Chinese Torture

Yay, I finally arrived! Well, I've arrived 12 hours before, but only now do I have time and the strength to write a bit. More time than strength, mind you, the time zone shift on the plane robbed me of precious hours of sleep...
The food was pretty good on the the Finnair flight, I tasted some French red wine with the main course and some port with the dessert. The port was not as good as I would have expected, but it was fine in any case. The entertainment system was also OK, I watched some newish comedy flick with Steve Carell and various episodes of The Big Bang Theory, all of which were quite good for relaxing. Sleeping was not that fine, even though it was possible to recline the seat almost perfectly horizontally, you still had some feeling of slipping down. The first rays of the sun woke me somewhere above the Mongolian plains, which ain't a lovely site, but it's nice. Flying forwards there were sooo many seemingly untouched forests to be seen, that was pretty. Then, approaching Shanghai, we got a glimpse of all the skyscrapers, and the light brownish sea... yuck!
Landing and passing immigration was easy, passing the people trying to sell their own airport transfer services less so. I was heading straight to the MagLev train, to see how those 430kmhs feel in reality. It was an amazing speed, although I would have expected a bit less racketing. Then, after the obligatory photos (shared later), I got to an official taxi, shown the destination printed in Mandarin, an my 15 minute car ride through hell started :) It seems like Chinese drivers obey two rules of the road: head where you want to, and honk! Luckily the drivers are more or less tied to the tarmac...
So, we got to the hotels, mine is now only the second highest - still, the view from the 75th floor room is not too shabby :) (Well I will have to switch to a different or get this fixed up as the bathtub leaks all over the bathroom, but that at least does not obstruct the view ;)
After settling down, I started a time run for the office to see how I would fare on Monday. So adding up all distractions, and the crowd, and the difficulties of getting a proper pass, not only a single ticket didn't do well on this run. Actually I did not even get that bloody pass, as noone spoke English to me when they should have. Probably would have been better with a younger clerk.
The city is amazing, and it's amazing hot as well. I wouldn't be able to tell from the architecture, that we are on the Far East, but all important buildings look like new. Of course if you take the wrong turn, you'll find yourselves in the shadiest of alleys, with strange things being cooked on the street, but sticking to the main routes should be a great experience :)

(I'll wrap up now and continue tomorrow - I'm falling asleep while typing. See you soon!)

M.