Shanghai: New York's doppelgänger in the East

The skyline filled with high rise apartments, it could be mistaken for New York city.

Welcome to Shanghai, the most un-Chinese city in China.

Just two decades ago the scene would have been completely different. Remarkably, many of the impressive buildings housing the country's biggest companies have sprung up in the last 20 years.

And don't expect the growth to stop any time soon.

As the west tries to borrow its way out of the worst economic crisis in a generation, the building work continues unabated in China.

Welders could even be seen working away on Sunday as the latest steel and glass buildings shoot up into the sky.

In the vast shopping malls the brands are all very familiar - Gucci, Cartier and Armani stores sit alongside Next, Gap and H&M. To eat in, there is McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut.

This is a city with the dynamism of New York in the 1920s, and is the ultimate symbol of the modern China.

Beijing is sprawling, dirty and cluttered in comparison.

Parts of the new James Bond film Skyfall were shot in Shanghai

During our stay, we visited the bar in the (check) 88-storey Jinmao tower which is the second tallest building in Shanghai.

In the clouds: View from the 87th floor bar in the Jinmao Tower, Shanghai, on a cloudy day

Most tourists pay 88CNY (£8.80) to go to the top floor viewing platform. But instead we paid 100CNY (£10) each for a beer and a wine on the 87th floor.

The views should have been simply breathtaking from the ultra posh hotel bar. Unfortunately the weather was dreadful and all we could see was clouds in the appropriately-named Cloud Nine bar.

Up top: The clouds part allowing us a view down on modern Shanghai below from the 87th floor bar

As we slowly sipped our tiny but expensive alcoholic drinks, trying to see how long we could eke out our visit for, the sky did just about clear so we could see down.

In contrast to other Chinese cities, you see a lot of western faces here. Many Chinese people are poor and would never dream of stepping into the pricey malls. With the western brands come sky-high prices close to those we are used to paying back home. But then being in Shanghai really doesn't feel like being in China at all. 

Top of Shanghai: Kelly-Ann enjoys a glass of white wine in the Cloud Nine bar, Jinmao Tower, Shanghai

Trip to the Terracotta Warriors

The famous army of Terracotta Warriors were discovered underground by chance almost 40 years ago.

As a group of farmers dug a well, they came across a broken clay figure and alerted the Chinese authorities.

Little did they know then, but in March 1974 they had unearthed one of the 20th century's greatest archeological finds - an army of at least 8,000 terracotta troops.

The warriors - which all have different faces - were there to protect the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor.

They were buried underground in around 210BC and forgotten about.

Warriors are still being found - and it could be decades before all the terracotta figures are discovered.

The find put Xi'an, south west of Beijing, on the map as a tourist destination for foreign travellers.

Yang Zhifa, the lead farmer who made the find was paid just 10CNY - which translates to £1, or around a months wages back then, the tour guide said.

He now spends his days sitting in the gift shop looking miserable and signing copies of a book about the site. It didn't appear to be a bestseller.

Mr Yang is reputedly paid just £2 a day for his services and appeared thoroughly unhappy.

He is feted as a superstar - but one gets the impression he is forced to sit there day in, day out.

A large sign next to him says "no photos", and every time a visitor tries to get a sneaky shot of him he ducks out of the way in a thoroughly undignified way.

I was left wondering whether he wishes he never found the damn things in the first place.

The warriors themselves are around 30 miles outside of Xi'an. Although the city itself is a popular spot for western travellers, there is not much else to be seen.

The city is compact by Chinese standards - and it certainly had a small town feel after we had visited Beijing.

A Chinese pet shop: Puppies sold out of a carrier bag in the street

It's a scene of animal cruelty on a busy shopping street that you could never imagine seeing in a western city.

A woman hawks a litter of unkempt puppies on the pavement in one of China's biggest cities.

The tiny animals wriggle around as she tries to catch the attention of shoppers - hoping they'll pick up a pet to go with that new top they've just bought.

More alarmingly, we spot a bag wriggling as it is left hung up on a railing nearby.

To our horror, the woman has stuffed it full of more puppies to replenish her stocks once these are sold.

If this was Oxford Street, the police would swoop on the woman within seconds.

But in Xi'an, China, this is seen as nothing out of the ordinary.

Puppies in the bag

100%

XI'AN: Overnight train from Beijing

Monday November 19

A man with a weathered face and wind-swept hair pushed past carrying a huge bag of grain balanced on his shoulder to my left.

On the other side, a smartly dressed cleanshaven young man pulled a suitcase with wheels through the crowd.

Getting a train in China is nothing like hopping on a cross country service in Britain.

These stations are a place where the poor who work selling on the streets rub shoulders with their urban middle-class and wealthy comrades in Beijing.

They are overcrowded, bustling and messy at every hour of the day.

Dozens of vendors try and sell you food, drink, clothes and souvenirs in what resembles a very chaotic airport's duty free.

In a country so large, the sprawling hubs are needed to move China's 1.3 billion people around.

As we arrived at one of the capital's three main stations for our first overnight service there was a huge crowd of people outside.

Busy: Crowds of people outside Xi'an train station when we arrived in the early morning

Beijing West is as big as most airports in Britain. In China the railways are expanding rapidly with hundreds of miles of new track rolling out across this enormous country every year as the country enjoys surging economic growth.

With our backpacks and overnight bags we pushed our way through to the x-ray machines and metal detectors.

Before our trip we had been warned about India's chaotic railway stations. But whatever that country throws at us, I expect these will be considerably worse.

We stood in an enormous waiting room as big as a football pitch after arriving early for our overnight train to Xi'an.

Every inch of floor space seemed to have been taken by Chinese travellers.

Finally we were called to the platform where our Soviet-era T-class sleeper train waited. It must have been at least 15 carriages long.

We had booked first class luxury soft sleeper seats. £43 got us a skinny top bunk bed in a four-person compartment which was no more than two metres wide and two metres deep.

There was room to stash our large bags at the end of the beds.

A Chinese couple who spoke not a word of English but were friendly had the bottom two bunks.

As the train pulled out of Beijing, our compartment stank of cigarette smoke from the communal corridor. Knowing sleep might not come easy we settled down for the night early and drifted off into an uneasy slumber, trying to ignore the sudden jolts.

We both slept in fits and starts throughout - although considerably better than we expected.

Bizarrely, the Chinese couple got up at 4am to have a chat and eat a very early morning noodle breakfast.

Five hours later, after a painfully slow 12 hour overnight journey, we were in Xi'an.

Our hair messy from a night of uneasy sleep, our teeth unbrushed and our bellies empty we emerged from the train and into China's smog.

Chaotic, slow but surprisingly comfortable, we were through our first overnight journey.

CRAWLING SCORPIONS ON A STICK FOR DINNER

Saturday November 17

 

*** Pictures to follow ***

 

As I walked towards the counter I saw the skewered meal wriggle. It was most definitely still alive.

Scorpions the world over are a reason to call in pest exterminators - but in Beijing's back street markets they are a meal.

"One skewer of scorpions please," I asked nervously.

The seller casually flash fried the three bugs quickly in the pan to kill them and give them a crispy appearance.

I paid 25CNY, around £2.50, which is reasonably pricey in China.

Nervously, I looked at the scorpions, wondering if I will live to regret this purchase tomorrow morning.

When I bit into the bugs they were crispy and slightly chewy. They tasted kind of similar to some crispy and overdone chips.

Once we were back at the hostel I asked one of the reception workers how often the Chinese ate scorpions.

She laughed.   "I've never tried them," she said. "Chinese people don't eat them, they're only for tourists".

"I've never tried them," she said. "Chinese people don't eat them, they're only for tourists".

GREAT WALL OF CHINA: A towering view of the mountain ranges

Saturday November 17

An essential part of any Beijing trip, we visited the Great Wall of China.

The majority of the wall is not the original as it has crumbled and being rebuilt over the years.

We got a chairlift up to a section of the wall and hiked between several of the towers.

On the way back we stopped off at the iconic 2008 Olympic Birds Nest stadium.

BEIJING ZOO: Pandas, lions and some alarmingly cramped cages

Friday November 17

 

With China being one of the few places in the world you can still see the heavily-endangered panda, we headed to Beijing Zoo on our first jetlag-free day in the city.

The zoo has around half a dozen of the bears all lovingly looked after as one of the country's national symbols.

Outside vendors sold bizarre panda hats, hoping to cash in on some of the magic.

The bears roamed around there large indoor and outdoor enclosures - and one of them went to the toilet in front of us.

The vast zoo cost us just 15CNY to get in - or £1.50 in English money.

Elsewhere there were Bengal tigers, lions, Polar bears, monkeys and lions among the wide selection of animals.

But although some of the animals were well looked after, we quickly became disturbed by the size of some of the cages.

One Bengali tiger in a small enclosure repeatedly howled at us, seemingly in agony. Dozens of Chinese people called back mimicking the animals' cry jokingly.

Nearby two lions - normally such mighty beasts - were so severely emaciated they seemed to struggle to walk down a gentle slope.

Their skinny bodies appeared to be just half the width they should be.

A large black panther padded up and down in a tiny cage that could have been designed for rabbits it was so small.

The elephants were housed in cages so tiny that they had little room to walk around. This appeared to be because a much larger enclosure was being cleaned.

However, there was no evidence of cleaning going on and a fellow traveller who had visited three days beforehand said the elephants had been shut up then as well.

As we left, I didn't know whether to be delighted to have seen the pandas - or horrified by some of the conditions.

METRO BANK: The foreign travellers' bank... Problems using the card abroad

 

Thursday November 15

Metro bank's current account charges zero commission when you take money out of a cash machine abroad - and give the best possible exchange rate.

But if you're thinking of using them a warning: they let us down in China when the cards wouldn't work - and woeful customer care staff effectively said "you're on your own".

Metro offer great rates when you take money out abroad as they are trying to grow their customer base.

By banking with them typically you will save around 10 per cent on foreign currency. In the USA, $1 will cost you 60 pence with Metro Bank but it might be 66p if you use another provider. Obviously, this quickly adds up to a big saving.

Metro seem to be offering a great deal but in Beijing we were left stranded when cards refused to work in cash machines run by three major banks.

After ringing their customer care in the UK at extortionate cost, the unhelpful staff brazenly insisted there were no problems with our card.

They also said they are not aware of any difficulties with their debit cards working in China or any other countries.

However, I'll repeat the point - we used the card in cash machines run by three banks and it didn't work.

After that all transactions were blocked for the day.

This left us stuck with just £20 in our pockets to pay for accommodation and food.

Metro Bank, who open branches seven days a week, pride themselves on being different from other banks.

And they are "different". Because as soon as I used my NatWest debit card it worked without any problems at all.

At 4pm Chinese time, their staff insisted they would launch an "urgent" investigation. Eight hours later at midnight (4pm in the UK) they finally rang us back and woke us up to offer some unhelpful advice.

The whole saga meant we lost almost a day of our trip phoning for help, then sitting by the hostel phone waiting or a call back. Obviously we would rather have spent the time exploring Beijing.

And if we hadn't packed another bank's debit card we would have been stranded.

Subsequently, without help from Metro, we did find a bank their cards work in.

If you're determined to get a Metro Bank account for holidays, make sure you take other cards with you.

BEIJING: A huge culture shock

Wednesday 14th November

*** Pictures to follow ***

"Just get me something plain I can digest because I'm still feeling unwell," said Kelly-Ann.

So I panicked and returned with squid and lobster dumplings served up in a pot with lashings of spicy sauce.

 

Not good if you are feeling under the weather.

 

Squid dumplings are one of the milder choices such is the eclectic mix of street food available on Beijing's vibrant backstreets.

 

I also tried stinky tofu - a crispy cheese squares like dish which has a surprisingly spicy aftertaste. The texture is almost like that of a potato and the taste surprisingly spicy. It is much better than the foul smell suggests.

 

I am yet to discover what it is actually in it as the local retailers were unable to explain in their limited English - and I am too scared to Google it.

Duck pancakes, chicken chow mein and western egg-fried rice - the staple of western Chinese takeaways - are not to be found in these bustling alleys.

 

But once we ventured beyond the side roads where our youth hostel is located, parts of the city have a familiarly Anglo-American feel.

On our first day it was more than a little daunting to be greeted with a sea of incomprehensible Chinese characters - and not an a, e, i, o or u in sight.

 

Today McDonalds and KFC restaurants seem to sit on most corners and the modern Beijinger seems to consume as many hamburgers as dumplings.

 

Jerry, the Chinese man who collected us from the airport, wore American-style dark blue jeans, a leather jacket and sunglasses as he weaved his way through the smoggy traffic jam on the city's ring roads.

 

On the radio he listened to pop songs on an English language commercial station identical to those back home.

 

As he opened the window for ventilation, we were hit by the potent stench of petrol. Bizarrely, although the tardy old car had remote locking there were no seatbelts in the back - which made our hair-raising ride to the hostel all the more frightening.

 

If the hard shoulder was empty, Jerry was happy to dart down it to leap ahead of a few vehicles. There were at least three occasions when I was amazed we did not hit a pedestrian, cone or cyclist as the madcap driver pushed on.

 

Drivers in every other vehicle were performing the same high-risk moves on the capital's roads.

 

The pavements are constantly heaving with people in this vibrant city as small shops try and hawk their many wares.

 

Chaotic, yes, but China is certainly efficient.

 

It was two days before we were brave enough to venture onto the city's metro system. Yet what we discovered was undeniably one of the best underground systems in the world.

The trains and platforms are immaculately clean and you will never wait more than three minutes for a train. The services run smoothly and you never judder to a halt as you arrive at a station. And each journey costs a flat fare of just 2 CNY - or 20 pence.

So here we are in China - it's chaotic, crowded and initially daunting but a really exciting and vibrant place to be. And we haven't even seen the Great Wall yet.

WASHINGTON: Obama wins four more years

Tuesday 6th November to Friday 9th November

 

*** Pictures to follow ***

 

In one of the most tightly contested US Presidential elections ever, Barrack Obama won four more years in the White House while we were in Washington.

On the day voters went to the polls we visited the White House. We expected the area to be teeming with people - but there was a quite remarkable sense of quiet.

Modern elections really are television events with the action taking place in swing states such as Florida and Ohio, and the drama being thrown in from the studio.

 

On approaching the White House, one of the most famous buildings in the western world, I couldn't help but feel underwhelmed.

It has none of the grandeur of Buckingham Palace, or indeed any of the other Washington monuments. Outside repair men worked on the footpath with large drills and very few people milled around.

 

Television crews, including the BBC, were just about visible perched on rooftops nearby as they reported on the polls with America's most famous building as the backdrop.

 

On election night we watched the event unfold on television until the result was clear.

 

Washington itself has a small town feel and is a world away from the hustle and bustle of New York city.

Directly in front of the White House, across the lawns, sits the Washington memorial. The imposing tower shoots up into the sky and dominates the skyline.

To the right as you approach lies the World War II and Abraham Lincoln memorial, and to the left is Capitol Hill which houses the US parliament.

The way the memorials, Congress and the White House are so perfectly lined up gives Washington a modular and uniform feel.

Visiting all of these monuments, we had been warned there would be a lot of walking involved. But the buildings are so vast that it takes an age to walk anywhere.

The 'pool of reflection' that lies between the World War Two and Abraham Lincoln memorials is at least half a mile in length on its own - a long walk just before lunch!

It is perhaps little surprise that so few tourists head to Washington - opting instead for Florida, LA and New York. By US standards the city is small and is really only the home of government and the administration.

However, it is a city with real characters beyond the politics there are some excellent museums. There is also the poignant Arlington Cemetery for the US military. On a hill overlooking the city we saw the final resting place of the assassinated president John F Kennedy.

As a final point, I'd like to heartily recommend the guesthouse we stayed in - Auntie Bea's Little White House.

Gerald, the owner of a small home on the outskirts of the city, runs an excellent B&B. He prepared a great meal each morning with his own "power smoothie" and the rooms were homely.

NEW YORK: Hurricane Sandy, the aftermath

Saturday 4th - Monday 6th November and Friday 9th - Tuesday 13th November

*** Pictures to follow ***

Just five days before we arrived in New York, Lower Manhattan and Staten Island had been hit by Hurricane Sandy.

Although we arrived in the city expecting widespread disruption, in many places there was no evidence f the biggest storm in a generation.

The New York marathon was called off during our first weekend as politicians decided officials should rightly be focused on the ongoing relief efforts rather than staffing a race.

Yet as so many runners travel from around the world to New York for the race, we were treated to the bizarre spectacle of people completing the marathon even though it had been cancelled.

When we visited Lower Manhattan right at the end of or stay - a full two weeks after the storm - there was clear evidence of the devastation that the wall of water had wreaked.

Shops were shut for repair works, subway lines remained closed and we didn't even venture as far as Staten Island.

There is not much to be said about New York that has not been said before. It's iconic skyline is etched into the mind of almost everyone as it features as the backdrop for so many films.

It is a city where space truly is at a premium. We arrived at our first hostel - New York Budget Inn - tired after the flight to discover we had booked what looked like a broom cupboard rather than a room.

There was one creaky bunkbed inside and not enough room to fully open the door. Welcome to travelling!

During out stay we queued up in Time Square in front of the famous red steps and bought tickets to see the new Spiderman musical.

For anyone visiting New York in the coming months, it really is a must see. The spectacle was years in the making and was beset by a whole raft of problems, but the final show is wonderful.

It is relatively expensive - we paid around £60 each for great seats in the third row - but it is not to be missed.

Unfortunately due to the storm, the Statue of Liberty and the Ellis Island museum where thousands of immigrants took their first steps on US soil has now been closed indefinitely.

The platform where the boats leave from is likely to have to be rebuilt. Understandably, with dozens of lives lost this is far from the first priority.