The constant traffic, the car horns, skyscrapers, people every-where, bicyc
les, roadside cafes, back streets, markets, department stores. First impressions - Shanghai is alive. Before I came here I have to confess that I didn't really know where in China, Shanghai was. I had some vague recollection that it was on the coast but that was about all I knew. I thought it would be a fairly modern city but I didn't realize that it would be so westernized.
I can watch the TV in at least five different languages, connect to the internet, call my parents in Wales, withdraw money, get a cappuccino for breakfast and read the Sunday Times. Everything that I could back home.
It is a city of contrasts. You find small two storey houses with several generations of the same family living next door to a 40 storey high rise serviced apartment. You find people selling DVDs out of boxes on the street in front of designer department stores. There seems to be more taxi's than people to ride in them, there are more waiters in restaurants than there are people eating and there are always more shop assistants than shoppers.
There is a mix of architecture, British, French, Russian and it is clear to see in many of the buildings down on the Bund, the remnants of the splendor and wealth of the 1920. There is a huge selection of bars and restaurants with new ones appearing almost daily. I am sure if you lived here for the next fifty years you would never manage to visit them all.
Of course there are other things that you notice like the weather is always overcast due to the pollution, the way people stare at you all the time and look in your shopping basket and crossing the road is always a challenge.
However even after the short time that I have been here, I am beginning to adjust to and enjoy the city's fantastic energy and vibrancies.
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