Way back when I began my travels in August (I have been floating around SE Asia for about a half a year, life could be worse) I had a twelve hour layover in Shanghai, China. I had never been to any part of China and visa's for American's are hard to get for China as well as expensive (around 250 USD) so when booking my flights, I found out that for under 48 hours you do not need a visa and in Shanghai you can leave the airport during that time. So before I hopped over to Vietnam I had a little day trip around the city, exploring the downtown area, eating some REAL Chinese food and getting a tiny taste of China, fueling my further desire to travel around the massive country.

From the airport you can take the super fast Maglev train from the airport which is a ways out of town, to a subway station that will take you all the way into downtown. The whole trip took about an hour from airport to the Bund. The Maglev was actually an awesome experience in itself. It is a magnetic train that levitates over the tracks and can travel up to speeds of 431 km per hour, depending on the time of day (I was there during the slower hours and we went 300 km/hr.) It was such a smooth ride and when the train turned you could look down and see the ground below you, technology never ceases to amaze me!

The rest of the day was spent lunching on the Bund, wandering the streets, taking photos, eating street dumplings and fruit and enjoying the fresh China air. I loved the buildings and alleys in Shanghai, they were modern with a old look to them and I could have taken a thousand pictures of the city. China was a bit dirty coming from Seoul, yet now after spending a month living in Bangkok, Shanghai was pristine!

mid-day cool down