The Coldest, the Fastest, the Tallest

When we were in Brisbane, Australia, they were setting record high temperatures.  In Brunei, the temperature was 95 degrees with high humidity.  You could not only feel, but see, the moisture in the air.  Anything in the distance was hazy.  Shanghai, three days later, was 45 degrees when we woke up.  While we were there, some of the nights dropped to near freezing.  There were a couple of good points.  As Minnesotans, we were used to cold weather, so it was not bad.  Also, we brought warm sweaters and jackets.  Although we carried the jackets, we never actually wore them.  The haze, however, could not be explained by the humidity --it was smog, plain and simple, even though the Chinese denied it.  For them, this was normal, the way it always was.

One morning we took the mag-lev train.  I do not understand the principle, but somehow it relies on magnetic attraction/repulsion so it does not actually come in contact with the rails when it is moving.  Thus there is no friction.  We were told it would feel like a jet taking off, but it did not.  Instead, there was steady acceleration until it reached maximum speed of 431 kilometers per hour.  That is somewhere around 260 miles per hour.  Then it steadily slowed down until we reached our destination, the airport.  It was very expensive to build and has little purpose except as a show piece.  Although one end is at the airport, you still have to travel quite a distance from anywhere in the city to get to the other end.  The train had a place in each row of seats to put your carry-on luggage, but it would be hard traveling with more than one piece.  One Caucasian who toured the ship (probably a travel agent) asked how we liked the "Disney World ride."

Model of the
Jin Mao Tower

Shanghai boasts the most buildings in China over 28 stories.  The tallest is 127 floors!  We did not go into that one, but we took an elevator to the 88th floor of the next tallest.  The lowest floors are commercial stores, the middle is a Grand Hyatt Hotel, then offices up to the observation level.  some people, not us, walked around the outside of the building, wearing safety harnesses.  We did not actually see anyone doing that, but the view was great, except for the haze.  There were tall buildings as far as you could see in every direction.

The tallest building, the Shanghai tower

Looking down from the 88th floor to
the Marriott lobby on Floor 53.

The Chinese and the Shanghai people love their flowers!  Flowers, shrubs, and smaller trees were in every median and embankment along every road.  It is impossible to take pictures of any of the sculptures and flower beds from the bus.  I have tried.  The bus moves too fast, the windows are hazy and I always get a reflection, so you will just have to use your imagination for most of them.

They love their dogs, too!