Real(ish) life in Shanghai

I flew home via Shanghai – arriving there first thing in the morning and leaving for Sydney in the evening. It was a great chance to explore this global city. To give some structure to the day, I signed up for a bike tour. Rather than being the usual 6-10 people in a line, it was just me and the guide.

My favourite part was a massive park in the old french concession – it was a lovely combination of traditional french manicured park, and chinese garden, with, being a Saturday, a huge contingent of locals enjoying the sunshine. Much like the plazas in Europe, the park was full of people escaping their small apartments, especially older people who were taking advantage of not having to look after their grandchildren as they do during the week.

There was a saxophone corner with several saxophonists competing for audience (Shanghai apparently is still full of jazz musicians even 100 years after the roaring 20s), a generous selection of singalongs dotted about, some couples waltzing, and even some practising sword fighters.

Then we went off to the Bund, stopping off a couple of streets before we got there at a local tiny fishmarket, which was having large blocks of ice delivered as we got there – still no refrigeration so close to some of the richest parts of the city.

The streets were surprisingly fine for a bike rider – every vehicle was electric, with huge numbers of mopeds, but everyone went quite slowly, so even the massive streets felt quite safe.

After my tour was over it was a metro and then the maglev back to the airport before my flight home.