October 27th:
Landed at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport at about 10 pm last night. Have to say that the airport is fabulous and the customs and immigration process was efficient, painless and not at all intimidating. Right from the immigration officer to the hotel staff and the public have been nothing but friendly in the few days I have spent in China. I reached the hotel close to midnight and checked in. It’s comfortable, clean and felt very safe and friendly. Couldn’t sleep as I was still on US time so I went down to the hotel massage club for a body massage at 1 am! Yes, the massage club in the hotel is open till 2 in the morning and it was glorious to have a massage after such a long flight.
I woke up late this morning since I went to sleep only after 3:30 am. I am on the 36th floor of the hotel and the view I have is of the rooftops and skyscrapers of Shanghai as far as the eye can see! It was like looking at a huge version of Manhattan. I went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast - was so hungry I could eat anything. That’s what happens when you don’t have dinner and opt for the massage instead. I was craving for my usual breakfast of eggs and toast and coffee (we are all such creatures of habit). Unfortunately, since it was after 10am they had closed the breakfast menu and I had to choose something from the vast array of Chinese food early in the morning. The staff in the restaurant couldn’t speak enough English and I had absolutely no knowledge of Mandarin and was beginning to wonder how to place an order. But the menu they brought out was this large, glossy, colorful photo album kind of book which presented a gallery that included each item offered in the restaurant. So all I had to do was to view this tantalizing gallery and order what looked like the mildest and most familiar dish for that time in the morning - noodles and green vegetables. It was delicious and I wolfed down everything.
Walking around the neighborhood I found it to be busy – with plenty of roadside eating places, stores, high rise buildings, wide roads, heavy traffic and lots of people. Eating, banking, and technology seemed to be the dominant businesses here. On my first day in metropolitan China I definitely got a sense of high energy, growth, development, all mixed with human friendliness and warmth.
