Updates
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Subject: Finally in Shanghai!
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 12:12:54 +0000
Hello there,
How is it all going with you all? I'm finally in an Internet cafe after a long 10 days stretch, which has mainly been filled with transportation!!! Kunming was absolutely excellent! It's a heaven for market lovers, everywhere you turn there is another market, either food or clothes or anything else you can think about. Kunming has a very southern feel to it, they seem to enjoy life to the full but at a relaxed pace and it's not at all touristy! Perfect! Definitely a place I would love to go back to! From Kunming it was a painful bus journey (the sleeper bus was running so late we had to sleep the second night in the bus station!) to Chongqing. There we were going for what we called (up til then) a cruise on the Yangtze River. Having done the so called 'cruise', I will have to rename it to the
ferry crossing in the engine room, along the Yangtze River! :))
It was actually quite hilarious but very tiring, we were fated to miss the highlights of the 'cruise!'. I don't know if it's because we went for the cheap 4th class (not in the engine room but not far ;) but there was no way to find any information on the schedule of the ship and we ended up missing the 3 minor gorges (cos we got up too late) and the first main gorge (er... well cos we got up to late again!) still we took motorbike rides at the minor gorge and enjoyed the second main gorge sitting on the floor of the middle deck (4th class is not allowed on the sight seeing deck! :)) we missed the third gorge because the ferry was running so late that we arrived at our destination yichang at midnight so it was too dark to see
anything! Our 6 other cabin mates missed everything, as it seems they slept for the 48 hours except for the occasional noodle break! ;) Still the Yangtze River is very much like the Mekong, in fact a lot wider than the Mekong but of the same power and colour!
Chongqing is the ugliest city I have seen in china so far (it looks like it's been bombarded recently! :O) but it doesn't mean it lacks in atmosphere, on the contrary, it's actually very lively and strangely pleasant! After 2 days on the 'love boat' (NOT) we started a race to get to Shanghai made of buses at 4 o'clock in the morning, short stays in hotels to catch up on some well needed sleep and a final train ride to reach Shanghai where I'm writing from now!
Shanghai is excellent! It's a perfect mixture of the old and the new China, the old city is even bigger that the hutong area in Beijing and it's just as inspiring with locals at their most authentic, Every little street corner has its own vendors, markets and little businesses. It's impossible to describe how authentic it all looks and feels. Then you have the old architecture of Shanghai mixed with the fast developing new buildings, The bund (river bank) doesn't match Hong Kong Bay but it definitely has a charm of it own presided by the Oriental Pearl TV and Radio Tower! Truly impressive, today we checked out some of the old French Concession Area. It's like a quick trip back to the western world. I think I might have to spend a little more time here to explore some more! On Thursday the
Israeli guys move on to Beijing. Mendez returns to the single traveller status as she comes to the end of her Chinese stay!.. To be continued... See you in Bangkok... :)
The connection in this Internet cafe is very bad (very odd!) and Internet cafes seem a rarity in Shanghai for some reason (even more odd), so will be in contact individually as soon as I can!
Take care of yourselves.
Lots of love - The Mendez xx
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