So, the past two days, I spent my time in a neighbouring city of Shanghai known as Nanjing. The city is just another rapidly growing city, with many large projects either under construction, or near completion.
We went there by train, a fast, and reliable mode of transport.
‘cept it was a Sunday, and with the Expo on, many from ‘inter-province’ were in Shanghai going home, as a result, all tickets to Nanjing were sold out except for a few dozen tickets where you stood in the ailes ins stead of a nice comfy seat.
So, since we were not able to get ourselves a train for the next three hours or so, we payed a trip to Shanghai’s “People’s Square”. A nice-ish public park. Surrounding it, were government buildings, and museums…
Inside one of the museums, there was this awesome (to scale?) model of the city of Shanghai. There are some pictures below.
Above, is the a model of the Pudong Lujiazui district, with the SWFC, Jin Mao, Oriental Pearl Radio Tower, as well as the yet to be completed Shanghai Tower. (To be completed in 2014, and will be the 2nd tallest building in the world)
Xujiahui
They even modeled the Expo site!
A shop dedicated to Sticker photos?
Shanghai Railway Station. Probably not as busy as Mumbai, but compared to Sydney…
After standing on a crowded train for 2.5 hours, we spent another half-hour in Nanjing Station trying to get a taxi out of there…
So, by the time we got to our relatives’s place, it was pretty late so we didn’t do anything that night.
Outside Nanjing Station, you get a great view of the Skyline of Nanjing City across… A lake.
Nanjing Station is smelly. There are only small cubicals outside of the station, where you have to wait in line to use, AND pay for. As a result, people just dispose of their human waste in random places on the square outside the station…
The next day, we visited the Zhongshan Memorial site for a famous Doctor. (whose body is in Taiwan)
There are a lot of steps to climb in order to get to the top.
Personally, not a very interesting site for me, however the place offers some nice views. It was also nice to see an abundance of trees. =D
The main reason why I personally wanted to visit Nanjing:
The Nanjing Greenland Finanical Centre. Completed, and openned just over a week ago. At 450m, it is the 5th tallest building in the world, 2nd on mainland China (behind the SWFC at 492m)
The building is of an intersting design. The facade is interesting, but not as aweosme as the Jin Mao’s…
No-one really knows about this building except for those in Nanjing really… The viewing lobby is incredibly empty… But gives an awesome view of Nanjing!
Unlike when I went up the SWFC, you could actually see stuff.
Nanjing is a city in transition. There are some very poor housing down there, and the city is incredibly dusty and dirty. (Like Shanghai was a few years ago)
However, the city seems pretty well planned/being planned. (I’m assuming learning from Shanghai) You can see a line of trees in the above photo. That is one of the main roads in Nanjing.
(I’ve changed the levels of above photo to emphasise) I believe that on many of these buildings, there are solar panels. (I’m assuing a govt initiative or something…)
The rules on the newly opened Nanjing Metro are more strict than those in Shanghai…
Then, what better way to end the day with a nice big Starbucks…?
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