Shanghai

Living just a couple of hours away from Shanghai by train, I have ended up going there every 2-3 weeks, often just for one day. Sometimes it's because I have a flight to some other place from one of its airports, other times I need to do some shopping or I just want to get away from little Changzhou.

Food is another main reason for going to Shanghai. Supermarkets there sell ingredients that are impossible to get in CZ (CHEESE!) and you can go out and eat a pizza without having to order from Pizza Hut.

For the rest, there's not much to be seen in Shanghai: it's a very modern city of more than 15 million inhabitants, its commercial streets resemble those of Western cities and it's one of the few places where a foreigner doesn't attract attention while walking on the street. The old parts are rapidly disappearing while skyscrapers are built at incredible speed; under Mao's statue at the university campus, trendy youths hug and kiss freely. It's another of the many different faces of this country, one that highlights China's will to change rapidly and let the world know.

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