Shanghai

So we made the 10 hour flight to Shanghai and touched down at Pudong airport just after 7 a.m. local time. Flying over China you really how vast it is and how fast it is growing. From the air looks as if it has been created within a computer game with rows on rows on tiny blocks.



To get out the airport and into Shanghai we took the bullet train (you know the one with the pointy nose-cone. The journey takes 7 minutes and the train travels at 300 kmh.















It is the fastest I have ever been on land. As the train approaches, Shanghai looms in the distance like a futuristic city from another world.



We jumped off the train and got a cab to the hotel. I don’t know how Shanghai isn’t one big traffic jam. Everyone seems to travel in any direction whenever they chose. You take your life in your own hands. It seems no respect is shown for vehicle size, age of driver or pedestrians for that
matter.


After dumping our stuff at the hotel we hopped into a cab to head over to the old city. (The picture at the top of the post is taken there). As soon as we arrived we were mobbed by street hawkers offering imitations of anything you can think of.







This made the whole experience more frenetic than we'd hoped for but I guess its just inevitable. We actually found the more we deviated from the tourist trail the less we were hassled so it proved to be a positive incentive.




















With a renewed sense of adventure we headed on foot to the Bund (the old British area established to manage its commercial interests in China) that sits on the West of the river Huangpu. Over the river from the Bund you get an amazing view of Pudong which hosts some of Shanghai's tallest buildings.

The building to the left in the picture below is called the Oriental Pearl Tower and on the far right is the World Trade Centre (it looks a bit like a bottle opener) which is the second tallest building in the world and has the highest hotel.
















Below is the view from the 87th floor of the World Trade Centre (you can see how tall it is by looking at the Oriental tower in the distance).

Getting back in the saddle

While it's time to start reporting on family life again after a rollercoaster 18 months since the last post. The highlight was the birth of Perdita, at home after a pizza, on November 20th 2007. In fact we have just celebrated her first birthday. There was a cake but she hasn't quite got her blowing sorted.

Then there was the fire and nearly a year living in different places. Our first resting place on day one was at Susie and Simon's house. They were amazing hosts and managed to put up with me for nearly a month. It was during this time that I became addicted to 24. We then spent 6 months in Bolingbroke Road. Not much to report from those days other than the short walk to school. Oh and the shops along Holland Park Avenue.

We arrived back home in time for term, September 2008. We have all settled in and the chickens have been well looked after up at Squirrel cottage.

So the plan is that I'll start to update this blog more regularly. I must start with some pictures of Perdita who seems to have been the least photographed baby so far.

Don't worry Perdy, all that is about to change...

p.s. the post title was in reference to my nearly killing myself in Wales. Nuff said.