My friend A in San Francisco has a brother, Q, who lives in Suzhou, which is south of Shanghai. Q is an electronic engineer and a professor at a university in Suzhou. He found this hotel for me and got a great rate. The Jin Jiang Hotel is a large, older hotel, comprising two hotel buildings, and a ballroom/conference center building. The rate is only 398RMB per nite (about $48) for a real hotel with all the services. My room is less expensive because I am in the older section. When we arrive at the main entrance the doorman is a tall Indian man dressed in a white uniform and white turban. He speaks english and greets me when I get out of the taxi. Amazing! I check-in, and then board a golf cart for the short ride to the south building. The bellman takes my bag, gets my key from the desk, and leads me to my room. After we arrive I try to give him a tip but he refuses, saying "no tips". My room is a standard western hotel room of 1960s vintage. Blond wood furniture, two double beds; regular full bath with shower, telephone near bed, remote control TV, 2 armchairs. My window faces south, looking towards a nearby lowrise apartment building. I can see my neighbors watching TV or cooking. I open the window and try to get some fresher air. It is surprisingly mild outside. I had expected cooler weather, about 60F, but it feels closer to 70F. I did not bring any short-sleeve shirts!
I get unpacked and notice there is a modem hook-up on the telephone. I then realize that I do not have any adapter to plug into the AC outlet. I go down to the front desk of my building and show the clerk my problem. Within 15 minutes an adapter plug arrives at my room. I also ask the clerk to call another Shanghai hotel so that I might speak with two Filipino business ladies that I had met on the plane. They work with a Swiss clothing company that contracts for clothing to be manufactured here in China. They are going to visit their Shanghai office and the local factory. We had talked about meeting later for dinner. The front desk clerk tries calling the hotel for me, but the other hotel does not find my new friends. I decide to give them more time to get to the hotel--they were going to their office--before I have dinner. Well, the evening goes quickly. I am working on this journal and also sending some emails. I have the front desk clerk try to make the phone call again at about 9:00 PM, but we still get the same result. Oh well, I am hungry and must eat.
I go to one of the hotel restaurants. It is in the main (north) building. This one is open 24 hours. It is a bright place, not very busy. I am seated at a table along the outer edge. Next to me is another western couple. We start talking, and I meet A and R, who live in Japan about 100KM north of Tokyo. They are visiting Shanghai for just a few days. A is involved in some sort of international energy project. They are originally from England. I tell them that my grandmother on my mother's side was from Ipswich, and that Mom and I had visited England and actually found her birth place. They soon leave, and I finish my meal. It was OK, but not great, and the prices (my meal was about 80RMB, nearly $10) were clearly hotel prices. Still very reasonable by American standards, but from my experience in Guangzhou I know that real China prices are much less. After eating I walk outside the hotel property for about a block, just trying to get a feel for the place. It is relatively quiet on my street. I head back to the room, watch some TV, and go to bed.
I take the airport express out to airport and check-in for my flight on DragonAir to Shanghai. For some unknown reason we are about 40 minutes late in boarding and in take-off. The flight is fairly full, but I am in window seat on RH side (45K), and seat next to me is empty. Seating is 2-5-2. Service is similar to CP--very good. We take off at about 12:35 PM. Lunch is soon served. We are given a menu (even here in coach class!) with our choices--fish, or chicken. I choose fish. Very nice meal. We generally follow the east coast of China north to Shanghai. Interesting and often rugged coastline, very scenic.
As we get closer to Shanghai I observe the bad side to modern China--pollution, in this case air pollution. The haze was so thick I could barely see the ground, and after we landed it was almost like a fog. I could not see the end of the runway (later I am told that the air is clearer now than a couple years ago!). Luckily for me the next few days were much clearer.
Getting thru immigration and customs is a breeze, and I find myself of the main terminal building. It is a long and expansive structure, recently built. I have recently read about a new magnetic levitation train from the Shanghai airport to the nearest subway station about 30km away. The train is a joint project between China and Germany. Construction was finished in 2002, and the first rides were in January 2003. However, there were some technical issues and it has not been in regular operation. Info on the internet is ambiguous, so I am not sure if it is actually in regular operation, but I inquire about the "maglev" train and am told to go to the airport business center. I find it and yes, the train is operating and they can sell me the ticket right there. So for 75RMB (about $9) I have my ticket.
I walk to the Maglev terminal, which is in a separate building, also large and expansive. I find the entrance gate, show my ticket, and take an escalator down to the platform. The train is waiting and I board. The interior of the train is relatively normal, with 3 and 3 seating, similar to an airplane but no armrest between seats. Each car has its own "flight" attendant. I use the word deliberately, because the train actually floats about 10mm above the "track" held there by magnetic repulsion, and also propelled forward by magnetic force. There is no engine, no moving parts. Although the technical design dates from the 1930s, this is the only maglev train that has ever been constructed. The difficulty is cost. It is very expensive. The 30km line here in Shanghai cost over $1.2 Billion. That's more than $40 million per km, or about $40,000 per meter! There is talk of building a line from Shanghai to Beijing. This would be over 1000km, but the travel time would be only about 2.5 hours!. Yes, this train's top speed is 430 kmh, or about 270mph!
The passengers on the train are a mix of actual travelers like me, and local people just wanting to experience the ride. At 75RMB each, it is a relatively expensive form of entertainment for most Chinese, but Shanghai has a growing middle class that can afford it. The train pulls out of the station a few minutes later. The flight attendant gives a short speech introducing the train--in Putonghua (Mandarin), Cantonese, and English (she looks at me and I smile back). Above her head at the front of the car is an electronic sign that shows our current speed. I take a photo when we are at rest, and later when we are about top speed. The 30 km ride takes only 8 minutes. The first 4 minutes we gradually speed-up to 430 kmh. We hold that speed for about a minute, and then gradually slow down to the destination station. There is very little noise--mostly just wind noise. And then it is over, almost too quickly. After I exit I take a photo of the front of the train. It is very sleek, with the squashed remains of lots of unfortunate bugs that never knew what hit them!
Shanghai Page 2