15 July 2018, Sunday
This evening, we would be catching a short flight from Shanghai to Zhangjiajie, our next destination in China. I mentioned before that the concept for this Grand Adventure was to take one flight out of Singapore and make my way back home by land. So strictly speaking, I wasn’t supposed to take any other flights aside from the very first one from Singapore to Greece.
However, this was a domestic flight so it didn’t really count, and I think I adhered to the overall spirit of the concept. It was, of course, possible to travel by land from Shanghai to Zhangjiajie, but it just wasn’t practical in terms of time and money, with our travel party of nine. Therefore, the best option was to fly.
For our remaining morning in Shanghai, we had it easy and visited Pudong. From our hotel at Yuyuan station, we hopped on the Metro and alighted at Lujiazui station, only two stops away, arriving just before 10am.
As previously mentioned, Pudong (浦东) is a district located east of the Huangpu River (黄浦江), across the historic city centre where the Bund is. Hence its name Pudong, where “Pu” (浦) refers to the Huangpu River and “dong” (东) means east. This area was predominantly farmland and was only developed quite recently, since 1993. In less than 30 years, Pudong has transformed into a sprawling metropolis with some of the most futuristic skyscrapers.
Emerging at street level at Lujiazui East Road (陆家嘴东路), we were immediately greeted by the impressive sight of Pudong’s glittering skyscrapers all around us. First was the Shanghai World Financial Center. It stands at 492m tall with a trapezoidal hole at the top, making the building resemble a giant bottle opener. It is currently the 11th tallest building in the world.
Next was the Jin Mao Tower, a 421m-tall building resembling a pagoda with a sharp spire at its peak. This was the tallest building in China until 2007, when it was surpassed by the Shanghai World Financial Center.
Then there was the tallest skyscraper among them all – the 632m-tall Shanghai Tower, currently the second tallest building in the world. It spiralling glass façade gives it a touch of elegance lacking in the others.
The skyscrapers were all very impressive but they all looked quite similar in terms of the materials used and their overall structure. Hence, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower stands out and remains the highlight as its distinctive shape makes it instantly recognisable among the sea of tall buildings. Its dull-grey exterior and the two large spheres with pink glass windows, supported by a tripod base and topped with a 118m-tall antennae spire, ensures that it is one of a kind.
Set against the perfectly blue skies, the tower looked somewhat unreal, like a toy model that I could pluck out of the ground and carry around in my hand. We had previously made a trip up to the observation level during our first visit in 2001 so we didn’t go up for a look this time.
As it was again another sweltering hot day, we quickly ducked into the Super Brand Mall (正大广场) nearby to seek refuge in the comfort of air-conditioning. It was a huge and modern mall with many fancy boutiques and restaurants, but it was generally very quiet. We did some free-and-easy window shopping here before regrouping at 12pm.
We then headed back to our hotel to do our final packing before checking out at 1:30pm. At 1:40pm, our van arrived to send us to Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG). I had arranged for the van with the hotel as it was more cost-efficient for our travel party of nine. It cost CNY 600 (S$125), or CNY67 (S$14) per person.
We had considered taking the Shanghai Maglev Train (SMT) to the airport but the train ticket would already cost CNY 50 (S$10.40) per person. We would first also need to take the Metro from Yuyuan station to Longyang station (with a change of lines in between), then take the SMT from there to the airport. With the amount of luggage we were carrying, it would be too much of a hassle, so the van was the best option.
The appeal of taking the SMT is mainly to experience the smooth and quiet ride from downtown Shanghai to the airport in just 8 minutes. The word maglev is derived from magnetic levitation. It uses two sets of magnets to repel and move the train, as opposed to using wheels on rails in traditional train systems. Because there is no friction (though there is still air resistance), maglev trains can travel faster than conventional trains, hitting a top speed of 431km/h. Maglev trains are also much quieter since there is no physical contact between the train and the rails.
Uncle R and Aunt V had already taken the SMT when they arrived in Shanghai three days ago and they enjoyed it. For the rest of us, we had taken the high-speed train from Beijing to Shanghai, which provided a similar experience, even though the top speed was only 352km/h. It was certainly good enough, and I doubt you will feel much difference anyway. But for experience sake, it would be worth taking the SMT if I were to visit Shanghai again in the future.
Our van ride to the airport was smooth and we arrived very early at Terminal 1 at 2:20pm. Terminal 1 handles both domestic and international flights. We entered the departure hall just before 3pm and had an expensive but lousy Italian lunch of pizza and pasta before boarding the plane.
At 6:05pm, our Shanghai Airlines flight MU9343 (which was codeshare with China Eastern Airlines) took off. We paid S$267.50 for the air ticket, inclusive of 20kg checked baggage and 10kg hand carry luggage, plus a meal on board. The flight took just two hours and we touched down at Zhangjiajie Hehua International Airport (DYG), terminal 2 at 8:05pm.
After retrieving our luggage, we met up with our driver, who escorted us to his van. Very fortunately, my cousin Sonia had also just visited Zhangjiajie a couple of weeks ago, so she passed us her contacts and helped us arrange for transport and a guide for our next few days of sightseeing here. It was a tremendous help.
We departed the airport at 8:40pm and drove towards our guest house at No. 129 Jundi Road (军邸路), Wujiayu District, Wulingyuan, about 45km away. Apparently, construction of a high-speed railway led to some road closures, so our driver had to take a longer route, and we arrived at the guest house only at 10pm.
The accommodation I had booked, Zhangjiajie Walishanfang Guest House, or Wally House (瓦力山房), was quite a budget one, so it was nowhere as luxurious as the hotel we had in Shanghai. I found it on booking.com. Nevertheless, it was clean and cosy, and good value for money. The total price for our four-night stay in the four rooms was CNY 4,074.20 (S$852), which worked out to S$94.60 per person, or about S$23.65/person/night.
After quickly settling down in our rooms, we turned on the TV and tuned in to the FIFA World Cup Final between France and Croatia at 11pm. Sitting in the van earlier, we were quite worried that we wouldn’t arrive at the guest house in time for the match but thankfully we did.
As I lay on the bed and watched the match unfold, I thought about how far I had come in my journey…I had watched the previous matches on TV in five different countries during the past month – from a pub in Finland to a ger in Mongolia. And less than three weeks ago, I watched two matches in person at the magnificent stadiums in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod in Russia, alongside tens of thousands of fans. What a memorable World Cup it has been.
For the record, France beat Croatia 4-2 and lifted the Jules Rimet trophy. With that result, I can proudly say that I have watched the 2018 FIFA World Cup champions live in action, though the match I watched on 26 June 2018 (Denmark vs France) was a goalless stalemate bereft of excitement. But still, I watched the champions ‘live’!
By the time the match ended and the trophy was presented to the French team, it was past 1:30am. Time to hit the sack and catch some rest because the next three days will be quite tiring and exciting…Zhangjiajie here we come!