Ross comes to Shanghai

This morning was an early start as I went to meet Ross at the airport. I woke up at 5.45am and walked outside to catch a cab to the train station about 6.10. After all the fussing about the night before trying to find the Chinese characters for the Maglev train station, I simply jumped in and said "Maglev" - who would have thought it would have been that easy!

At the station, the gates weren't even open yet as the first train was leaving at 6.45am. So I avoided the taxi touts who were trying to convince me there was no train and waited with the bus load of Chinese that had just been dropped off. The gates opened and I headed to the ticket booth, lined up with everyone else to have their bags scanned and then headed up to the station and boarded the train.

The ride out was a bit slower than last time - only 300 km/hr. I arrived at the airport, walked from the station to the terminal just as Ross text me to say he was out of customs. It worked out perfectly as I arrived just after 7am. It was so great to see Ross again!

We boarded the train, got off at the station, got in a taxi and headed back to Glynis and Kevin's place. We dropped off Ross' bag and went across to Slice for a cooked breakfast. From there, we jumped in a cab and headed to the Metro. Ross and I travelled into East Nanjing Road for a walk to Renmin Square. It was a glorious day - better than when I was last in there on Wednesday.

Once in Renmin Square, we wandered around for a while and then finally found the Shanghai Museum. The photo above is of Ross and I in front of the museum. They had some pretty interesting exhibits including jade carving, Chinese calligraphy, sculptures, furniture, and Chinese seals. We spent and hour or so wandering amogst the exhibits before we both hit the wall and headed home for lunch at Blue Frog followed by a nap.

By the time we woke up, Glynis was home, shortly followed by Kevin. We spent some time catching up over a beer before their friends James and Sanna joined us to go out for dinner. We headed out to the Indian Kitchen across the road where the food was good accompanied by Kingfisher beer. After dinner we wandered down the road to Big Bamboo, a local bar for a final beer before heading home.