With both of us on summer vacation from teaching, we had plenty of time to prepare and get excited for our trip. Waking at 3:30AM and traveling for almost 24 hours door to door (36 hours by the clock due to time zone changes) was tiring but uneventful. The fourteen hour Newark to Shanghai leg flew over the North Pole and proved a chance for a lot of reading and movie viewing. It was great to be met at Pudong airport by Ashley with a driver kindly provided by her employer.
From the road we saw the Shanghai (Pudong side) skyline (the three tall buildings above from left to right are the Pearl tower, the JinMao tower, and the World Financial Center – tallest in China reminiscent of a “bottle opener”). And we passed the Expo below:
Roshley’s apartment is comfortable and in a great central location – cab rides almost anywhere we went in the city were quick, easy and cheap (under $2 with no tipping allowed). Here’s the entrance to their complex:
The view from their balcony (at least in clear weather like we had for the first half of our stay) is spectacular – many of the Puxi side high rise buildings and some of the Pudong side buildings were visible and lit up at night:
Ashley took us to register at the local police station – requiring extra copies of our passports and departure forms. On the walk we saw some less developed streets of Shanghai:
