (which stands at 818m).