Shanghai Visit

Part 1: Reaching Shanghai

I started on Sat and took a connecting flight through Delhi. This was also my first trip to the International terminal at Delhi. The smiling bust of Buddha set the right welcome to the large terminal which was badly needed in Delhi. The problem which need attention by DIAL and same in Mumbai on return is the the pathetic state of transit from existing domestic terminal to the International terminal. In the onward transfer, we found the bus has broken down and was fixed after 30min of work but as the time i had was good enough did not face the problem i faced in Mumbai airport transit.

The rates at the airport was entertaining with the amount of stores and large space with enough electric plugs for laptop and good seats. One thing which was odd was the cost of everything including lays etc even on the vending machines. The flight was on time and had a nice trip to Shanghai on an Air India trip. The presence of experienced hands as air hostess was a big change from the young and bubbly sir hostess in all other private flights. Sometimes i do feel that in case of emergency all their experience may be handy compared to the young and energetic version in other flights.

Reached shanghai and had a easy transit. I was told to take metro or the maglev at the airport as it was the optimal way reach the hotel. The metro it seems stop at 9 PM and as i reached after that, i took the maglev. A 7 minute ride as smooth as the flight [ with no turbulence at all :) ] was worth the try. It touched 301 Kmph before decelerating. If you show the boarding pass on the shanghai maglev you get a small discount on the ticket. At the longyang station i took a cab. An European lady could clearly make out that i am new to city and guided me to the taxi and guided me on what i should check. Like in Indian auto and old taxi they have a lever to put down so that the meter work. Though meters were automatic somehow they have kept the lever aspect intact may be for the police to see it from outside itself.

Reached the hotel Westin Pudong in the outskirt of shanghai. The hotel was nice and clean but was not connected to the excellent metro network which the city can boast of. It was 2.5 Km away from the nearest metro station. Was well into night, so had a good sleep before which i noted that this was the only hotel with a wide window in the bathroom and bathroom looked bigger than the room itself :).