About Shanghai - Day 23

This being our last day in Shanghai, I thought I'd compare it a bit with Beijing (and Nanjing) before checking out.

It is said that Shanghai's the place to visit when you're tired of old temples, dusty tombs and small alleys.
I agree, and we are most definitely not tired of 'old China' yet, so Shanghai has left us longing about rural China and hikes in the countryside, or at least a pair of jeans and high heels so we'd fit in.
Shanghai doesn't quite feel like 'China', at least not like the China we're used to. Beijing was huge, but it didn't feel like it - the streets were narrow, the buildings not that high, and little shops everywhere. Even the smallest Hutong street would provide it's residents with everything they needed; fruit market, cloth stores, hairsalons, internet cafes and public toilets. We would not once have had to walk more than 20 meters from our hostel (the same goes for Nanjing) to find everything we needed, and more.
Shanghai on the other hand... Shanghai is a big city, and Shanghai FEELS big. The distance's are long, the roads are wide and never ending, the skyscrapers, well, 'scrape the sky'. And stores are gathered into huge malls instead of being spread everywhere. All in all, Shanghai sort of feels like a big Western capitol, considering the layout.
Oh, and the metro system.... it's huge. However grateful for it's simplicity, we are so tired of the subway.
And, either we've gotten more used to feeling like giants, or people in Shanghai are taller than in Beijing and Nanjing. And wear more make-up as well. (According to one of our roomies in Nanjing, girls rarely wear make-up before turning 25 or 30)

Since we are about to check out, and starting to get rather hungry, we'll write more about our Tongli adventure next time we get to a computer. One thing I will miss about Shanghai is the food. The cheap Sushi (will probably have to stack up with Sushi for the 14 hour train ride), Megabite (which Sophia already wrote about) and our nextdoor Indian restaurant, where we will be heading now.

So long Shanghai, next stop Wuhan!
//H